"Same as Last Year"

[RitaB]

Well, here's a new one.

Me: "Taxpayer, did you not work for Cumberland County school system in 2014? I don't see a W-2 here."

TP: "Oh, is it not there?" (Uh, that's what I just said.) "It should be the same as last year."

Riiiiight.

[BulldogTom]

My wife and I have a saying in our office....."SALY is a bitch".

 

I hate the saying.

 

Tom

Newark, CA

[RitaB]

My wife and I have a saying in our office....."SALY is a bitch".

 

I hate the saying.

 

Tom

Newark, CA

This is why I love you, Tom. SALY is indeed a bitch. Especially on a W-2.

[mrichman333]

In NJ it's always more for school employees.

 

I always get the same line for deductions. 

[RitaB]

In 20 years, nobody has ever had the same W-2 income as last year. She's not the first, either.

[MsTabbyKats]

C'mon people........

 

If clients knew what was needed to do a tax return...they wouldn't be clients.

 

This is far from the stupidest question I ever heard.  Sometimes I think some people are truly brain dead.

 

Client had 2 teenage sons...who went to college.  Child tax credits ended....college tuition credits ended in 2014.  Dependent exemptions are ending.  Try explaining (to a brain dead person) why the refunds used to be about $4000/year...now they are almost $0...and next year...if the recent grad gets a real job....they will be owing about $2000!

 

I tried explaining this twice in the past 3 days...and it still hasn't sunk in.

 

It's "not the same as last year"! 

[FreedomTaxed]

We hear SALY frequently for Schedule C. I've never run into the same thing for a W-2, but I haven't been at this long enough to make the claim well enough. Surprisingly, we don't get many "just use my last pay stub".

[mcb39]

C'mon people........

 

If clients knew what was needed to do a tax return...they wouldn't be clients.

 

This is far from the stupidest question I ever heard.  Sometimes I think some people are truly brain dead.

 

Client had 2 teenage sons...who went to college.  Child tax credits ended....college tuition credits ended in 2014.  Dependent exemptions are ending.  Try explaining (to a brain dead person) why the refunds used to be about $4000/year...now they are almost $0...and next year...if the recent grad gets a real job....they will be owing about $2000!

 

I tried explaining this twice in the past 3 days...and it still hasn't sunk in.

 

It's "not the same as last year"! 

 

Same experience last week.   And, I had to tell them that if their son (who is not very motivated) drops out of school; they will be in a world of hurt.  Change your deductions NOW!!!!!!

[kcjenkins]

But, of course, they hardly ever listen.  My favorite gripe was the couples who never had enough withheld, but always blamed it on the other one.  "Well, I thought he was going to change his."  "Well, I told her to change hers."  For the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW?  Grrrrrrrr

[Catherine]

I have actually seen W-2's identical from one year to the next!  My husband and a couple of others are volunteer coaches for the MIT Collegiate Pistol Team.  But due to weird rules they must also be "employees" of MIT.  So they $600/year each (which all of them then donate back to the team, as the coaches' salary comes out of the team's account).  $0 fed withholding, the same $29 for state withholding, the same socsec/medi... every year, for each of them.

 

VERY odd circumstances.