Income Taxes - 2023

[chapmanruss]

Started entering tax information yesterday after getting a new laptop Sunday and setting it up. My old laptop was beginning to have "problems" that I didn't want complicating doing my taxes and other computer work. One extra bit of work this year besides moving and buying/selling houses is our Credit Union changed computer systems last year and now we get a separate 1099-INT for each individual interest-bearing account. The smallest being $ .07 on one of them. We have a lot of those 1099-INT forms to enter since my wife has individual savings accounts for the grandkids in her account too and not just one for each. That is my next "project" for today and hopefully get it all done and sent in.

Ed, I hope your oral surgery goes well today.

[edflorence]

Thanks, Russ;

Oral surgery went well, with the help of a skilled anesthesiologist...thanks for the good wishes. Too bad they can't give you some kind of novacaine before doing your taxes! But, E-filing and computer programs do make things easier than back in the day when we had to fill out the forms by hand and put stamps on those big brown envelopes. Turbo Tax is getting more expensive every year, but it sure makes the chore easier.

I feel your pain on all those trivial 1099-INT forms. I thought they weren't supposed to send one of those unless the account showed a minimum of $10 for the year...Oh well, something new every year. Speaking of new things...I was amazed to see how large the standard deduction is now. It does make doing my taxes easier now that there is no benefit to itemizing.

[dusty]

Thanks, Russ;

Oral surgery went well, with the help of a skilled anesthesiologist...thanks for the good wishes. Too bad they can't give you some kind of novacaine before doing your taxes! But, E-filing and computer programs do make things easier than back in the day when we had to fill out the forms by hand and put stamps on those big brown envelopes. Turbo Tax is getting more expensive every year, but it sure makes the chore easier.

I feel your pain on all those trivial 1099-INT forms. I thought they weren't supposed to send one of those unless the account showed a minimum of $10 for the year...Oh well, something new every year. Speaking of new things...I was amazed to see how large the standard deduction is now. It does make doing my taxes easier now that there is no benefit to itemizing.

Thanks, Russ;

Oral surgery went well, with the help of a skilled anesthesiologist...thanks for the good wishes. Too bad they can't give you some kind of novacaine before doing your taxes! But, E-filing and computer programs do make things easier than back in the day when we had to fill out the forms by hand and put stamps on those big brown envelopes. Turbo Tax is getting more expensive every year, but it sure makes the chore easier.

I feel your pain on all those trivial 1099-INT forms. I thought they weren't supposed to send one of those unless the account showed a minimum of $10 for the year...Oh well, something new every year. Speaking of new things...I was amazed to see how large the standard deduction is now. It does make doing my taxes easier now that there is no benefit to itemizing.

Be thankful that there us no need to itemize. For some, medical expenses make itemizing a must.

[edflorence]

[/quote]Be thankful that there us no need to itemize. For some, medical expenses make itemizing a must.
[/quote]

I hear you, Dusty.

Every year i keep a spreadsheet of medical expenses, just in case the wife and I have a year where we could possibly itemize those expenses. So far, the biggest share of our medical expenditures have gone to insurance premiums. Traditional Medicare and a couple of good supplemental policies are expensive, but they cover most of the medical costs we see. Now dental and vision, that's a different story. Those costs come right out of pocket and get posted to my spreadsheet. I have a friend who lives in BC, Canada, and he says the province is moving towards including some dental work in their medical coverage. That would be nice...

[dusty]

Taxes were hard this year. I made a couple input errors (transposed numbers) and had a hard time detecting them.

But then I made the error that has had me at a stand still. I failed to take credit for a sizable payment (tax withholding). I was about to accept the results when I decided to check all inputs when I discovered the error.

Yes, I know. My wife has told me that now several times. An input check is the very first thing I should have done. Taxes for 2023 are filed.

[chapmanruss]

I wish my tax filing was going a well as years past. As many of you know we moved last year so a house purchase and a house sale. It is the sale that is hitting us hard this year with capital gains after living in our old home for almost 37 years. Having to gather up all the receipts I saved all of those years and adding them up to determine what is the actual capital gains. That's been a lot of work and a big tax hit. Ah, for the good old days when you could roll over the capital gains into a new home. Even had to look back at the any capital gains rolled over from our first home 37 years ago.

[DLB]

I wish my tax filing was going a well as years past. As many of you know we moved last year so a house purchase and a house sale. It is the sale that is hitting us hard this year with capital gains after living in our old home for almost 37 years. Having to gather up all the receipts I saved all of those years and adding them up to determine what is the actual capital gains. That's been a lot of work and a big tax hit. Ah, for the good old days when you could roll over the capital gains into a new home. Even had to look back at the any capital gains rolled over from our first home 37 years ago.

You probably know this, but I didn't. I thought you still had to roll it over, which has never worked out for me. There is a capital gains exclusion for the sale of your primary residence of up to $500K of gains for married filling jointly if you meet the requirements. (Which seem straightforward.) See IRS Publication 523 for details.

- David

[JPG]

37 yrs. If thee had depreciated it fully then capital gains = selling price - purchase price.

Yes a BIG resultant tax but simpler math.

[chapmanruss]

David,

Yes, I have deducted the $500K capital gains exclusion but still have a large gain to pay taxes on. Our original purchase price plus improvements over the years was only about a quarter of the selling price after 37 years. I did a lot of the work on improvements myself and my labor cannot be included.

That's a lot of inflation of home prices over the years. At least we probably won't have a big capital gain on this house since I don't expect to be here for 37 years or even around at 103 years old.

[twistsol]

Turbotax got the final form finished, and from the time I filed electronically until the deposit was in the bank was 13 days. I got to keep $48.10 of it and the rest went to the state of Minnesota.