Tax return....

I thought the only reason or the stimulus questions were to let you know if you could get a credit if you qualified but didn't get the entire stimulus. I got the full stimulus amount, and when I entered it into the tax program it just said I was not eligible for any stimulus credits, and did not change my refund at all.
 
I thought the only reason or the stimulus questions were to let you know if you could get a credit if you qualified but didn't get the entire stimulus. I got the full stimulus amount, and when I entered it into the tax program it just said I was not eligible for any stimulus credits, and did not change my refund at all.

The stimulus was an advance on a tax credit determined on your 2020 Federal individual income tax return. The credit is not taxable income. If you qualify for more than you received, the difference will be added to your return as a refundable amount. If you did not qualify for the credit but received it, there is no obligation to repay it.

These stimulus checks are not meant to help you pay bills so everyone who doesn't think they needed the help can put the guilt aside. It's an economic stimulus check meant to be spent so it...stimulates the economy.
 
So I filed fed and state electronically on Friday evening, got my state return direct deposit today. 4 business days, that's a record for me. Fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn't enough to even buy more than a couple boxes of ammo these day :)
 
So I filed fed and state electronically on Friday evening, got my state return direct deposit today. 4 business days, that's a record for me. Fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn't enough to even buy more than a couple boxes of ammo these day :)

Mine haven't arrived yet but my son's took less than two weeks to show up via direct deposit.
 
I filed my Federal and State returns over the weekend, both were accepted.

But I am worried about my State return. For the last number of years I have been receiving my retirements, Massachusetts would not allow me to file electronically (H&R Block). I had to file paper copies with a letter explaining what retirement income was not taxed by this state. But this year my state return showed as eligible for electronic filing. I had to pay HRB $19.95 for this but my return amount justified that expense.
 
Oooof, got my returns back from my accountant. Paying $4K and have an additional $24K in quarterly estimates to pay in 2020 ($6K per quarter between Fed & State). Yeah, it means I had a better than anticipated year but it's still a kick in the nuts every quarter.
 
Had a pleasant surprise this morning. My Mass tax return posted to my local bank account.

But that also worries me...it's never been that easy with this state before. What are they up to?

I am making plans to hide my cats (don't have any dogs that "they" can use as targets).
 
Had a pleasant surprise this morning. My Mass tax return posted to my local bank account.

But that also worries me...it's never been that easy with this state before. What are they up to?

I am making plans to hide my cats (don't have any dogs that "they" can use as targets).

Up to nothing unusual. If you eFile the turn around is usually within a couple of weeks.
 
Had a pleasant surprise this morning. My Mass tax return posted to my local bank account.

But that also worries me...it's never been that easy with this state before. What are they up to?

I am making plans to hide my cats (don't have any dogs that "they" can use as targets).
Careful with the cats, they are very smart and sneaky. They could be DoR plants. [laugh]
 
Up to nothing unusual. If you eFile the turn around is usually within a couple of weeks.

You may have missed my previous comment about efiling in Mass. I've been efiling for 15-20 years now. I don't recall what happened with Mass before I started drawing retirement, but since then I've had to include a letter detailing my retirements, which were not taxable in Mass. This precluded efiling, at least for me. I probably owed Mass Tax so I most likely paper filed to avoid having to pay the efiling charge for a state return. You have to excuse me for feeling that there is something amiss when Mass makes it easy of the taxpayer.

Careful with the cats, they are very smart and sneaky. They could be DoR plants. [laugh]

I doubt that Jack is a plant, he is too loving, not to mention a bit slow on certain matters. However, he IS the better mouser. Lenny on the other hand is a sneaky little chit. I have no doubt that he could be i CI and would sell me out for a bag of cat treats.

Anyone get their Federal refund back yet?

I filed my Federal return last Saturday and am waiting. I filed my Mass return on Sunday and got my money today.
 
I'm waiting on filing my Fed return - would put me over the top to receive max dollars on the next round of COVID dollars

I'll be filing my MA return today
 
Had a pleasant surprise this morning. My Mass tax return posted to my local bank account.

But that also worries me...it's never been that easy with this state before. What are they up to?
The Bride drafted our returns yesterday.
An outstanding issue was that she thought that when filing this year
we were supposed to include the 1099-G from last year's state refund,
but there's no evidence we ever received the -G.
So she phoned DoR (a first for us).
They picked up within a minute.

I infer that it's early in the filing season,
and people are once again particularly slow at it this year.
So if you need Teh Hotline, now would be a good time to call.

(DoR's story is that the Feds changed the mandatoryness of 1099-G's
when they broomed casual itemized deductions,
and so we didn't get a 1099-G because we didn't need it.
And DoR's story: they're sticking to it. Shrug
).
 
Using Turbotax, it brought over the info from last year's state refund, but had a message that said that amount was not taxable and would not affect the current year's taxes.
 
The Bride drafted our returns yesterday.
An outstanding issue was that she thought that when filing this year
we were supposed to include the 1099-G from last year's state refund,
but there's no evidence we ever received the -G.
So she phoned DoR (a first for us).
They picked up within a minute.

I infer that it's early in the filing season,
and people are once again particularly slow at it this year.
So if you need Teh Hotline, now would be a good time to call.

(DoR's story is that the Feds changed the mandatoryness of 1099-G's
when they broomed casual itemized deductions,
and so we didn't get a 1099-G because we didn't need it.
And DoR's story: they're sticking to it. Shrug
).

This is correct.
Those 1099-G's have become increasingly very rare with the advent of the new very high standard deductions.
 
This is correct.
Those 1099-G's have become increasingly very rare with the advent of the new very high standard deductions.
Thanks for the sanity check.

(The hotliner also murmured about it being an "advisory form" (sp?),
which I convinced myself meant that if it was ultimately desirable,
the IRS would either:
  • power through the 1099-G's absence,
  • or ask us for it,
  • or just do data-matching with Mass (which maybe they were going to do regardless), and decide our filing was legit
).
 
From the TurboTax Website:

"State tax refunds​

When you receive a refund, offset, or credit of state or local income tax, that amount appears in box 2 of the 1099-G form. However, you don't necessarily have to report this amount on your federal tax return or pay additional federal taxes.

You only need to report it as federal income if you took a federal deduction for paying those taxes in a prior year and that deduction actually reduced your federal taxes. Box 3 of the form will indicate the relevant tax year."

From the H&R Block website:

"1099-G Form for State Tax Refunds, Credits or Offsets
If the state issues you a refund, credit or offset of state or local income, that amount will be shown in Box 2 of your 1099-G form. The most common reason for receiving a refund is because of an overpayment of state taxes, as explained in the example below. This payment may or may not be taxable to you. If you claimed the standard deduction on your previous year’s return, the amount is not taxable to you.

However, if you claimed itemized deductions on the previous year’s return, all or part of the refund is taxable in the year you receive the refund if you also deducted state and local income taxes, and received a tax benefit from deducting those taxes."

Make sense?
 
Thanks much.
(LTFM).
And ironically, the H&R Block link was already purple in my browser.
(Guess it didn't sink in, did it?)

I'm gonna have The Bride review both of them from the perspective of
how itemization, etc. affect the need for it. Turbot Tax does have
access to the past few filings, but no harm in double-checking.
 
Thanks for the sanity check.

(The hotliner also murmured about it being an "advisory form" (sp?),
which I convinced myself meant that if it was ultimately desirable,
the IRS would either:
  • power through the 1099-G's absence,
  • or ask us for it,
  • or just do data-matching with Mass (which maybe they were going to do regardless), and decide our filing was legit
).

Re: Data mining.
Yes its interesting. You are only supposed to claim it if you itemize on your FEDERAL taxes. However it's always the state the sends the 1099-G postcard. And wouldn't you know magically ONLY the people that itemize ever get a card. (so the question is how did the state know or not if you itemized on your Federal return?) Weird. :rolleyes:
 
Re: Data mining.
Yes its interesting. You are only supposed to claim it if you itemize on your FEDERAL taxes. However it's always the state the sends the 1099-G postcard. And wouldn't you know magically ONLY the people that itemize ever get a card. (so the question is how did the state know or not if you itemized on your Federal return?) Weird. :rolleyes:
It's one hell of a brush-back pitch by the IRS.

I never really had a life goal of cheating on income taxes like that,
so it doesn't harsh my mellow much.

If Mass starts subpoenaing old credit card receipts for NH commerce,
call me back for a revised opinion, of course.
 
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