[Abyss]

Macros, on 05 February 2018 - 05:16 AM, said:

American taxes baffle me. If you're employed buna company in the UK the company pays your taxes, everything is calculated for you. You only have to do your taxes if you're self employed

Is that reliable?
...Canadian system is a bit different. Maple syrup and moose antlers are involved.

[Morgoth]

We do it the same way in Norway. We get a summary from the Tax authorities listing how much they believe we've earned, how much taxes we've payed through our employer an otherwise. Our amount of debt, charitable donations and so on. If we agree we simply ignore the thing, and if we discover an error we can correct it online, though we often need to attach documentation.

I had a couple of errors for the year I bought my apartment, but every other year the numbers were all correct.

[Obdigore]

Macros, on 05 February 2018 - 05:16 AM, said:

American taxes baffle me. If you're employed buna company in the UK the company pays your taxes, everything is calculated for you. You only have to do your taxes if you're self employed

So... John Oliver actually did a segment on this.

Tax Peparation Companies like H&R Block and Turbo Tax actually spend a ton of money on 'buying but technically not a bribe because the SCOTUS said so' to make sure taxes stay confusing and aren't automatically calculated like most western countries. Because their business is completely 'pay us 30 bucks and we'll do your taxes for you!' x 100 million people.

I enjoy how you have to have a Social Security Number to get a job/do just about anything major in this country, and yet the IRS can't just say 'these 4 employers all reported paying you for things, and they payed 38745 on your behalf, so your taxes are done unless you donated or did something else you want to claim'.

But don't worry, I'm sure Nico'll be along soon to make sure we know that IRS knowing how much we make is BIG GUBBERMENT OVERREACH, but gerrymandering voter districts based on racial lines is totally fighting for FREEDOM.

Honestly, someone I know has been doing work for an entity in Europe, and the VAT rules, while semi-confusing, certainly seem to make sense to me, in a way that current US taxation just doesn't.

[Obdigore]

Macros, on 05 February 2018 - 05:16 AM, said:

American taxes baffle me. If you're employed buna company in the UK the company pays your taxes, everything is calculated for you. You only have to do your taxes if you're self employed

Right you can do this in the US as well, if you choose the right deductions when you get employed and don't have things they give you money back on, like a new car, a mortgage, or solar panels, to name just a few.

The problem is that it is extremely complicated if you want to take those deductions.

If you are a single person who doesn't provide for anyone, you can pretty much take a 'straight' 1080-EZ, and with the W4 from your employer(s) you say 'Heres my stated pay, here is how much of that was taken out by the company to pay taxes, here is what I actually took home' and sign it and send it in.

It's when you get into the odd nitty gritty that it gets frustrating.

[Macros]

I do my own taxes online every year, takes me all of 15/20 minutes. And I'm self employed and so have to actually do a return.

When I was on the cards I did nothing, if you over pay tax they automatically rebate you.

When we go to the shop, the price on the label is the price you pay at the till. The taxes are already calculated for you

[QuickTidal]

Macros, on 05 February 2018 - 05:25 PM, said:

When we go to the shop, the price on the label is the price you pay at the till. The taxes are already calculated for you

Canada would drive you mental. It drives me mental...because there is a homogenized, yet invisible tax that is not a part of the listed price. It's fucking irritating. 13% or something. So you can never depend on what the price tag says...and if you do a grocery shop you have to use a calculator if you want to figure out what the end bill will be before you shop.

I WISH the tax was just present on the price tag. Would make life so much easier.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 05 February 2018 - 05:39 PM

[EmperorMagus]

QuickTidal, on 05 February 2018 - 05:39 PM, said:

Macros, on 05 February 2018 - 05:25 PM, said:

When we go to the shop, the price on the label is the price you pay at the till. The taxes are already calculated for you

Canada would drive you mental. It drives me mental...because there is a homogenized, yet invisible tax that is not a part of the listed price. It's fucking irritating. 13% or something. So you can never depend on what the price tag says...and if you do a grocery shop you have to use a calculator if you want to figure out what the end bill will be before you shop.

I WISH the tax was just present on the price tag. Would make life so much easier.

This. So much this.

The only reason taxes aren't included in the sticker price is because it would reduce consumption and WE CAN'T HAVE THAT NOW CAN WE??????

While on the subject of stupid laws/practices, can we make so that sticker prices have to be rounded to the nearest 0.25 or something so retailers would fucking stop the X.99 pricing?

[QuickTidal]

EmperorMagus, on 05 February 2018 - 06:13 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 05 February 2018 - 05:39 PM, said:

Macros, on 05 February 2018 - 05:25 PM, said:

When we go to the shop, the price on the label is the price you pay at the till. The taxes are already calculated for you

Canada would drive you mental. It drives me mental...because there is a homogenized, yet invisible tax that is not a part of the listed price. It's fucking irritating. 13% or something. So you can never depend on what the price tag says...and if you do a grocery shop you have to use a calculator if you want to figure out what the end bill will be before you shop.

I WISH the tax was just present on the price tag. Would make life so much easier.

This. So much this.

The only reason taxes aren't included in the sticker price is because it would reduce consumption and WE CAN'T HAVE THAT NOW CAN WE??????

While on the subject of stupid laws/practices, can we make so that sticker prices have to be rounded to the nearest 0.25 or something so retailers would fucking stop the X.99 pricing?

Agreed. I want to shout at them "You're not fooling anyone with this 4.99 bullshit. I know it's $5!" No one with any sense sees something marked as $4.99 and thinks "Oh, it's 4 bucks"

In fact, when I see merchants who go out of their way to round up to whatever it actually is, I'll make a point of shopping there more. It's rare though.

[Mentalist]

ugh, don't remind me about taxes.

This year I'll have to declare my rental income as part of my taxes. So it'll be interesting how that turns out.

[Morgoth]

is it the VAT that's not added? That sounds rather stupid if so.

[Obdigore]

Morgoth, on 06 February 2018 - 08:26 AM, said:

is it the VAT that's not added? That sounds rather stupid if so.

Not sure about the Canuks, as I've not been to the 51st state in 15 years, but yes in some states with a sales tax (essentially a VAT, in this instance), the prices listed don't have the tax built in to them. So if it says it's $9.99, and you have a 10% sales tax, the actual price you pay is 10.10. - Edit, actually more like 10.99, because I can't do math before I have my second cup of coffee.

Which is why I appreciate New Zealands' system so much. They don't have 'change', and everything price has the sales tax/VAT in it. So it's either $9, $10, or $11, not $9.59 or some shit.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 06 February 2018 - 04:27 PM

[EmperorMagus]

Morgoth, on 06 February 2018 - 08:26 AM, said:

is it the VAT that's not added? That sounds rather stupid if so.

It's a straight up percentage tax on the full price of the item. It's 13% in BC, so if I wanted to a buy a 2000 $ laptop I actually have to pay 2260 $, but the price tag shows the 2000.

Basically what Obdigore said. And yes, it is very stupid.

[Traveller]

You know when you lean forwards slightly to do something like put trousers on, and your back goes? And after the initial pain, and crouching trying not to move, you manage to ease down to laying prone on the floor?

Yep. Here I am, just staring at the carpet.

[Traveller]

Fortunately I'm not alone. I asked my daughter to get my phone - when I told her i couldn't move she said 'oh good' and did patacake on my arse cheeks. Then left.

Laughing hurts.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 11 February 2018 - 12:30 PM

[Silencer]

Obdigore, on 06 February 2018 - 02:09 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 06 February 2018 - 08:26 AM, said:

is it the VAT that's not added? That sounds rather stupid if so.

Not sure about the Canuks, as I've not been to the 51st state in 15 years, but yes in some states with a sales tax (essentially a VAT, in this instance), the prices listed don't have the tax built in to them. So if it says it's $9.99, and you have a 10% sales tax, the actual price you pay is 10.10. - Edit, actually more like 10.99, because I can't do math before I have my second cup of coffee.

Which is why I appreciate New Zealands' system so much. They don't have 'change', and everything price has the sales tax/VAT in it. So it's either $9, $10, or $11, not $9.59 or some shit.

Unfortunately NZ is not yet *that* advanced. We do the GST (VAT) included in prices, but we don't round to the nearest dollar yet. Change is still very much a thing.

We *did* get our shit together and eliminate the useless 5c coin, so our smallest denomination is 10c now, for which I was forever grateful, but we do still charge $9.99 or $9.95 etc.

[Slow Ben]

We're stupid and still use the damn penny. 1 cent.

[Cause]

Traveller, on 11 February 2018 - 12:27 PM, said:

You know when you lean forwards slightly to do something like put trousers on, and your back goes? And after the initial pain, and crouching trying not to move, you manage to ease down to laying prone on the floor?

Yep. Here I am, just staring at the carpet.

How long before we send rescue teams?

[Obdigore]

Silencer, on 11 February 2018 - 01:59 PM, said:

Obdigore, on 06 February 2018 - 02:09 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 06 February 2018 - 08:26 AM, said:

is it the VAT that's not added? That sounds rather stupid if so.

Not sure about the Canuks, as I've not been to the 51st state in 15 years, but yes in some states with a sales tax (essentially a VAT, in this instance), the prices listed don't have the tax built in to them. So if it says it's $9.99, and you have a 10% sales tax, the actual price you pay is 10.10. - Edit, actually more like 10.99, because I can't do math before I have my second cup of coffee.

Which is why I appreciate New Zealands' system so much. They don't have 'change', and everything price has the sales tax/VAT in it. So it's either $9, $10, or $11, not $9.59 or some shit.

Unfortunately NZ is not yet *that* advanced. We do the GST (VAT) included in prices, but we don't round to the nearest dollar yet. Change is still very much a thing.

We *did* get our shit together and eliminate the useless 5c coin, so our smallest denomination is 10c now, for which I was forever grateful, but we do still charge $9.99 or $9.95 etc.

Huh. When I was in NZ everything was a rounded dollar and All the change I had in my pockets were 1 and 2 dollar coins.

Maybe thats some rose tinted glasses though?

[Macros]

I think it's called robbing the stupid american

[Obdigore]

Macros, on 12 February 2018 - 05:25 PM, said:

I think it's called robbing the stupid american

Could be.