My CPA just got done with my taxes, I owe federal $10 and I get $50 back from state so I pretty much broke even this year so I can not complain

After doing so IRA prestidigitation I brought my fed down from owing $2150 to $1441 and increased my state refunds by about $400. I also talked to SSA and started withholding on my benefits so this shit doesn't bite me next year. Hard lesson learned if you make more than $25K your SS benefits is taxable.

Social security and income tax.

You send your money to the government. They someday give it back to you (sort of) They tax the money sent to you because it is income. You give it back to them.

JFC what a racket.

You can get it not taxed at all, you just can't make any money.

I'm a resident of Missouri and work in Kansas, and I am about as balanced as I can be, I think. I'm even with Missouri, getting $71 back from federal (lol), but owe the turds in Topeka $571 for the honor of being employed in their windy ass state, in spite of me paying taxes to them all year.

Could be worse, I suppose.

One of the drawbacks of a spouse switching jobs every few years to climb the ladder is easily missing a check box during HR onboarding :facepalm:

LOL Which box is that? The please withhold taxes box?

I have to help every slapdick I hire fill out a W-4 and that shit is stupid.

Bueh is the Andy Dufresne of Chiefshank.

2024 is going to be pretty standard, however, 2025 is going to be different because my income will be from SS, Annuities and IRA. I guess I should consult a CPA to see what I need to do. Been using H&R Block for decades, don't get me started on that rip off... new version every year that I use once.

For those tax experts, can I deduct my Medicare premiums? I got thrown into the bracket where they charge extra each month.

It was along the lines of “do you have a secondary income or a spouse with a job?”

Fortunately it was only for 3.5 months last year and 3 this year that we can adjust for

Medicare premiums go on your Schedule A as medical insurance premiums. There is an income exclusion (I think for you it's 7.5% of your AGI).

So your schedule A goes like this

Medical expenses and Insurance less AGI*.075
+
State and local taxes
+
Home Mortgage Interest
+
charitable contributions
=
Schedule A deduction

If Schedule A deduction is larger than the Standard Deduction, you take the Schedule A deduction. If not you take the Standard Deduction.

In practice, you probably don't gain much by deducting them. You can, if you were going to Itemize anyway.

Yeah, that blows.

I'm in a different place. I am resigned to getting a giant ****ing tax bill, so I just sock a ****ton of money away and after the carnage is done, I invest the balance.

You just need to start running a cash laundering business for drug runners. It worked well for the bank in Plains.

Until it didn't LOL.

But surely....SURELY I'm smarter than that stupid ****.

We need to make this happen.

Wife is in sales so her checks all vary based on a commission structure I’m not sure Stephen Hawking could make sense of so we typically error on the side of caution. Plus she don’t pay attention like when she went 6 months being charged hundreds a month for a parking space at work that she took the train into :facepalm:

I had to take a lap around the block before responding to that one