Stimulus checks scrambling many tax returns

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

Nearly 1 of every 6 tax returns filed so far includes errors in reporting last year’s federal stimulus payments, the Internal Revenue Service said, blaming confusion among professional tax preparers and early releases of tax software.

The government sent nearly 119 million checks of $300 to $1,200 last year as a way to boost spending and kick-start the economy. Those payments aren’t taxable, the IRS said.

But the 2008 tax forms aren’t very clear about that. You still have to acknowledge getting a check on your return for bookkeeping purposes. And that’s misleading taxpayers — and even some professional tax preparers and early releases of tax software — into mistakenly calculating it as income.

About 15 percent of the 2008 returns already received by the IRS have the mistake, causing filers to make higher tax payments or claim smaller refunds than they were supposed to, the agency said. It said correcting the error can delay any refunds taxpayers have coming.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29041264/

[Blaze Diem]

1. My daughter just told me last night that Turbo Tax gave her problems w/her stimulus ck.

I believe she said it included it as income..
"Refunds Will Be Delayed".

[MrsBrady]

22. i used turbo tax the other night

BEFORE you begin your tax return, it has you put how much they sent you in a "box" that is not on the return itself.
The "help" area even said it would not be taxed.

The only way to include it as income were if I were to have put it in as income manually when I was entering W2s and 1099s.

[napi21]

2. I filed my return on Wed. using TaxAct sw, and although I did have to

list the stimulus amount, it was NOT calculated as income.

[hedgehog]

3. Shoot, I went to the IRS page my tax software linked to, and it said

everyone filing jointly got $1500, so that's what I put down.

[global1]

4. That Just Might Have Been The Idea By *Co.......

causing filers to make higher tax payments or claim smaller refunds than they were supposed to.

[GentryDixon]

5. I use Taxcut.

My program handled it properly. No tax, no increase in income. Zero impact to my refund.

[Ms. Toad]

6. That's just nonsense.

>>You still have to acknowledge getting a check on your return for bookkeeping purposes.<<

My understanding is that if you don't have your own records you can go to an IRS website and find out what you were paid - so what "bookkeeping" purpose is possibly being served???

[stonenots]

9. They ask your stimulus amount because...

your 2007 return was used as an estimate for 2008. An example, if they had no children in 2007, a married couple would have gotten a check for $1,200. However, if they had a child in 2008, they would be owed $300 more (which is included in a 2008 refund).

[BamaGirl]

15. Exactly

This was my understanding of it all. Some people they owe money to. And welcome to DU!

[Dr.Phool]

7. I used Turbo Tax the other night. No problems.

[katty]

8. america-don't pay taxes en masse & watch how fast the feds

will crumble. tired of my hard earned dollars going to CORPORATE CRIMINALS and DO NOTHING CONGRESSES

[Skink]

10. Turbo tax worked fine.

after writing down the amount it said thanks it won't be counted as income.

[a la izquierda]

11. Mine did NOT say that...

and I have a funny feeling that it royally screwed my state refund, so I haven't filed yet. Somehow I owe the state of Oklahoma a buttload of money. My husband and I don't make much at all.
Hmm, very weird, and thanks for posting that.

[al bupp]

12. I believe that TurboTax correctly handled it in my case, too /nt

[eridani]

13. That's why I don't use any programs at all, just a calculator

We should make a list of which ones screw up and which ones work.

[kath]

19. Exactly - it doesn't exactly take higher math to do the average person's tax return.

Doing it the old-fashioned way works great! You put the numbers on the form, add where it tells you to add and subtract when it tells you to subtract. But -- oooh, SCARY, once in a while you even have to MULTIPLY!!

Why people pay H&R Block and others hundreds of bucks to do this is way beyond me... The hard part is gathering the paperwork,which you have to do even if you're shelling out hundreds to someone else (or paying 50 bucks or so for software). Once you've done that the rest is easy, and I don't know why you'd throw scarce money down a hole and pay someone big bucks to do it.

(yeah, if you've got trusts or partnerships in S corporations or other crap like that, yeah, you probably need an accountant. But what teensy percent of people are in that group?)

[eridani]

20. As in that old joke about Noah and the snake--

--even adders can multiply if you give them log tables.

[Bill McBlueState]

21. re multiplication

I like how they always find it necessary to clarify that multiplying by, e.g., 2% is the same as multiplying by 0.02.

[kath]

23. Pathetic, isn't it? 13 years of compulsory government edumacation, and very few Murkans can do 5th

or 6th grade math.

Oy. Just Oy.

[No Elephants]

14. Can you file an amended return? The IRS is at fault for not publicizing the correct way to handle

those amounts. It is a novel thing and very widespread. Almost every adult in the country received one, even those on Social Security. Publicity would have been a big duh. Every talk show would have given the IRS free air time.

[Trajan]

16. Am I the only person who wont have a problem with this ....

Because I cant even REMEMBER how much 'stimulus' I received ?

I cannot include what I cannot remember .....

Sheeeesh ... Im old, and it's such an insignificant amount ... Why would I remember such a pittance ?

[Hatchling]

18. "I don't recall."

Only works in Senate hearings.
The IRS doesn't care.
See this site to be "reminded" of your "stimulous".


https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof/IRServlet?app=IRACTC Find

[glinda]

17. I hate the IRS. We received a notice one year we didn't pay a grand. Their mistake. Our hardship.