Death and Taxes

[legalmoose]

Well, more the taxes than the death.

Played around with my taxes last night. Discovered, after talking with lioncub, that I'm going to have to itemize my deductions for the first time ever. It seems I now pay more in local DC taxes than the standard deduction is worth, so it behooves me to itemize now. And it feels so... adult. LOL! I'm halfway tempted to dig up last year's taxes and see if I need to consider re-filing those as well, as there's every possibility I might have missed that then, too.

As always, I ran the numbers multiple times, checking them more carefully each time. And, as usual, I went from owing some, to owing less (transposed numbers), to being owed some (itemization of deductions). I never trust my first run at the numbers. :-) Thank heavens for spreadsheet programs, they make things like this so much easier.

The odd thing is that once you reach the point of itemization, you start thinking about all of the other things, besides taxes, that can be deducted, and trying to see what else you can take out of the category of "taxable income." Quite a little scheme we've got going there - government subsidization of all sorts of things, from charities to lenders (interest) to local governments (taxes of all stripes), etc.

Comments

[kanzeon-2040.livejournal.com]

Be careful of one thing: if you itemize federal, you must itemize your DC return also, and it is likely that your DC itemized deductions will be less than your DC standard deduction.

It is possible that your increased DC tax will be more than your decreased federal tax. So be sure to fill out your DC tax forms both ways before filing your federal return.

[legalmoose]

Oh, I shall (prepare the DC stuff both ways as well). I have to go pick up the DC form tomorrow at the library, though - reading it online is too much of a pain and I don't feel like printing out all 46 pages worth when I can pick it up for free. :-)

[incostantemoto.livejournal.com]

Damned straight you're listening to NIN!