Wow! Doesn't this thread just perfectly illustrate the idiocy of our tax system? As I've scrolled through these three pages I've felt for the posters who are struggling to get a simple, straight answer - use the 3115 form,
don't use the 3115, call a professional, I did and none of the professionals have heard of the form, the language is not user friendly on this form, send in amended returns, did Turbo Tax do this right - it just deducted the full $80,000, and on and on and on.
This is nuts!
Who's got time for this? The amount of time a person has to spend on just trying to understand the correct way to file our taxes is criminal. We ought to be able to charge the government an hourly rate for every hour we must spend to translate and comprehend this quagmire.
And there's no certainty it's done right, is there?
I have three rental properties. Going back over my returns from 1998 to 2020 during which time I have paid two different CPA's and one enrolled agent, or used Turbo Tax or done my taxes myself using paper forms here's what I found for just one rental property on these tax returns:
Some years there was no depreciation claimed for this property.
The cost basis to calculate the depreciation is different on several returns.
The amount of depreciation is not the same throughout the years it's been a rental.
Last year the enrolled agent who charged me $600 didn't include the depreciation on this one rental. He also didn't send any notes or summaries as to how he got the figures he got. He just scanned in the forms of my return and sent me a PDF.
Today I'm writing a very hefty check in the five figures to the US Treasury - an amount that would cover the cost of three dental implants and minor dental surgery that I can not afford because my savings is going to taxes - and I'm grinding the teeth I have left as I write the check, which I'm not even sure is for the correct amount!
Too much? Too little?
I wish we were a country of empowered citizens who demanded a more just and equal tax system, a system that the average person could navigate with ease, pay our fair share and see the results of prosperity and peace for this annual investment we all must pay. Well not all - the multi-millionaire class don't hang out in a Turbo Tax thread because they pay very little taxes in comparison and don't waste their precious time worrying about it.
