quote:Originally posted by coaster RIGHT NOW ... before June 17. Tax is paid as income is earned; it's not paid in arrears. Therefore you are required to pay estimated taxes on your income on a quarterly basis, on the 15th of January, April, June and September (when the 15th is on a weekday).
We leave for the US in two days. I still don't know how much my bonus is going to be. The CFO has promised me for a month that he'd tell me. Let's not even worry about the fact that I should have had the check in-hand about a month ago. I need to know how much I'm going to owe in taxes and now it looks like I won't get the check until MAYBE June 30.
DW doesn't understand why I'm stressing about this. I'll need to pay the IRS once I earn the money, but do you think that's how they'll look at it? "Why did you make this large deposit on Sept 15th, and these smaller deposits otherwise? Are you trying to avoid the penalty?" It is then up to me to prove I didn't get my bonus until July.
I just want to avoid any dealings directly with the IRS. I've been to tea party rallies, so I'm probably already on their hit list.
Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:16 am
coaster Senior Advisor
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Re: Still no word on the bonus
quote:Originally posted by Wino .... I've been to tea party rallies, so I'm probably already on their hit list.
Ya, probably.
The estimated tax system is based on evenly distributed income over the year; however, and this is a possible *out* for you, there is an acceptable method of annualizing the payments; it's too complicated to go into here ... search the IRS site for tax topics and pubs on "Schedule AI".
Thing I don't remember right off the top is whether you can choose the term over which to annualize or whether it has the be the tax year in which the spiked income is received; I'm guessing the latter, in which case it's not much help as you've already missed one quarter and probably will miss two.
The way I handled this during the time I had some large and unpredictable ups and downs was to make some big payments early in the cycle....April and June, and then taper the last two (sometimes not even having to pay anything in January). Unfortunately that method doesn't help you out this year.
If you come up with a solution, please update us....
~Tim~
Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:04 am
Wino Senior Member
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Ignorance
The problem is that I have no way of knowing how much the bonus will be. I could take the time and effort to figure it out, but that's what we pay the CFO for, isn't it? I've already had to submit about a dozen reports and had my staff researching four single-spaced pages of jobs to determine their status... Frankly, I'm so worried about this whole thing that I don't know what to do.
I've submitted all of the IRS payments I need to based on the income I have received. I figure that's how it's done in a "real job;" if they pay you $10000 this month, they withhold for $10000. If they pay you $1000 next month, they again withhold accordingly. There's no way for me to know anything at all about this amount without more research, and even then, it would be no more than an educated guess.
Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:43 am
coaster Senior Advisor
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Ya, they don't make it easy. I heard on the news the other day that there's a Congressional committee (Ways and Means) that's actually looking at scrapping the entire tax code and starting with a blank sheet. Chances of it happening are probably pretty close to zero, but at least it's refreshing somebody in the Capitol building really actually does understand what's needed.
Now, if they could only make that "blank sheet" just one page long.....
~Tim~
Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:51 pm
clydewolf Senior Member
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Re: Still no word on the bonus
quote:Originally posted by Wino From another thread:
quote:Originally posted by coaster RIGHT NOW ... before June 17. Tax is paid as income is earned; it's not paid in arrears. Therefore you are required to pay estimated taxes on your income on a quarterly basis, on the 15th of January, April, June and September (when the 15th is on a weekday).
We leave for the US in two days. I still don't know how much my bonus is going to be. The CFO has promised me for a month that he'd tell me. Let's not even worry about the fact that I should have had the check in-hand about a month ago. I need to know how much I'm going to owe in taxes and now it looks like I won't get the check until MAYBE June 30.
DW doesn't understand why I'm stressing about this. I'll need to pay the IRS once I earn the money, but do you think that's how they'll look at it? "Why did you make this large deposit on Sept 15th, and these smaller deposits otherwise? Are you trying to avoid the penalty?" It is then up to me to prove I didn't get my bonus until July.
I just want to avoid any dealings directly with the IRS. I've been to tea party rallies, so I'm probably already on their hit list.
Do you have withholding from your salary for income tax?
Increase your withholding now and then when you know what your bonus is.
Withholding is assumed to be paid equally throughout the year even when it is not.
Having an amount withheld to be 100% of last years tax will keep you out of the IRS's hair.
Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:00 pm
Wino Senior Member
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Re: Still no word on the bonus
quote:Originally posted by clydewolf Do you have withholding from your salary for income tax?
Increase your withholding now and then when you know what your bonus is.
Withholding is assumed to be paid equally throughout the year even when it is not.
Having an amount withheld to be 100% of last years tax will keep you out of the IRS's hair.
I live in Dubai and work for a non-US company. There is no withholding, SS tax, medicare, etc. I am completely out of the US system with the exception of having to pay taxes.
I'm just going to send the money to the IRS when I get the bonus. There's no way I can know how much it is before I receive it.
My boss (the CFO's boss, as well) called me to tell me I'd get the numbers on Sunday. Of course, the CFO promised me the numbers by tomorrow. I actually needed the numbers no later than Saturday morning, when we meet with our realtor. Oh, well. I guess we'll just assume and lie when we look at the houses.
I had forgotten about the 100% rule. I'll definitely be sending back more than 100% of last year's taxes, so I guess I'll be covered there. I wonder how folks who are in retail withhold? Isn't December (Thanksgiving to Christmas) their largest month? Do they estimate "I'm going to make 800% more in that month, so I need to send 110% of what I make each previous month during the year?"
Sorry. Stress levels have not decreased. I'm really uptight about this, and until I get the figures, I'm not going to change. After I know the number, I wonder how long they'll wait to give me my check.
Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:46 am
Wino Senior Member
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quote:Originally posted by coaster Ya, they don't make it easy. I heard on the news the other day that there's a Congressional committee (Ways and Means) that's actually looking at scrapping the entire tax code and starting with a blank sheet.
The only tax that makes sense is to get rid of the IRS altogether. "We the people" have NO business knowing how much I earn. They are welcome, though, to tax what I SPEND by collecting a sales tax in lieu of the income tax.
A national sales tax also captures revenue from drug dealers, smugglers, sex trade workers... all the black market folks out there. At least let the 18 year old drug dealer on welfare pay taxes when he buys that brand new 700 series BMW.
Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:50 am
coaster Senior Advisor
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Re: Still no word on the bonus
quote:Originally posted by clydewolf Having an amount withheld to be 100% of last years tax will keep you out of the IRS's hair.
Well, you're mixing withholding and estimated payments. The method is not important; the amount is. The crucial amount is the smaller of 100% of last year's tax *or* 90% of this year's tax, and it's the total amount paid, not just the amount withheld. If there's a mix of income, it would be the total of withholding *plus* estimated payments. And on top of that, if there's less than $1000 due, then that waives the penalty as well, and makes all the other gobblety-gook moot.
Though, ya, it's splitting hairs....just wanted to make sure any other readers didn't get the idea only withholding counted, though ... point taken about increased withholding to offset the lack of estimated payments.
Anyhoo, this is all just too damn complicated; it gives me a headache.
