Question for tax experts (1 Viewer)

[Rubi]

My parents are in their eighties and have been retired for many years,recently in a conversation my Mom said they didn't have to file taxes this year and haven't filed for a number of years. I recall my late mother-in-law saying that also before she passed. My Dad receives a pension and I don't believe they have any type of IRA or 401K plan. Is it possible they do not have to file income taxes at all? Thanks for any info from those in the know.

 

[eoMMan]

My parents are in their eighties and have been retired for many years,recently in a conversation my Mom said they didn't have to file taxes this year and haven't filed for a number of years. I recall my late mother-in-law saying that also before she passed. My Dad receives a pension and I don't believe they have any type of IRA or 401K plan. Is it possible they do not have to file income taxes at all? Thanks for any info from those in the know.

How much of a pension? I assume they both receive SS?

 

[eoMMan]

This should answer your questions...

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/When-Does-a-Senior-Citizen-on-Social-Security-Stop-Filing-Taxes-/INF14328.html

 

[rick6668]

Might want to check if they are getting any federal or state taxes taken out of the pension prior to their payments.

Although you they may not have to file, they may want to if they are due a refund.

 

[johnnycakes]

Yes, it is possible.

 

[Rubi]

My parents are in their eighties and have been retired for many years,recently in a conversation my Mom said they didn't have to file taxes this year and haven't filed for a number of years. I recall my late mother-in-law saying that also before she passed. My Dad receives a pension and I don't believe they have any type of IRA or 401K plan. Is it possible they do not have to file income taxes at all? Thanks for any info from those in the know.

How much of a pension? I assume they both receive SS?

Yes they both receive SS. Not sure exactly how much the pension is but I'd guess about $3000 a month.

 

[eoMMan]

My parents are in their eighties and have been retired for many years,recently in a conversation my Mom said they didn't have to file taxes this year and haven't filed for a number of years. I recall my late mother-in-law saying that also before she passed. My Dad receives a pension and I don't believe they have any type of IRA or 401K plan. Is it possible they do not have to file income taxes at all? Thanks for any info from those in the know.

How much of a pension? I assume they both receive SS?

Yes they both receive SS. Not sure exactly how much the pension is but I'd guess about $3000 a month.

Yeah, that's 36k before SS....they need to file. Should be a fairly easy return if they aren't itemizing. It'll just be the 1099s for SS and the pension.

 

[rick6668]

My parents are in their eighties and have been retired for many years,recently in a conversation my Mom said they didn't have to file taxes this year and haven't filed for a number of years. I recall my late mother-in-law saying that also before she passed. My Dad receives a pension and I don't believe they have any type of IRA or 401K plan. Is it possible they do not have to file income taxes at all? Thanks for any info from those in the know.

How much of a pension? I assume they both receive SS?

Yes they both receive SS. Not sure exactly how much the pension is but I'd guess about $3000 a month.

Yeah, that's 36k before SS....they need to file. Should be a fairly easy return if they aren't itemizing. It'll just be the 1099s for SS and the pension.

 

[Rubi]

Thanks guys

 

[RUSF18]

Can I jump in here with an unrelated question?

I started a new job last year and my new employer began withholding Illinois tax despite me living and working in New York (confusion because my direct boss works out of Chicago). I got it corrected but it took a few pay periods to go into effect. Meanwhile I was being taxed both by IL and NYS/NYC. Some googling told me I can file a non-resident return for Illinois to get that money refunded, some of which I would need to pay to New York to make them whole. What I found online indicated that when completing my IL return, I should override what was auto-populated as my state wages through my W2 entry, reporting $0 in wages earned in Illinois instead, and doing so would give me all those taxes paid as a refund. Last night I did everything and it seems to have worked out right between what I have coming back from IL and what I owe to NY.

Question is...I assume this is an easy red flag, after all, my employer has put on record that I earned $X in Illinois during 2014, and now I'm saying I didn't. Is there anything else I need to do to document this at this point, and is there anything I might need to do in the future? I read somewhere that the money I am getting back from IL could be treated as income in the future but that doesn't seem to make much sense.

Big thanks.

 

[johnnycakes]

Can I jump in here with an unrelated question?

I started a new job last year and my new employer began withholding Illinois tax despite me living and working in New York (confusion because my direct boss works out of Chicago). I got it corrected but it took a few pay periods to go into effect. Meanwhile I was being taxed both by IL and NYS/NYC. Some googling told me I can file a non-resident return for Illinois to get that money refunded, some of which I would need to pay to New York to make them whole. What I found online indicated that when completing my IL return, I should override what was auto-populated as my state wages through my W2 entry, reporting $0 in wages earned in Illinois instead, and doing so would give me all those taxes paid as a refund. Last night I did everything and it seems to have worked out right between what I have coming back from IL and what I owe to NY.

Question is...I assume this is an easy red flag, after all, my employer has put on record that I earned $X in Illinois during 2014, and now I'm saying I didn't. Is there anything else I need to do to document this at this point, and is there anything I might need to do in the future? I read somewhere that the money I am getting back from IL could be treated as income in the future but that doesn't seem to make much sense.

Big thanks.

I'd file the nonresident IL return, report the IL-source wages as IL taxable, compute the tax, take credit for the IL withholdings, etc... Claim the net tax liabililty as a credit on the NY tax return. There's a schedule and a computation that goes along with that, but you should get the whole IL tax paid as a credit in NY since NY tax rates are higher than those in IL, iirc.