sounds like theft to me...

Wow, would I like to keep everything I make? Yep! Is there a lot of waste? Yep! Is the government a good steward of my money? Nope! Does the tax system need overhauled? You bet!! But until then I’ll pay as little as legally possible. Now would I like to make $50,000 a year and pay nothing, maybe even collect a little (I’ve still got kids at home)? Or would I prefer to make$150,000 and pay $25,000 to support our troops and everything else that makes this the best country on earth? I’ll take the $150,000.

And buy a farm. Last year I finally claimed my farm income and expenses for the first time. I went from owning $8,500 to getting a $3200 return. I can't believe I didn't start claiming my expenses sooner. I think I wanted to make a profit first. But it was generating an income but still at a slight loss but getting closer to profitable. It would be profitable if I were home more to help develop markets but it's getting there.

It may have been a money pit the last several year but because I claimed my expenses it saved the difference in what I owed and got back and that I could put back into equipment to save time and efficacy that should lead to being able to become profitable sooner.

I did taxes for farmers for a bit over 30 years and do one yet now. Owning a self employed business and filing on a cash basis is one of the easiest ways to manage taxes I have ever worked with. I went to tax preparer courses for decades and there were no other businesses that were able to manage taxable income like cash filing farmers could. There are some issues when selling out or having an auction and paying back lots of depreciation but there are ways to move depreciable property and minimize that as well. Today with a capital gain tax rate where it is, not a bad time to move some property one plans to sell anyway. Prices are high, gains are big and rates are low. Finding a safe and decent return investment may take some time but if I had land I wanted to sell I would sell it when corn is $7 and beans are $14 and wheat at $8-9. Hay is horribly short in supply as well.

Bryce

I get my stuff from the accountant tomorrow morning. I always hate this time of year. One big bite in the butt.

Yup. Fishing and farming are very similar in this way. Seems like everything you do is for the business and therefore a business expense. Hope to have my numbers in to the accountant by Monday. Gonna owe.

I wonder if I would be pushing it to buy a new thermal with NV overlay optic, new supresed rifle for predator comtrole
Can't have the lights and noise spooking the livestock after all. It would be a good deduction;)

Finished mine today. Lots of people I know say they have been getting a check in 2 weeks or so.

What baffles my mind is in my case, with only my income I pay in $3172 a month between Federal and State. Have to file quarterly. At the end of the year I got $47 back from state and paid in $6900 Federal. Yet someone that doesn't work an hour in the year gets a "return." If you can explain how that's a good thing I will let my mind be at ease.

Hire a better accountant eh? That’s got to be a “tongue-in-cheek” answer! LOL

They don't get a return, they may get a refund. A return is what you send in, a refund is what you get back if you get a refund. Those that don't work don't get refunds, refunds are monies returned to you that you overpaid. If you don't work and receive money it is some type of credit.

Bryce

LOL Bryce, that’s doesn’t make us feel better! LOL

mine was 2 weeks to the day,filed with turbotax

Just picked up our year end taxes from our accountant today. We have a refund this year. However, our refund will be used up and more paid out in our 1st quarter Federal and state estimated payment due 4/18. We try to keep our estimated payments high enough in an effort to avoid a big pay out come the end of the tax year. We have many deductions and donations each year that help at the end of the year but there isn't much wiggle room with the Gov't. if you are running things legit.

We had our taxes done last Friday and got a notice that the refund should show in our bank on 4-4-22, Just nine days after filing. We'll see if it's true on Monday.

Turn in our records to our accountant on Monday. I hate tax time. We will see what line we fall on. Never good. I have paid in my entire life. I think I got a refund check when I was 18 or 19. But have paid in ever since then. I will be 58 this year. This is the only club where I keep paying higher dues each year.
. This is a picture of a penny. 1798 is the date. This thing is the size of a silver dollar. Pay more for less. How times have changed. Still Love our country. But the tax’s need to change. And we need to stop rewarding those for not working.

Lots of times this is true but total bull in the bigger picture. Let's say you collect $10,000 a month rent on a commercial property. Your income is $120,000 a year. Of course you can expense certain things. Let's say you also owe a mortgage on that property that is $9,000 a month. You still made $120,000 minus what you can deduct as legal expenses toward the property. What you can NOT expense is the $9,000 per month mortgage. Only interest on the mortgage can be deducted. Anything paid toward principal can not. So adjusted gross income does not always equate to making a lot. Many people/entity's with massive income drown due to having greater tax burden than cash at hand. You can call it bad planning. Truth is it is one of the many reasons it is hard to climb to the top in our tax system. IMO

If you have a 9k per month mortgage payment for say a 20 year mortgage which means you borrowed several million dollars to generate $120 K per that is not the IRS's fault you did that. Also if you paid that much for the properties your depreciation would be high enough to wipe out any profit you may have. You could own this for many years with no taxable income but when you sell you would need to claim as income all the depreciation you claimed. If the selling price goes up enough there will be gain to cover if not you could have a substantial tax liability to pay. I did taxes for several rental owners and almost all were losing monies even when they were able to do almost all the remodeling and maintenance themselves. Many chose to invest in these to hide income and grow assets. Many were carpenters, plumbers, etc. that were handy, made very good money and chose to invest in rental RE.

Bryce

HA HA,you guys are paying for all the fat cats like Trump and Gates that dont pay any tax,lol.

In my experience noting is the the IRS's fault. LOL Just pointing out to yousowise that paying taxes on a bunch of money does not mean you have a dime.

My example was not real life. The one in real life was an land contract amortized much shorter then 20 years with a triple net lease. Was a small part of a bigger deal with a business being purchased separately. Was still the losing part of the deal. As you say does erase a bit of income and hopefully it is a asset that maintains or grows in value.