I've been using HR Block online tax software to file our tax return today. I'm not real thrilled with their set up. I'm using them because it is free to military personnel. I usually use Turbo Tax, and I would highly suggest it to anyone who isn't tax savvy.

I had estimated we would owe over $600 when I realized we received a 1099G from our state for last years tax refund. We did itemize, and generally this would be taxable. However, we used the sales tax method rather than income tax on our Schedule A. Sales tax deduction apparently isn't taxable the next year, like it would be if we used our state income tax. We use the sales tax because my husband's income is exempt from income tax in our state. This changes the amount we owe to about $161. I have one more interest income statement to add, that is only for $75, so it won't change too much.

I was most annoyed with HR Block's state return portion because it asked for type of employment. I clicked military. Yet, the calculator was still showing his entire income as taxable, even though it should be exempt. I had to change it in an adjustments to income part of our return. It wasn't obvious at all. I did find it, but I think it is confusing to the average user. I even had to fill in the amount that was tax exempt. I think Turbo Tax handled it better last year if I remember right.

I like that the amount is much lower than I thought. I hope to have the return finalized in mid February. I'm always jumping around from different software options to get the best deal. I prefer free! Do you use the same software every year, or jump around to get the lowest price?

I'm waiting on one tax form now that my husband's W2 showed up on DFAS today. I'm waiting for an interest statement from Sharebuilder.

Way back in December of 2011, I opened an account with them for a bonus of $75. I earned the money in 2012. I withdrew the money and did something with it...it's probably on my blog somewhere. I don't think I put in the Christmas fund though. Anyway......it's now 2013 and I'm waiting for that tax form. The Sharebuilder website states it will be available by February 15. I'm hoping sooner. I don't know why I'm so excited to do our taxes. I already know we have to pay.

I'm planning to use an HR block website this year. I found that on Military One Source it is free to file our Federal return and up to 3 state returns. I like free!

How do you plan to do your taxes this year?
If your adjusted gross income is under $57,000 you are eligible to file your Federal tax return for free, per the

IRS.

I did a rough estimate of taxes owed to the US Federal Government this morning using Turbo Tax TaxCaster. As I expected we will owe money. The estimate is $623. I can handle that.

I did an estimate this summer and came up with $262 that we would owe. However, as with many estimates, it didn't include a few things. I did not include last years state tax refund, which was over $2K, or some of the interest we earned. I just forgot about these when I did my estimate.

We also paid far less in real estate taxes this year because we moved into a new home where the full value of the home has yet to be taxed. This means we don't have enough expenses to itemize. Usually we have about $13,000 in expenses we can itemize, but not this year, just under the standard deduction of $11,900 by a few hundred dollars.

Since I have three months until this money is owed. I will be setting aside $100 for the next 6 pay periods, including the last one on April 15th. I will make payment that day.

I feel better knowing the amount. I realize it could change slightly, but I think this estimate is right on target and includes everything this time around. We shouldn't have to owe as much next year...unless my husband gets promoted. In that case, I will likely have to change his withholding, since we will be in a different tax bracket.

Maybe I can find a credit card to charge this payment on and get a cash bonus! Or does the government charge extra to process credit cards over debit cards? What is the most you have ever owed the government at tax time?

We are getting more tax forms in the mail. We received our 1099G from the state and W2 from the Army for taxable moving expenses. Our money market account posted our 1099INT online yesterday.

Things are rolling in. I'm not too excited about doing our taxes this year. I'm pretty sure we are going to owe money. The sooner I get them done, the sooner I will know the damage.

I think next week my husband's W2 should be available. Once it is I will start working. If we owe, I will be waiting until April to send in the money!

Do you have any of your tax documents? Do you have everything already?

I sat down to try to estimate our taxes for 2012 and I'm overwhelmed. I think it is because there are documents all over the place because of the move.

We cannot deduct state income taxes withheld because DH income is not taxable in our state. Therefore, we are eligible to deduct state sales tax. Ugh...I don't know how to figure that. The program I used must have estimated it last year. ETA: I did find a calculator on the

IRS website, but it is only good for 2011

I did do a rough estimate this summer, and that calculation shows we will owe $262. However, I noticed that I didn't include our state refund from 2011 in that calculation. And that refund was $2,309...I would think that would make a difference.

It also looks like we don't have enough itemized deductions to exceed the standard deduction. Darn. This will be the first year that has happened to us. All because of low interest rates!! I guess the government can use the money more than our bank.

I think the main thing I'm coming away from is that this tax return will be different this year. I just need to expect that we will owe money. I will wait to do the actual calculation once all the forms come in and a program is ready to do the calculations for me!

We had a terrific three day vacation out of town with relatives. We were blessed with useful gifts. I notice as I get older the gifts aren't really that important. It is the time with family that is the best part.

I checked online this morning and found out the BAS rates have been established for 2013. My husband is an officer. That rate will be $242.60, which is up $2.64 per month. The enlisted member rate is $352.27. Also only up a couple dollars from last year.

We have met our $3000 spending requirement on our most recent Chase credit card. The statement doesn't close until January 14, so we will have to wait until then to get our $400 bonus. Now back to cash/debit card spending!!

I will be doing financial planning for 2013 in the next week. I expect to do some posts along the way about our plan to pay off the truck, and other savings goals. I will also be estimating our taxes again.

In January, if not before, I am going to see how much money I can make selling things on Ebay and Craigslist. There are several of us on the blogs here that are going to be participating. As I start rounding those items up, I will be setting items aside to take to Goodwill just before year end. It doesn't hurt to have that extra tax deduction.

As a few others have stated, I love this time of year for goal setting and decluttering. Are you with us? Are you going to be looking into your financial plan for the the next year? Any tips you want to share about how you approach your goals?

I wasn't expecting it, but we received our first tax form for the 2012 filing season. It is our 1098 for Mortgage Interest from the previous home loan on our old home.

I think I have a 2012 file already established because of donations we have made earlier in the year. I will file this form there, so I will be organized come tax season.

If I remember right, I estimated earlier this year that we will likely owe some tax. My memory is $400, which is fine. I can handle that. I'm sure as the new year rolls around I will be doing another estimate.

Are you ready for your tax forms to start arriving in your mailbox and inbox? It is a great time to pull out a folder or box so your items will be easy to find.

The 2013 BAH calculator for military was released today. You can find the calculator

here.

Basic Allowance for Housing is non taxable for US military members and is to provide for those of us who do not have access to housing on a military post or chose to live off post. The average increase was to be 4.2% over last year.

In our case, our housing allowance increased 14.67%. That is the first time our increase has ever been that high. In dollars it is an increase of $170. We are actually receiving less BAH in our new town as compared to our old one because housing is less expensive here.

With this new information on our housing allowance I can more closely estimate our paychecks for next year. We will definitely see an increase. I plan to put some towards meeting the new Roth IRA maximum contributions, which for us will be $83.34 each month. The remainder I plan to put towards that truck loan until it is paid off!! Right now that looks to be about $112.

I did base my paycheck calculations on the assumption that the payroll tax holiday will expire and increase our social security withholding by 2%. Not pretty, but at least we know what to expect there!

If you want to estimate your paycheck, look at at PaycheckCity. Have you estimated any changes in your paycheck for next year? Is it good or bad?

I sent $61.35 to our truck loan yesterday. This brings our principal balance to $6,827.60. Yippee!

Since the payroll tax is likely to increase 2%, back to 6.2%, I figured this money is extra for now. That extra should do something productive while it can. For us that is just another three pay periods.

Our regular payment will likely process on Monday, bringing that balance down even more! Can't wait!!

I redeemed enough

Swagbucks for $50 cash to be sent to my Paypal account. I should receive it in another week or so.

This is the first time I have redeemed for cash over gift cards. I almost have too many Amazon.com gift cards for my Christmas spending. And not everything will be purchased on Amazon. A little cash will be very helpful.

I am adding this to the Christmas Fund balance, which as a reminder, I will use extra at the end of the year to put on the truck loan.

Tomorrow is payday and I will be sending in a principal payment in the amount of $62. The amount is equal to 2% of DH basic pay. The amount the payroll tax will increase on January 1. I figured if we are going to lose it then, we can afford to not have it in our spending now. It will help us get used to the new amount.

Has anyone else considered how the payroll tax increase will affect you on January 1? Are you prepared? Currently, you should see 4.2% of your gross pay taxed for social security/payroll tax (FICA). That rate will increase back to 6.2%. Do the math and you will see the change. This rate of 6.2% is the rate we paid prior to 2011 and it is likely expiring at the end of this year!

Just a quick thought...the payroll tax is likely to expire at the end of the year. Right now it is 4.2% down from 6.2% at the beginning of 2011. I was thinking as a way to prepare for the change, I should take that 2% and add the money to our truck loan. It's extra now....and in a few months it will be off to the government.

For us that looks like another $122 a month. Seems like a lot! Are you prepared for the possible and likely change?

I did a rough estimate of our taxes for 2012. We have more income, less real estate taxes, and less interest on our mortgage(s)....so it looks like we will owe under $300 to the IRS this spring.

Sure, I do kind of want a refund, but I can handle that! Do you estimate your taxes before the end of year so you aren't surprised come tax day? Do you know where you stand today? Should you have more or less withheld to help ease the burden? Go estimate today!

I heard back from Wells Fargo today. I did have to email customer service as Petunia 100 suggested. Our lending consultant never returned my email, which is fine. It probably isn't her job to handle those adjustments.

I indicated to them that our escrow account and payment was much too high considering taxes for the next year are very low.

Our payment will change from $1313.61 to $1083.56. A savings of $230.05 per month. There is an excess of funds in our escrow account in the amount of $1,840.33. I have requested they mail this money back to us. I know that the taxes will increase next year. I will likely hold the escrow money for when the taxes are increased.

However, it's our money! We should earn the interest on it, even if it is a small amount.

I do like how prompt they were in reviewing the account. I'm glad I can make the request and adjustments when necessary! It's almost like handling own escrow. Almost.

Now what to do with the payment savings? I'm thinking the truck loan might just need to benefit!

Our first new mortgage payment is coming up in a few days. I was reviewing our mortgage documents and checked our taxes due with the county that are also due on the same day. The amount due is $371. Wells Fargo is estimating taxes to be $1,751. They have collected enough funds to make that payment, too!

I think the escrow account needs to be adjusted. I want our money back!! I sent an email to our mortgage consultant. She may refer me to customer service, but I thought I'd start with her.

Our house is new construction, so I know that our taxes will eventually be a similar amount to what they estimated. But they don't need to hold that much money for over a year!

I would much rather be handling my own escrow account, but it didn't work out that way with this house and lender. I'll let you know when I have that money back in our bank account.

Our federal tax refunds is pending in our checking account this morning. This means our Roth contributions for 2011 will be fufilled! Do you think I should send in the whole amount ($2,000 each) or split it up over the next two months?

I made another green smoothie today. Very similar to yesterday, added parsley and left out the chia seeds. Total calories for 24 oz is 210. Most of those calories come from the fruit in this one.

1c. water
1c. frozen mixed berries
2c. spinach
1/2c parsley
1 banana

I found a

blog by the auther of the book I mentioned yesteday (Green for Life). It has lots of information about green smoothies. I haven't read the website, but the book is packed with excellent information, so I would guess great information on the website, too.

I have to buy jeans for my youngest daughter. She's 11 but still gets holes in her jeans! Ugh. I'm picking up two of her favorite pair at Old Navy today. I'm fine with the purchase, but frustrated that she crawls around on the floor so much!!

Swaggers: I'm just 43 points away from another $5 Amazon gift card. Those points add up fast. Do you all know about the computer on the slider bar (home page)? It's worth one point to click and you can click it at least 10 times!! I click the computer and then click on the banner on the website that pops up, right now it's a Micheal's ad.

Oh, and I've lost nearly 20 pounds since late October!! I've been diet (and regular) soda free since January 1st. It feels so good.

Let's hear about your goals/resolutions. How are you doing on them so far?

We haven't contributed to our Roth IRA's since August. We have to catch up by April 17th! We each need to contribute another $2,083.31 to meet the maximum amount for 2011.

Last night, I made a contribution for each of us in the amount of $83.31. So now, we each need to contribute an even $2000. Once the federal refund arrives, it will all be a done deal.

I heard on the news this morning that early filers may have their tax refunds delayed by about a week. We are one of those. We filed on January 23rd. I originally expected the refund by February 1. I checked the IRS website this morning, which stated we should have the refund by February 7. Either way it will work out, but my fingers are crossed that it arrives tomorrow.

Anyone else an early tax filer? What does the IRS website indicate for your refund?

Imagine my surprise when I checked our online account today and realized that our state tax refund arrived in our account on Friday!

We are saving most of the $2,309 refund in our emergency fund until after our move this summer. It makes me feel better to have that money in case something big comes up along the way.

I believe the federal refund will arrive on Wednesday this week. That money is for our 2011 Roth contributions.

Our tax refunds from federal and state will amount to over $6,000! We have never had such a large refund. I really try to keep things as close to zero as possible. Last year I even had to pay our state $124 and I was fine with that!

Specifically, we will receive $4,063 from federal and $2,309 from our state. This equals $6,372 back into our pockets. That would have amounted to $531 per month if we had been receiving that money all year long.

We had several factors that caused our refunds to be so large. The first was that my husband was in a combat zone for the first four months of the year. This money is considered non-taxable by the federal government and the state. While in the combat zone he also earned 27.5 days of vacation that are also considered non-taxable. He used all of those days in 2011, thus nearly another month of tax free income.

With only 7 months of basic pay taxable we qualified for the earned income tax credit in the amount of $920. We also earned a $400 saver's credit for contributing to our Roth IRA's (lower incomes can qualify for this credit). And we have two kids which qualifies us for $2000 in credits as well. We ended up paying zero dollars in Federal taxes and will get a return of our withholding, the EITC and the additional child tax credit.

Under normal circumstances, we would not qualify for the EITC or the retirement savings credit. But we tax advantage of them when we can.

I posted a few days ago that our state signed a new law this past year that renders federal military pay of any kind tax free in our state. Thus we will be getting all of our withholding returned to us and a small refundable earned income tax credit. I was not aware of this law until the day I made my post. We could have filed exempt back in May and had nearly $300 put into our pocket for the last 7 months. I just didn't know. Now that I do, we have adjusted my husband's withholding to be exempt for our state. Thus about $300 more in our pockets each month going forward. Very excited!!

The plan is to use $4,166.62 to finish funding our Roth IRA's for 2011. The remainder will be saved until after our move. We are trying to beef up our cash as much as possible, once we are moved we will attack our 2012 goals!

I filed the returns last night. It appears we should have this money returned to us by February 1. Have you completed your taxes? Are you still waiting for forms?

The money is flowing in!!

I received a check in the mail for $4 today. It was a refund of cash that has been sitting in my daughter's school lunch account for over two years. She doesn't eat at school...ever. Nice to have the money back!

I also gave a winning scratch lottery ticket that we received in another state over Christmas to my parents today. They paid me the winning amount and will redeem the ticket back at home. It was a $3 winner.

All money is going to The Christmas Fund. The four dollars isn't exactly free money, but that lottery ticket sure is.

We received my husband's W-2 and the W-2c (which showed a lower wage!) and can finally file our taxes. We are likely getting a huge amount back because of many factors. It will be nice. I'll detail that information in another post once I have everything complete.

Darn. My original quote for insurance isn't going to stand. The montly amount was to be $23.30. They have increased it to $32.90, because of a health issue I have. I'm not entirely surprised really. And it could still change because they are waiting on records from my doctor.

This is still better than the policy that I have now that will be $720 per year if I renew it. This new rate is $394.80. I was told I will hear the firm rate in two weeks or less.

Enough of that boring stuff! I do have other good news. The window pane we had installed yesterday came to $168.44. It turned out to be $65 less than they quoted. And I'm not even sure why, but I'll take it. Of course, the Citi Dividend card I wanted to charge it to didn't arrive until two hours after the window was installed. I was hoping to charge it to the new card to count toward my $500 minimum. Oh well.

I tried to redeem Swagbuck points yesterday, but was reminded that I can only redeem 5 items per month, which I already did. It's all good. I'll just keep accumulating points and redeem something bigger next month!

There is a bid on my ebay item I have listed. That means I have a sale in the near future. That money goes to the Free Christmas Challenge!

If you didn't see my previous post, check it out. It is very exciting financial news. I emailed and texted my husband about it, but no response as of yet. I hope he is excited, too!

OMG!!

I was working on our tax return. I input wage information even though I'm waiting on the W-2. It turns out all military income earned in our state is now exempt from state income tax, retroactive back to January 2011. This also means all income earned going forward is exempt from state taxes. This is huge!

Right now we are having $291.22 withheld each month for taxes. That is now money back in our pocket. Wow! I wasn't expecting that. I guess I'm not listening to the news close enough. This bill was signed into law on 5.11.11.

This also means our tax refund this year will be about $2300 or $1200 more than I expected. Nice!!

Oh, and you got to know I just online with DFAS to change our withholding to exempt. That will be effective February 1. Yipee!!

Now...I've really got to make sure this counts.

Did you know many people are eligible to file their federal and sometimes state taxes for free? To see if you qualify, go to the IRS website.

I actually checked our state's website to determine that we could file our state and federal taxes for free using the TurboTax Freedom. If I hadn't done that, I likely would have spent $13 to file with the company I used last year.

I have entered all information in except our main W-2 and a 1099-INT. I expect to receive those within the next week.

Once I file, I know there will be a refund. A refund large enough to complete our 2011 Roth contributions and then some.

Are you filing online or with snail mail? Are you eligible for free file, if not how much are you paying to file?

ETA: Don't forget to Google for free tax return filing if your income is above the IRS thresholds. Ours is below this year because of combat pay. Also, the 1099-INT was available online today!! One more to go...and I just hope it is correct.

It looks like we will get to file our taxes for free this year. Even state taxes! I went to the

IRS site first. We are eligible to file our federal return free with many of the sites there. But I didn't see the state listed. So I went to our state revenue office and found TurboTax Freedom addition that will allow us to file both federal and state return for free. Happy!

I have entered nearly everything in, except our main W-2 and a 1099-INT form. I hope to have those by the end of the week!

It will be nice to get that fat refund in my hands, so I can complete our Roth IRA contributions for 2011.

How are you filing this year? Online program or paper and pen? Will you need to pay to file? Do you qualify for free? (Check out the link above to see if you can.)

It's just around the corner. Time to file our tax returns. I have pulled out my 2011 file and I'm starting to collect things we need to complete our return.

I have already received our interest statement for the mortgage. A 1098 I think. I also made a list of all the documents we need, with a box to check off once I have it in the file.

I also valued all of our donations to Goodwill this year. Just under $1000!!

We are running into a possible issue that could delay our filing. My husband's last paystub (LES) does not correctly reflect year to date state wages. It has been correct every month until December. He has a call in to the pay office, but they are very slow in responding. It could turn out that the W2 will be fine, but we don't know that yet. I know what the number should be, but I assume I can't file that number if it doesn't show on the W2. Right?

We will also be waiting for an interest statement from the SDP we invested in while DH was deployed and another W2 for the moving incentive we received.

I plan to use TaxAct online, but I'm always open to other services, if I can file for free. I'm pretty sure this year we will qualify for free since our AGI relatively low. The IRS will have lists available on January 17 on their website.

Are you getting prepared to file your taxes? Do you file online or use paper and pen?

I'm not sure if you remember but this past year wage earners had a decrease in payroll tax of 2%. Instead of paying 6.2% in social security tax withholdings, the rate was cut to 4.2%.

This is set to expire at the end of 2011. Congress is attempting to extend this cut. As of yesterday, the bill has passed in the House, but is not likely (per media reports) to pass in the Senate. Feel free to Google your preferred media source for more information.

This is just my heads up to those of you looking at how your net income might look in 2012. Remember to add in an extra 2% in payroll tax witholding as one scenario.

I estimated our taxes awhile back. I did both Federal and State. We had a low income year because combat earnings are not taxable. As a result we actually qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Kind of odd really.

Current estimates are:
Federal $3,867
State $1,075
Total $4,942

This works out great, since we suspended our Roth contributions to make cash flow easier while running two households. We will use this money to get our contributions to maximum by April 15th.

Right now we are each short $2,083.31. Or $4,166.62 for both of us.

The only reason I was willing to suspend the contributions because I had estimated the tax refunds to be large enough to cover our shortfall.

Of course, my estimates are approximate for now. There is another day and half of combat pay that will be used before year end bringing our income down. We also have made a few more donations.

Oh and the 'extra' will just be saved in our emergency fund. We expect to be moving in 2012.

I put our monthly Roth contributions on hold last month. It made a huge difference in how our cash flow felt. With DH living in another state, money is much tighter. The lack of roth contributions helped ease the tension.

We decided to keep our monthly contributions on hold until the end of the year.

Now I can't say I'm real proud of this decision, but our goal is still to max out our contributions. It might take until April 15th, but we will make the investment in our future.

I expect that we will receive a large refund this year because of wages that are within range to be eligible for the earned income tax credit. Nontaxable combat pay helps us meet this criteria. Kind of odd, considering the time in combat was our highest earnings ever. So, if needed the remainder of our 2011 Roth contributions will come from this money.

We still do not have our next duty assignment. The sooner we know where we are going and can get this house sold the better for our emotional and financial health. I personally can't wait!

I received the yearly notice about our property taxes yesterday in the mail. Our taxes increased from $2,820 to $2,942. That is an increase of $122 per year or 4.3%. Most of the increase is to our city and the school district, so I won't complain too much. They seem to do a good job with the resources they are given.

I recently received our homeowner's insurance bill, too. It also increased.

I save monthly for these expenses. With the increases, I am short. I will make up the difference out of the regular paycheck and then increase monthly savings with the hope of being on target next year. Although...next year we might have sold the house and be renting.

We received our payout for the DITY (Do It Yourself) move. It was less than estimated. Boo.

We were quoted $1,141.68 based on 1000 pounds and mileage of 1117 miles. DH moved 980 pounds and I assume drove that distance(!). We received $989.94. A difference of $151.74.

As I write this post, I looked up the Travel Advice of Payment (AOP) and it shows the amount I estimated based on the new weight of 980 pounds: $1,118.85. But then they subtracted out $128.91. Boo again. Not sure if the constructive costs changed from the time we received the estimate and the move occured.

The AOP shows our out of pocket expenses were $603.20. This means per army records we earned $386.74 on the move. This will be considered taxable earned income for 2011. I've got to remember to keep an eye out for that tax form!

All the money for the move has been paid. Things are getting back to normal, as much as they can, considering we are living in different parts of the country. I'm beginning to put my extra time towards small home repairs, improvements and cleaning in preparation for moving or renting this house out.

I have 10 items listed on ebay. Four have bids, another 4 or 5 have people watching the item. The auctions end tomorrow night. And those last seconds are when most of the activitiy occurs! Fingers crossed for high bids.

We have learned in the last week that our housing allowance will go down, since my husband is now stationed in another state. It will go down from $1521 per month to $1422, a drop in our income of $99 per month, or about $50 per pay period.

I did decide to cancel the newspaper subscription. It became effective this week. We are very aware that it is missing. It is one expense we got a fair amount of enjoyment out of. But, it's a trial for now. The cancellation saves us $17.39 per month.

We have $100 worth of rewards from our debit card that can be redeemed. I'm resisting at the moment since it seems it could be worth more as we get closer to the holidays and that money will come in handy.

I was invoiced this week for our sliding door, siding repair and painting. Total outflow for those expenses was $3,209.45. It was a necessary expense that will help avoid issues when we go to sell. I do really like the new sliding door. It works so well!!

With the repair and recent expense for my husband's move we have nearly depleted the extra $7000 that we saved last year. That is really hard to watch, but I know without saving that money it would have been far worse! The good news is that we will receive money from the Army for the move. Right now, I'm estimating we will receive about $4100. Not bad, huh?

In other good money news, DH's paycheck will be about $225 more than usual next week. This is a result of taking vacation or leave that he earned in a combat zone. Those days were non taxable earnings, thus less money was taken out for tax withholding.

It seems most of these updates are good. I'm starting to feel much better about our cash situation. It is all going to work out! Whew.