Author Topic: How many pages on your tax return?  (Read 16393 times)

1tolivesimply

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How many pages on your tax return?
« on: April 02, 2013, 12:26:05 AM »
I thought I had a lot last year, this year was even worse, 119 pages total!

What about you?

Edited to correct typo.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2013, 01:33:35 AM by 1tolivesimply »

NumberCruncher

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2013, 05:37:03 AM »
Good lord! There has got to be an easier way to set up taxation. 119 pages is a novel.

I had it relatively easy as I haven't had a need to itemize yet/don't have a mortgage or anything - mine's pretty much as short as they come.

prosaic

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2013, 05:49:52 AM »
117 here.

jpo

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2013, 07:00:17 AM »
I think I had 5 pages for the feds, 2 for the state.

tooqk4u22

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2013, 07:18:43 AM »
All I can say is that I wish I had more. 

Reepekg

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2013, 08:41:30 AM »
11 Fed, 9 state. And I had to do somewhat fancypants things like annualize my self-employment income and report foreign trusts.

What in the world could you be writing about for 119 pages? I'm ever so curious.

arebelspy

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2013, 08:54:12 AM »
11 Fed, 9 state. And I had to do somewhat fancypants things like annualize my self-employment income and report foreign trusts.

What in the world could you be writing about for 119 pages? I'm ever so curious.

IRS fanfic.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

matchewed

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2013, 09:24:42 AM »
11 Fed, 9 state. And I had to do somewhat fancypants things like annualize my self-employment income and report foreign trusts.

What in the world could you be writing about for 119 pages? I'm ever so curious.

IRS fanfic.

Man that 1040EZ gets around.

Kazimieras

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2013, 10:03:26 AM »
I prefer to file electronically - it makes page count not matter and saves on postage! ;)

prosaic

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2013, 10:44:52 AM »
11 Fed, 9 state. And I had to do somewhat fancypants things like annualize my self-employment income and report foreign trusts.

What in the world could you be writing about for 119 pages? I'm ever so curious.

IRS fanfic.

50 Shades of Deductions

Man that 1040EZ gets around.

the fixer

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2013, 11:06:31 AM »
I prefer to file electronically - it makes page count not matter and saves on postage! ;)
If only we could do that here... in the US electronic filing is only possible through commercial tax preparation software (or maybe if you have really low income, I don't know because it doesn't apply to me). The cost of the software far exceeds the cost of postage.

I think I have about 10 pages in my return, and I managed to fold my forms compactly enough to get the envelope within the thickness limit for normal mail.

TLV

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2013, 11:22:31 AM »
I prefer to file electronically - it makes page count not matter and saves on postage! ;)
If only we could do that here... in the US electronic filing is only possible through commercial tax preparation software

Not true! http://www.irs.gov/uac/Access-Free-File-Fillable-Forms-Here

It's a free for anyone regardless of income, as long as the forms you need are supported. (At the moment, it looks like the only form for 1040 that isn't supported is "Form 8839 Qualified Adoption Expenses").

the fixer

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2013, 11:40:24 AM »
dang... I didn't know about that! How old is this?

TLV

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #13 on: April 02, 2013, 12:08:40 PM »
I think it's pretty new. This year is the first year I knew about it, thanks to grantmeaname.

Jamesqf

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2013, 12:17:32 PM »
What in the world could you be writing about for 119 pages? I'm ever so curious.

Itemizing stock trades on Schedule D/Form 8949?

I'll have about 10 pages this year.  Worst was 17 pages, a few years ago when I was living overseas and had to do a bunch of the foreign tax stuff.

Cecil

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #15 on: April 02, 2013, 04:59:37 PM »
Been filing electronically here in Canada since 2006 or so, with free software.

I think if I printed it off it would be 5-6 pages? There isn't really anything complicated, the standard employment income and RRSP deductions, that's it.

Reepekg

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #16 on: April 02, 2013, 08:03:54 PM »
I never thought I'd say I miss Denmark's tax forms. It is super creepy that the government knows everything about you, but at the end of the year they just hand you a print out of all the taxes you pay and deductions you qualify for. Around 99% of people just say, yes, that looks right and get on with their lives. It is kind of mean that the USA puts all the burden of a complicated tax system on the average American.

On the other hand, I do not miss paying 60+% or whatever the top tax bracket was on an average first year salary.

1tolivesimply

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #17 on: April 02, 2013, 08:19:07 PM »
What in the world could you be writing about for 119 pages? I'm ever so curious.

Rental properties, two state returns, a business, foreign income...

Spork

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2013, 07:42:34 AM »
I never thought I'd say I miss Denmark's tax forms. It is super creepy that the government knows everything about you, but at the end of the year they just hand you a print out of all the taxes you pay and deductions you qualify for. Around 99% of people just say, yes, that looks right and get on with their lives. It is kind of mean that the USA puts all the burden of a complicated tax system on the average American.

On the other hand, I do not miss paying 60+% or whatever the top tax bracket was on an average first year salary.

I've always wondered why the US doesn't do this.  It's not like they don't have the data.

Kazimieras

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2013, 08:16:15 AM »
I never thought I'd say I miss Denmark's tax forms. It is super creepy that the government knows everything about you, but at the end of the year they just hand you a print out of all the taxes you pay and deductions you qualify for. Around 99% of people just say, yes, that looks right and get on with their lives. It is kind of mean that the USA puts all the burden of a complicated tax system on the average American.

On the other hand, I do not miss paying 60+% or whatever the top tax bracket was on an average first year salary.

I've always wondered why the US doesn't do this.  It's not like they don't have the data.

Most tax filings result in a return, since the government does try to tax you as you earn to get the money quicker for them (at least in Canada they do). By putting the burden on the individuals it gives them the option of what credits to claim, and if they are lucky people don't claim all that they can (often the case). So more money is left in the coffers.

Jack

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #20 on: April 03, 2013, 10:49:29 AM »
I never thought I'd say I miss Denmark's tax forms. It is super creepy that the government knows everything about you, but at the end of the year they just hand you a print out of all the taxes you pay and deductions you qualify for. Around 99% of people just say, yes, that looks right and get on with their lives. It is kind of mean that the USA puts all the burden of a complicated tax system on the average American.

On the other hand, I do not miss paying 60+% or whatever the top tax bracket was on an average first year salary.

I've always wondered why the US doesn't do this.  It's not like they don't have the data.

It's because of lobbying from the tax-prep (and tax-prep-software) industry.

No, I'm not joking.

Reepekg

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #21 on: April 03, 2013, 02:26:39 PM »

It's because of lobbying from the tax-prep (and tax-prep-software) industry.

No, I'm not joking.

I'm fully prepared to believe this until shown evidence to the contrary. The amount people pay to have their taxes prepared is astonishing. Learning to do my own taxes for free was one of my earliest mustachian DIY moves.

Paying someone as an added expense of paying money? No thanks. Plus knowledge of the tax details is very useful when making financial decisions throughout the year.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2013, 02:30:31 PM by Reepekg »

strider3700

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #22 on: April 03, 2013, 02:58:08 PM »
In canada at least  you can write off the tax prep as a business expense in the next year...  I was struggling for write offs with my business but the lady that does my taxes knew right away that her costs counted.   It wouldn't shock me that the tax people lobby to keep things difficult

Spork

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2013, 03:06:11 PM »
In canada at least  you can write off the tax prep as a business expense in the next year...  I was struggling for write offs with my business but the lady that does my taxes knew right away that her costs counted.   It wouldn't shock me that the tax people lobby to keep things difficult

You can write off tax prep in the US, too.... but standard deductions are always higher than itemizing (for me).

Reepekg

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2013, 03:13:37 PM »
In canada at least  you can write off the tax prep as a business expense in the next year...  I was struggling for write offs with my business but the lady that does my taxes knew right away that her costs counted.   It wouldn't shock me that the tax people lobby to keep things difficult

You can write off tax prep in the US, too.... but standard deductions are always higher than itemizing (for me).

By write off, you mean you could end up deducting it from your taxable income? So a person still pays 70-80% (or whatever their tax rate is) of the cost of tax prep.

I get confused a lot when people say oh, they can just write off interest or medical expenses or whatever. It's not a tax credit, so aren't people still paying for most of it...

kkbmustang

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2013, 03:51:43 PM »
In canada at least  you can write off the tax prep as a business expense in the next year...  I was struggling for write offs with my business but the lady that does my taxes knew right away that her costs counted.   It wouldn't shock me that the tax people lobby to keep things difficult

You can write off tax prep in the US, too.... but standard deductions are always higher than itemizing (for me).

By write off, you mean you could end up deducting it from your taxable income? So a person still pays 70-80% (or whatever their tax rate is) of the cost of tax prep.

I get confused a lot when people say oh, they can just write off interest or medical expenses or whatever. It's not a tax credit, so aren't people still paying for most of it...

Yes, you're correct. There is a difference between a deduction and a credit. But most people probably don't realize it.

BlueMR2

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2013, 05:09:50 PM »
Still not sure how many pages we'll end up with.  Appears that we're going to have to file with another whole state this year too due to some estate issues...

MooreBonds

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #27 on: April 13, 2013, 09:39:42 AM »
My federal was 21 pages -includes my own homemade "continuation forms" that I paste in Excel to avoid having to retype all of the data I already total and track in my homemade spreadsheets.

Not true! http://www.irs.gov/uac/Access-Free-File-Fillable-Forms-Here

It's a free for anyone regardless of income, as long as the forms you need are supported. (At the moment, it looks like the only form for 1040 that isn't supported is "Form 8839 Qualified Adoption Expenses").

Holy crap! When they first started e-filing, they only allowed 1040EZ/1040A/1040 if you had maybe 1 extra form. I didn't realize they just expanded it to a huge longer list of forms! I could have e-filed this year. Will definitely look into it for next year, but still might do it my previous way with my Excel sheets. Thanks for posting this!

Richard3

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #28 on: April 14, 2013, 12:02:17 AM »
Zero. I am no longer tax resident anywhere.

The last three years I've done an e form that's mostly been uploading scans of my charitable donations, the rest was all populated for me from my employer / bank.

The last paper tax return I did was 4 sides (most of which I was able to leave blank). The country before that, the tax return was 1 side IIRC. The country before that was also 4 sides mostly blank. Are you people doing taxes for Exxon or something?






BlueMR2

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Re: How many pages on your tax return?
« Reply #29 on: April 14, 2013, 09:32:28 AM »
I didn't count.  It ended up being an epic novel this year.  We ran out of lines for W-2 entries on our local tax forms (for the city we live in).  Ended up having local tax involvement with 6 cities due to the way companies are doing accounting now (go visit Cleveland branch during a business day, BANG, now you've got to add Cleveland to the list of local entities that appear on your tax forms).  We even ended up having to pay taxes to a state we don't even live in.  :-)

I'm just glad I didn't have any "sporadic income" (my state's term for self-employment not on a regular basis) last year.  Reading the state tax law, in one place it says to put it in the usage tax box.  In another place it says do NOT put it in the usage tax box (but doesn't tell you where you are supposed to put it).

I'm thinking about quitting my job, pulling all my money out of everywhere, and living as a caveman out of pure spite right now.  The US tax system is a nightmare!