tamms_1965

We filed today electronically! Glad it is done...and early this year. Have you filed yours? Are you a do-it-yourselfer (online, software, old-style) or do you have an accountant do it for you?

cindyabs

I have an accountant, been using him for 27 years, so he has all my stuff on file. It was a help when ex was in the military and then working as an ex pat o'seas. Also was helpful once current DH came onboard.

AmerLisa

Filed ours electronically last Monday......I usually don't do it that early because we usually owe money. But we didn't do our deductions quite right and ended up getting a refund.....so I'm waiting for the money to be deposited into our account.....I like it.

vegas

Turbotax

I would use an accountant but it would probably cost the extras he would find.

cindyabs

Tax preparation cost is tax deductible.

Poppy girl

Mine is to complicated to do on Turbo Tax because I became an Independent contractor in August so there are so many things that have to be added etc rather then inputting a straight W2.

Luckily my roommate is a CPA so she does my books for me

BritGuyTN

I'll file in october as usual....

Maz

Can we borrow her?

Anyone know if it's easy enough to file yourself when you've cashed out two 401K plans and a company pension?

We've got that, two W-2s coming, plus something from Illinois for when I was on the dole after I got made redundant. Really really don't fancy paying someone to do our taxes after I've done them myself for over a decade. The most in-depth thing I've done before in taxes has been the sale of shares.

How do 401Ks and pension plans compare?

Also we have a house sale, but that's no biggee, MIL did that the year before.

Plus we left the country.

Oh boy... this will be fun.

Mallory

I would say you probably have to pay back about 40% to 50% of the 401ks and company pension in penalties and taxes.

You will have to pay income tax on the unemployment benefits.

They are talking about giving everyone a tax refund in the summer, which is a separate thing, to boost the economy. $600 each taxpayer, and $300 per couple each sprog. Seems like you should be eligible.

I would seek out a VERY good accountant, and hope for the best!

Dan725

Did ours on turbotax - I thought it was fairly straight forward to do for your own business (I'm an independent contractor too). But I did spend a lot of time earlier this year really reading up on it as much as possible to see exactly what was deductible - pleased I did.

Bluegrass Lass

Not completely true. We cashed out two 401k's as well this year. We opted to have the investment company take out the Federal taxes (at a rate of 20%), so the only thing we will have to worry about is state taxes, assuming your state taxes the income from 401k early cashouts. My aunt is a CPA and she doesn't think they are taxable in our state, but that's probably different everywhere. We also didn't spend all the money from the 401k to help pay any taxes that could come due.

I am doing our taxes with Turbotax. I'm simply entering in all of the W-2's, 1099's and 1098's that we have for the year. So far, despite having cashed out the two 401k's, TT says we are due a fairly sizeable federal refund. The refund from federal will more than likely take care of any state taxes due. FWIW, we also moved to a diff state, bought a house last year and also have student loan interest to write off.

I've used TT ever since it became available around 10-12 years ago and file electronically every year (except for one year where we had to pay). So far, never had a problem (or an audit).

Mallory

Well yes, you had the 20% taken out, but you still paid the money owed upfront. There is also a 10% penalty if under age 59-1/2.

The whole deal of taking the money will also throw you into a higher tax bracket when this windfall is combined with your regular earnings.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Cash-Out-401k

basementwaj

I have an appointment today at Liberty Tax to do mine... boooooooo
Next year i will do my own!

Poppy girl

I am not going to chance it or neither do I have the patience to read up on it either
I have so much to claim for ie flights,3 cars,moved state,I can claim business travel to the UK and Australia,Computers, car repairs, and thats off the top of my head I will let my buddy do it just to be on the safe side.

Rete

We have an accountant. What with foreign income and foreign old age pension and US income, we feel it is best to have a professional handle the return.