Income Tax Review

(courtesy of www.apfn.org)

I hope you all had a great Emancipation Day! I know I did! It was surely a great way to honor our ancestors who found it in their hearts to allow all men to be created equal, just not all women. Emancipation Day certainly did help me when working out my tax situation for 2011. After spending a whole weekend marching up and down several flights of stairs at least 100 times, never empty handed, I had no chance to log on to the internet and prove to Uncle Sam that I have given them all I can. And then I lost my tax papers and I thought all was lost. Fortunately, being in the office very early yesterday morning gave me just enough time to get online copies of my paperwork.

I had a unique (for me) tax situation in 2011 - I spent four months as a New Jersey resident and I spent the remaining 8 months in the heart of Pennsylvania. Ultimately, I had three sets of taxes to report, and this is what I learned:

Federal Income Tax - I struggle mightily as it is. Due to some very bad decisions I made in my early 20's, I have been giving away more than half my pay check between taxes and student loans I defaulted on. If only I could go back in time, I would have done it all differently. I grew used to making the money that I made, living in a house, apartment, or with Kim's parents. Thank goodness I already max out on my federal income taxes witheld, because I could not imagine owing any more to anybody than I already do. Besides, with all the governmental problems in our country, I would rather know that I did my part by voting and giving them as much money as I could. Unfortunately, that gosh darn Uncle Sam will take it anyway to help pay off those damn loans! At least it helps pay them down quicker.

Pennsylvania State Income Tax - This return was a joke. It took me literally 5 minutes to efile. My taxes certainly are not complicated, but seriously this was a breeze. It is how it should be. What worries me though is that I owed $1. I guess for 8 months, $1 is not that bad for future tax projections. I may jump up to $2 for a full 12 months, which would be me paying 100% more taxes, and that is bogus. The plus, though, is that Pennsylvania does not require a payment of $1. It would probably cost them more to process that payment than they would get back. So does that mean that PA is very responsible with its money? I sure hope so, as I am here for the foreseeable future. I tried to report my NJ tax stuff on there as that is allowed between the two states. Something went awry, and it said I owed like a thousand bucks. Skip that noise!

New Jersey Income Tax - I shall not miss you, New Jersey. Filing as a former resident was one of the most difficult things in life I ever had to understand. Again, I am certainly no finance wizard (obviously). Yet, I have generally been pretty good at taxes. The requirements though that they had and the instructions for the NJ 1040NR (non-resident) was ridonkeylous. It tells you that in order to complete line 53, use one work sheet. One of the things required in that worksheet is your answer to Line 53. I must of checked 6 times on this. I am fairly certain I do not earn any additional deductions or exemptions, so zero it was. All in all, I am owed $55 from NJ, and if you did that for 12 straight monts it would come out to my standard $220 a year. Yup, another $55 straight to Uncle Sam.

Damn my blogs have been boring lately. Yet, my international audience has grown and grown. France, Egypt, Latvia - only the finest places in the world read Duba's blog. Future reviews will include: Random Tball Game Review, Apartment Review, Baptism Review. Future columns will include - New Duba Awkward Moment (find out what happens when you don't look where you are going in a grocery store), Lost Friend Memories, & I determine the Eagle's Record for the 2011-2012 season. Stay tuned! I promis it gets better.