In this world nothing is certain...

March 10, 2008 11:22 PM

Husband's boss did his taxes. I'm not convinced they've been done correctly.

My husband's boss did his taxes for him without having his W2 on hand. Apparently he owes money. I want a second opinion but husband doesn't want to pay to have someone else do them (we've gone to Jackson Hewitt in the past).

Two questions:

Is it possible for his boss to accurately do these taxes and figure out what is owed without the W2? The general salary info was available at the office, but no W2.

We were going to claim a legitimate item on the return, but Boss says we're unable to do so without claiming $17k worth of items (17 or some other large number.. the amount doesn't really matter). Is it true we aren't able to claim a single item (under $1k) on a return?

posted by ellighi to law & government (13 comments total)

If his boss had the raw data available, he might have been able to do the taxes, but only if he had all of the info that would be on the W-2. I run estimates throughout the year using my paystubs, but I wait until I receive the final W-2 before I do the actual taxes. My final paystub has matched my W-2 every year that I have done this, but YMMV.

As for claiming deductions, you have to have enough in itemized deductions to exceed the personal deduction amount. (There are some exceptions to this - child credits, education credits, etc.) Once you exceed the standard deduction, you can keep on going until you have deducted every thing that you are eligible to deduct. But if you have only $1,000 in eligible itemized deductions, you probably do not have enough to itemize.

You can run the numbers through H&R Block's tax estimator program for free, and many online tax programs allow you to put all of your information in and see whether you owe or not without paying. You only pay when you submit the return for processing.

Good luck!
posted by bedhead at 11:36 PM on March 10, 2008

It's possible to do a return from payroll data, as long as you know gross pay and withholdings. You may want to wait for the W2 to come out so you can check the figures, though. Returns tend to get more attention from the IRS if the figures don't match exactly.

As far as the deductions, it isn't so much that you can't claim that small item as that it wouldn't help you. He must have you taking the standard deduction ($10,700 for a married couple filing jointly). If you itemized your small deduction, you wouldn't be able to take the standard deduction, so you'd end up with a much larger tax liability.
posted by concrete at 11:43 PM on March 10, 2008

As for claiming deductions, you have to have enough in itemized deductions to exceed the personal deduction amount.

There are two different deductions: the "standard deduction" and the "personal exemption."

The standard deduction is what a taxpayer claims if he chooses not to itemize deductions. It's $10,700 for 2007 if married and filing jointly, I think. The personal exemption is $3400 for both the taxpayer and a dependent spouse in 2007, I think, and this can be claimed whether or not the taxpayer itemizes deductions.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, this all adds up to $17,500. The Boss is wrong if he thinks itemizing necessarily isn't worthwhile if itemized deductions don't exceed the sum of the standard deduction and personal exemption, since the ability to claim the personal exemption doesn't depend on whether the taxpayer itemizes deductions.

That said, itemizing to take advantage of a $1000 deduction will never be a good idea, since itemizing involves giving up the $10,700 standard deduction.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 11:59 PM on March 10, 2008

Can you afford $39.95? Turbotax will clear it all up and do your state taxes too.
posted by Gungho at 4:31 AM on March 11, 2008

By law W2's are to be distributed to employees by Jan. 31st, the fact that this hasn't happened raises a red flag for me.

I would be concerned, if I were you. The fact that this employer has not met his obligation regarding the distribution of W2's, and the fact that he is not an impartial party should there be some sort of problem around tax payments, accounting, etc....

I would advise you to follow your instincts and scrape together the money to get a third party to do your taxes for you.

IANAL, IANAAccountant
posted by HuronBob at 5:17 AM on March 11, 2008

IANAL, IANAAccountant
posted by HuronBob

Nor am I, but this seems like the boss is trying to cover up some "creative" accounting to me....I would definitely take it to an accountant or maybe even a lawyer....

Though like someone else said, you can run the numbers yourself with the W2 on H&R Block online for free to see what you would get back/owe without paying a dime.
posted by Grither at 5:21 AM on March 11, 2008

TaxAct Online is $9.95.
posted by tristeza at 5:21 AM on March 11, 2008

My mistake, I guess I made it seem as though we never received the W2. We do have it, but my husband didn't have it with him at the office.
posted by ellighi at 5:45 AM on March 11, 2008

I will make this brief if you have copies of your tax returns tiake it upon yourself to find the free tax websites or go to the taxact online that is #9.95. I feel we need a little more info as to what is really going on with the situation. Does your Hub have all the confidence in his boss and you feel that it would cause problems between you and hub. Then just try to do it on your own. or ... try to convince hubby that it's better to be safe than sorry.
posted by Alwinpa at 5:59 AM on March 11, 2008

Don't forget- depending on your income, it may be better to file jointly.
posted by Monday at 6:19 AM on March 11, 2008

Assuming the online version of TurboTax this year works the same as it has in previous years, you can use it to figure your taxes for free. You don't have to pay until you print the return or file it electronically.
posted by magicbus at 6:29 AM on March 11, 2008

The IRS offers a list of providers, called the Free File Alliance, that will allow you to file your federal (and some state) taxes for free, if your adjusted gross income was than 54,000 in 2007.
You can also use TurboTax to figure out your taxes without filing through them, as magicbus says. That might be your best bet.
posted by k8lin at 8:33 AM on March 11, 2008

Sorry, I meant to link to TurboTax, which I think is really great. I've done my taxes with it for the past few years and I'm confident in it.
They also offer free federal filing if your adjusted gross income was less than $30,000, and free state filing for the following states: AL, AR, AZ, GA, ID, IA, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NY, ND, NC, OK, OR, RI, SC, VT, WV.
posted by k8lin at 8:37 AM on March 11, 2008