Shopsmith Forums

Those of us that loaned money to the U.S. Government last year will just have to wait a while for the IRS to give the excess amount back to us. Why?

Because the IRS's computers once again broke down. Who knows when they will be fixed? I understand they haven't upgraded their software or hardware in years!

This and similar types of Govt. inadequate, incompetent actions long ago convinced me to pocket, and use, money that would otherwise be sent to the Feds.

I will gladly pay the IRS what I owe prior to their deadline. However it has given me much satisfaction to be able to use those dollars throughout the tax year. I say tax year, because the tax year runs from January 1 through April 15th. That's 15 1/2 months.

I get to use that money that otherwise would be lost (at least for over 12 months) by giving it without interest to the Feds.

charlese wrote:Those of us that loaned money to the U.S. Government last year will just have to wait a while for the IRS to give the excess amount back to us. Why?

Because the IRS's computers once again broke down. Who knows when they will be fixed? I understand they haven't upgraded their software or hardware in years!

This and similar types of Govt. inadequate, incompetent actions long ago convinced me to pocket, and use, money that would otherwise be sent to the Feds.

I will gladly pay the IRS what I owe prior to their deadline. However it has given me much satisfaction to be able to use those dollars throughout the tax year. I say tax year, because the tax year runs from January 1 through April 15th. That's 15 1/2 months.

I get to use that money that otherwise would be lost (at least for over 12 months) by giving it without interest to the Feds.

3rd quarter estimated payments???

If I paid taxes on a large sum of money, I would be concerned too.

What I might lose by letting them take that money would not pay for my sandpaper for a year.

My taxes are all done, BTW.

Charles raises two important points.

First, the Y2K bug continues in those old systems. While we programmers worked to correct much of it in 1998 and 1999, we also told IRS, FAA and others to get new computers as soon as the funds would allow. Managers said, ok and they have dragged their feet. As it limped along with few problems, managers did not budget or plan to replace the aging computers and code. Much of that old code is still in Fortran with some in Cobol. At least, they did not upgrade to Mickey SQL or some such stuff that is now defunct. To replace all those aged computers would have been a budget buster, but if they had piece milled in starting in 2000, it should have been completely replaced by now. Social Security is another one, so be aware.

Secondly, don't loan the government anymore money than necessary. Put the money in some account that will grow or at least keep your money. When taxes are due, you can siphon the amount needed to pay your taxes. I do this to prevent those who wish to use my identity to file a false claim. So, when the criminal files in my name, he owes. If I loan them money and have a refund, the criminal has a great chance to steal it. When those secure servers of OPM were broken into, they stole my data, so my approach is to beat them to the punch.

Steve, the old swampgator in Pensacola, FL

Secondly, don't loan the government anymore money than necessary. Put the money in some account that will grow or at least keep your money. When taxes are due, you can siphon the amount needed to pay your taxes. I do this to prevent those who wish to use my identity to file a false claim. So, when the criminal files in my name, he owes. If I loan them money and have a refund, the criminal has a great chance to steal it. When those secure servers of OPM were broken into, they stole my data, so my approach is to beat them to the punch.

Steve, the old swampgator in Pensacola, FL[/quote]
Great info!!!!!!

OK lets get real here. I've finished my taxes for this year.

The wife and I have a grand total of $1478.00 in taxes we owe for the year. So lets do that calculation based on my amount. That works out to about $123.17 per month to keep this simple lets just say $125. So I save my money in a "typical" savings account. I'll use the current average of .06% (per several knowledgeable online sites claim this is the current number). I will deposit that $125.00 every month and do that for a year.

At the end of the year I will have $1500.50. That amount is what you get with compound interest on a monthly basis. Yes I could have saved $.50. Yep that is sure worth it.

So say I pay in more then I need to. Let's say I put in an extra $125 per month. How much do I loose by doing that? Same thing, I would loose $.50. So the total potential difference is $1.00. Wonder what I should go buy with all that extra money, perhaps I could buy two stamps and give you my 2 cents worth of change.

Ed

From what I read in the news, it affects only the electronic filing system. I filed mine on paper a couple of weeks ago, and IRS says they are processing mine today. Paper is so much more reliable than electronic. They proved it again this week.

We beat the crash. The IRS said my return was accepted last week.
Like Ed, I'll worry all year about losing that $1.00

So what happens to your 'paper' return? Somebody keys it into the computer data stream then it gets scrutinized by a piece of software.

What's the difference other than that step?

JPG wrote:So what happens to your 'paper' return? Somebody keys it into the computer data stream then it gets scrutinized by a piece of software.

What's the difference other than that step?

It keeps some one with a guaranteed over payed and overly benefited, cant get fired government job