Bonus withholdings?

BigZ said:
I'm yet to find a good accountant.
I offered a decent one to double his rate, sat with him to work in certain depreciations etc, next year still did everything myself since he'd rather do two quick and ugly returns over one thorough at double the rate...
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This is the first evidence you've ever posted on here that you do have a Russian mindset...;)

Nobody from the U.S. has ever volunteered to pay somebody double their rate to expect something better than what they already do...
 
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Derg said:
I'm good, man! I'm not about to listen to airline pilots convince me to do my own taxes. :)

Or stock tips.
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Or answering questions on how to put personal stuff on their work device....

My accountant costs me $450/yr. It takes me 15 minutes to fill out his form, and that includes getting the numbers out of my copy of Quicken 2000. Dump everything in a SASE he provides and drop it in the mail.

Easy peasy. The one time I got a letter, I sent it to him and then next email I got from him was "resolved".

Full of win.
 
Dphoenix said:
Last year was my first time trying a tax preparer, I ended up paying them $450 and still doing as much work for nothing more than I could have gotten done myself. This guy came highly recommended. Guess who'll be doing his own taxes this year again like usual.
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You got ripped off. I used a CPA last year for the first time as well, cost me $200 and all I had to do was show up with my paperwork.
 
Derg said:
I'm good, man! I'm not about to listen to airline pilots convince me to do my own taxes. :)

Or stock tips.
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Wasn't trying to convince you of anything, but the thought that having an accountant do your taxes to protect you from an audit is not true. Many people falsely believe it as well.
 
Stone Cold said:
Until you find out they did report it to the IRS. Just because it doesn't show up on what you're given, doesn't mean it wasn't reported. It'll be in the audit, guaranteed.
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I have never known anyone to use anything other than the company W2 forms when filing taxes. Do you use something else?
 
Richman said:
Or answering questions on how to put personal stuff on their work device....
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Oh god don't get me started.

I told my copilot who was bitching that the cloud backup doesn't include his "personal side" stuff that I was a beta tester for FWV. They know when I got on the WAP, downloaded the update, ran the beta, went into standby, woke the device back up, etc.

"They can do that?"

Yup, ITS NOT YOUR DAMNED DEVICE! :)
 
NovemberEcho said:
You got ripped off. I used a CPA last year for the first time as well, cost me $200 and all I had to do was show up with my paperwork.
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Yeah, I was displeased as I actually did a lot of the work myself, sent them a ready to file per diem deal etc... in my case, my return was pretty simple other than that, and I just don't have enough deductions since I don't own a home, student loan debt is paid off, etc. It was a lesson learned, but everybody's situation is different. I'll be taking the standard deduction this year and probably the next since it's doubled.
 
Stone Cold said:
This is the first evidence you've ever posted on here that you do have a Russian mindset...;)

Nobody from the U.S. has ever volunteered to pay somebody double their rate to expect something better than what they already do...
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Dude spends his time doing the taxes and, I'd imagine, wants to arrive at a certain hourly rate for his efforts. I'm buying twice the hours to afford him the opportunity to look deeper into the matter and arrive at 150-170% the result. And we did that - looked at the regs together, reclassified a couple of things, went back and fixed the previous year he did where he didn't depreciate things right - and he was in full agreement with me on all that when he was putting his signature down on the report after, admittedly, consulting with his senior partner and verifying everything was good and proper.
Partner retired and the guy wanted back into his comfort zone - a shame, really, he was a smart individual who limited his opportunity. Still, if the basic crap generates enough income for him, what am going to do - force him work for me my way?

Otherwise da, I'm Russian ;)
 
Those of you doing a lot of the prep work probably don’t have an accountant. You have a tax preparer. There’s a difference. Get a real accountant. I don’t do ANY prep work for my taxes, and my filings each year are hundreds of pages long. The accountant does it all.
 
wheelsup said:
Wasn't trying to convince you of anything, but the thought that having an accountant do your taxes to protect you from an audit is not true. Many people falsely believe it as well.
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I think you’re missing the point. It’s not about protection from an audit. It’s about a professional waiting in the wings to handle the audit so you don’t have to deal with it.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Those of you doing a lot of the prep work probably don’t have an accountant. You have a tax preparer. There’s a difference. Get a real accountant. I don’t do ANY prep work for my taxes, and my filings each year are hundreds of pages long. The accountant does it all.
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Your situation is different than the majority of W-2 earners. They could be accountants but there really isn't much accounting they will have to do for them.
 
Cessnaflyer said:
Your situation is different than the majority of W-2 earners. They could be accountants but there really isn't much accounting they will have to do for them.
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The majority of W2 earners here will benefit greatly from an accountant doing their taxes for them. Junior regional pilots exempted, of course. Your taxes don’t need to be nearly as complicated as mine in order to benefit.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
The majority of W2 earners here will benefit greatly from an accountant doing their taxes for them. Junior regional pilots exempted, of course. Your taxes don’t need to be nearly as complicated as mine in order to benefit.
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I could see some AMT mistakes. I guess my enjoyment of accounting and taxes makes it easier for me to complete mine.
 
Stone Cold said:
All I was saying is if you know you got a bonus, and it's not on your W-2, I'd be very hesitant to just not report it. I'd verify with my employer what they reported, etc.
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I get a bonus every year. Absolutely no idea how much is in there. Some appears in my bank account some goes to my 401k. Same for my wife.

It's a ridiculous statement. I don't know anyone who adds up their paychecks and compares to their W2. In fact the big name tax prep companies will auto import everything for me. W2, 1099 interest, brokerage buy/sell transactions, everything. Put in your login and zip it's there. Type in your deductions and you're done.

2018 will be even easier as there will be zero need to do any sort of deductions for us. No per diem, or other "business expenses" like dry cleaning, flashlight batteries, etc.
 
wheelsup said:
I get a bonus every year. Absolutely no idea how much is in there. Some appears in my bank account some goes to my 401k. Same for my wife.

It's a ridiculous statement. I don't know anyone who adds up their paychecks and compares to their W2. In fact the big name tax prep companies will auto import everything for me. W2, 1099 interest, brokerage buy/sell transactions, everything. Put in your login and zip it's there. Type in your deductions and you're done.

2018 will be even easier as there will be zero need to do any sort of deductions for us. No per diem, or other "business expenses" like dry cleaning, flashlight batteries, etc.
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So, you always get a bonus. If your W-2 showed no bonus, you'd just let it go? That's what you originally wrote and what I was responding to. I'm not saying add everything up, but if you know there's an error, you wouldn't just ignore it like you originally said, I would hope...
 
Stone Cold said:
So, you always get a bonus. If your W-2 showed no bonus, you'd just let it go? That's what you originally wrote and what I was responding to. I'm not saying add everything up, but if you know there's an error, you wouldn't just ignore it like you originally said, I would hope...
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My W2 never shows a bonus...because it's earned income! AFAIK every normal wage slave employee receives it as regular compensation. There is no difference in a "bonus", "profit sharing", or regular salaried income.

For some reason people think it is, but it's not.
 
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wheelsup said:
My W2 never shows a bonus...because it's earned income! AFAIK every normal wage slave employee receives it as regular compensation. There is no different in a "bonus", "profit sharing", or regular salaried income.

For some reason people think it is, but it's not.
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I understand all of that. I've been running a payroll for a few years now. You don't know how much you made for the year? Most people have a general idea of how much they make, and how much their bonuses are.

All I'm saying is if you know there's an error on your W-2, don't just pretend it never happened, as you suggested...
 
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