I pay the last estimate taxes in December

[question everything]

not in January. Just close the books.

And I could not help comparing the before and after the "tax reform" and, yes, our tax bill is higher.

It is the elimination of the Exemptions, that would have been reduced our taxable income by $8100. Even with the 12% vs. 15% tax rate.

Sigh..

[Sherman A1]

1. When I filled quarterlies

I always did as well, generally I would pay it in October just to be done with it. At year end we have local property taxes to pay and along with Christmas shopping it was sometimes a bit of a drain on the budget.

Waiting to see how this year works out. Talked with my tax guy in October and he thinks I will be okay.

[csziggy]

2. I had to do that because my accountant's bookkeeper was an idiot

Even though I would list it on my forms with the date the last payment was made, for YEARS she would leave off that last estimated payment and count it as not paid.

Every. Single. Year. For. YEARS.

So I dated the check on December 31. even if I mailed it two weeks later, just so the moron would "see" it as being paid in the "correct" year.

I was so happy when she retired and was no longer handling my paperwork.

Since I closed my business, I no longer do estimated tax payments so I have won twice over on that account!

[question everything]

3. This is horrible. You could have been charged for not paying your taxes!

As retirees living on Social Security and withdrawals from iRAs, we pay estimated taxes. The SS administration will withhold federal taxes - if asked - but not state. Similarly, the custodial of the IRAs allows for federal withholding but not for state.

[csziggy]

5. Fortunately my husband caught it every time

But then we had to get our accountant to reprint our forms. One year because of a delay in other documents we didn't get our forms before April 15 and we hand wrote in the missing payment. We went ahead and paid the total that the accountant had put in based on the "missing" payment so our taxes wouldn't be late - but the accountant certainly heard about it!

After that he reviewed the information and some years he caught her omission but it still happened a few times.

I suspect the woman resented me because I reported her to her boss when she tried to recruit me to sell Avon products. As a person who has never worn makeup and who is sensitive to fragrances I would not have been a good candidate to sell that crap even if I had not know what a scam the business is. In addition I was running a farm full time and had no time for pretty much anything else. The main reason I turned her into her boss was that she tried to recruit me several times even after I told her no - and she was calling from his business phone to do so. He shut that down real fast!

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. As a trucker, one of the biggest changes is the loss of the Per Diem deduction.

They allowed Transportation workers and those affected by hours of service regulations - Railroad Engineers, Airline Pilots, Truck Drivers, to take a daily Per Diem deduction. In years past I could deduct upwards of $50 for each day/night spent away from home and 3/4 of that on the days I left and the days I returned. The amount had steadily risen over the years and last year it was over sixty bucks a day.

That's gone for tax year 2018.

It amounted to over $12,000 when I had a lot of cross country trips: one year over $17,000. The IRS only gave a percentage of that - 60% I believe, toward a reduction of my AGI, but still, it went a long way to reducing my tax liability.

This year I had some oddities. I lost nearly a months pay due to hospital stays (COPD Flareups) and had to take premature distributions from my IRA to keep the cash flow up, so I'll have the penalty and tax hit for that.

But we'll see how it will work out. It looks like I'll still get a refund, but not as large as in years past.

Sure am tired of all the winning, that's for sure!

[progree]

6. Did the near doubling of the standard deduction help?

For myself it didn't. Both in 2017 (before TCJA) and for the 2018 projection (my tax person assumed everything in 2018 would be the same as 2017 for apples-to-apples comparison purposes), my taxes were somewhat higher. The near doubling of the standard deduction (for a single from $6,350 to $12,000, and for marrieds filing jointly twice these amounts) didn't help because my itemized deductions exceed both these amounts (I'm single and my itemized deductions exceed $12,000). Losing the $4,050 personal exemption hurt a lot.

The dependent exemptions are also gone, but the doubling of the child tax credit made up for that (in the 10%, 12%, and 22% tax brackets) when the dependents are under age 17 children (taxwise, a $1,000 increase in a tax credit is equivalent to an $8,333 exemption in the 12% tax bracket, and a $4,545 exemption in the 22% tax bracket).

Where people can get really screwed is the capping of the SALT (state and local tax) deduction to $10,000.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. For me, it helps.

My income is so low that I now no longer pay state or federal income taxes, although that might possibly change as I'm starting to take withdrawals from my annuities. Even then, it won't be very much for me.