Lost Tapes: Tax Anxiety

[00:00:00] How many people are Robin, Peter, PayPal? How many people are not paying taxes throughout

[00:00:12] the year so they can make ends meet and then at the end of the year they know I'm going

[00:00:17] to owe all this money to taxes, I'm going to owe this, I'm going to have to start

[00:00:21] an agreement plan or payment plan or something like that. But that's a reality that people

[00:00:27] during this time and like you said it goes back to that fear of making a mistake, the

[00:00:31] complexity and the confusion. If I don't do this I'm not going to be able to feed my

[00:00:35] kids, I'm not going to be able to feed myself. Right? It's an unfortunate reality.

[00:00:40] Welcome back folks. This is episode 12 of Safe Talk. We're talking about tax anxiety

[00:00:48] as we move into the tax season as they change and update the brackets. But before

[00:00:53] we get into it, what's up Walt? How you doing sir? I'm getting anxious just thinking about

[00:00:57] taxes. I know right? No, I'm good man, I'm good. I'm loving this series, this little

[00:01:01] mini series that we're doing on the tax brackets and tax anxiety. I think it's

[00:01:05] something that's super important especially in today's climate with inflation and rising

[00:01:10] cost, rising home cost, rising food cost. I know that things have been getting

[00:01:14] a little bit better here in the last few months. I think that is important, it's

[00:01:18] an important subject to talk about so I'm excited to get into it and have this

[00:01:22] space for us to agree, disagree, work things out. I love this show because of

[00:01:29] course folks this is Safe Talk, it's a safe place to talk. On our other shows

[00:01:35] it's about payroll, we talked about how the tax brackets impact payroll

[00:01:39] professionals. We talked about and it's about your paycheck, how the tax

[00:01:43] brackets impact us as individuals, as employees. And here I want to just talk

[00:01:48] about why, like why does it get us anxious and how can we combat that a little bit?

[00:01:53] The money, like my wife always says, oh you get so tense when we talk money

[00:01:57] and what I realized recently is that I start worrying about my future

[00:02:01] immediately. Oh my gosh, right? Because payroll folks we're aging, we're

[00:02:05] aging folks so it's not aging, aging. And most of us are over 40, that's

[00:02:13] another thing we're going to do this season is trying to get young people

[00:02:16] excited about payroll. But with that being said, I get anxious because I'm

[00:02:21] thinking about the future and so I wanted to share a few things of why we

[00:02:25] get anxious, right? Like why do we get anxious when we talk taxes?

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[00:03:34] Because one, it's complex and confusing, right? Tax laws are just

[00:03:38] overwhelming. Two, we have a fear of making a mistake. There's a common

[00:03:43] fear of making those errors that could lead to paying more taxes or worse,

[00:03:48] we miss our payments and we're facing penalties and then people threaten to

[00:03:52] get divorced. People threaten to get arrested and you go into jail or

[00:03:57] whatever. They might get divorced too. They might get divorced too.

[00:04:01] That's so funny because my wife said, no, my wife said, look, you

[00:04:04] make me go broke, we are done. That's the deal breaker. This fear is

[00:04:09] intense when people are self-employed or you have multiple income sources.

[00:04:14] Remember we talked with Tabitha Brown. She said it gets overwhelming because

[00:04:18] of the multiple places money is coming from. She's her own business now.

[00:04:22] She's self-employed so she's getting different deals, does a million

[00:04:26] different things. So yeah, it's all great but you have to keep it in

[00:04:30] track. Employees, we get lulled into this, oh, we get the check, we get

[00:04:34] the one check, we get the one check, we get the one check. It's easy but

[00:04:38] it gets more stressful for self-employed folks. And then another one is

[00:04:43] financial impact, right? Taxes have a direct impact on our money so the

[00:04:48] possibility of owing is it can be anxiety especially if you're already

[00:04:53] living paycheck to paycheck and you're not planning.

[00:04:58] Yeah, how many people are robbing Peter to pay Paul? How many people

[00:05:06] are not paying taxes throughout the year so they can make ends meet and

[00:05:13] then at the end of the year they know I'm going to owe all this money

[00:05:16] to taxes. I'm going to owe this. I'm going to have to start an agreement

[00:05:19] plan or a payment plan or something like that. But that's a reality that

[00:05:23] people face during this time. And like you said, it goes back to that

[00:05:28] fear of making a mistake, the complexity and the confusion. If I don't

[00:05:31] do this way then I'm not going to be able to feed my kids, I'm not

[00:05:34] going to be able to feed myself. It's an unfortunate reality.

[00:05:40] Yeah. And another one, it's super time consuming, right? And the more

[00:05:45] different things you have going, the more paperwork you have to get

[00:05:49] involved in. I've got to put all the documents together. I need this

[00:05:52] one. Did I get my 1095 yet? Did I get this yet? Did I get that yet? Oh

[00:05:56] gosh. So it's time consuming. There's also privacy and security concerns

[00:06:01] and I know I got this one when I'm sharing my, oh now when I'm

[00:06:07] sharing all these documents, I'm like, oh my gosh, like I get so

[00:06:11] nervous. What I do appreciate is that when the whoever's your tax

[00:06:18] preparer, they have a secure share drive and you can upload it directly

[00:06:22] to something instead of emailing your things across the world or

[00:06:26] whatever. Doesn't mean across town. As soon as it's on the internet,

[00:06:30] it's in the world. So that makes me nervous. I'm also an advocate

[00:06:35] of not doing mail W-2s. Like you should just log in and

[00:06:40] download it. That in and of itself is dangerous because if you're

[00:06:43] on an internet connection that's not secure, it's more dangerous

[00:06:46] though for your W-2 to go out on paper and somebody sees it and

[00:06:51] it's nothing to just grab it. Right? If some carrier or handlers

[00:06:56] or your mailboxes or whatever, people do it. It's easy to just

[00:07:00] steal it. Your whole identity is on this freaking W-2. Man,

[00:07:04] if you have a, think about it, if you have an unsecured

[00:07:08] connection or your connection, your internet, your web, your

[00:07:13] wifi is acceptable. I got to go to a library to use it. No!

[00:07:17] Yes, go to a library. You're in a Starbucks, you're in a this

[00:07:20] and that or whatever. There's different people that are just

[00:07:24] waiting around. One of the tactics, and I know this is a

[00:07:27] different show, but one of the tactics people use is that

[00:07:30] they have a little portable router that they take to open

[00:07:33] spots and they wait for people to connect and they name

[00:07:37] their router the same thing like Starbucks Guest. And you

[00:07:40] think you're connected to the actual restaurant or the

[00:07:45] actual establishment wifi, but nope, you're really on somebody's

[00:07:49] hotspot and they're tracking everything that you do. So I

[00:07:53] get the privacy and security concerns because you never know,

[00:07:57] man. No, it's not a different show. That's every show we do,

[00:08:01] cybersecurity is, that's a really good call out. I did not

[00:08:04] know folks did that. Thank you for that. It's probably on

[00:08:07] that list of 50 cybersecurity thing threats that we only got

[00:08:11] three into it. But yes, cybersecurity again, that's the

[00:08:14] point. The security of it all is like what? And then the

[00:08:17] last thing with the anxiety of it is past experiences. If

[00:08:21] you didn't have a good experience with your last tax

[00:08:23] per, I remember one year I went to an H&R block and I

[00:08:26] had to tell the person what to do and I just got up and

[00:08:29] left. I was like, hey, you know what? We're done here.

[00:08:31] I'm good. I'm not, we're not doing this. If I know more,

[00:08:34] if I know more than you, what you're doing? Cause folks,

[00:08:37] you gotta be careful. A lot of these tax preparers, they're

[00:08:40] just, they usher them in during tax seasons. They don't

[00:08:43] have, they don't need prior knowledge. They teach you how

[00:08:46] to key buttons, ask questions and hit the buttons and

[00:08:49] you're filed. Oh, I want a tax preparer that actually

[00:08:53] understands some code. You know what I mean? I had a great

[00:08:56] CPA, God rest his soul, that had this saying of to evade

[00:09:01] is illegal. To avoid is legal. And what that meant is if

[00:09:06] you know what you qualify for, what your benefits are

[00:09:11] and what your tax credits are and all these things, if

[00:09:15] you know the code and you know where you fit, you can

[00:09:19] apply it to your filing accordingly. Man, you got me

[00:09:22] feeling like I'm in church, man. Say that again. Say

[00:09:25] that one more time. To evade is illegal. To avoid

[00:09:30] is legal. But that means just knowing the code, knowing

[00:09:34] how to file, knowing all the things that are applicable

[00:09:37] to you. And it is complicated. We just talked about it

[00:09:40] on the other show. It's about your paycheck and it's

[00:09:43] about payroll. Go check those out. Those are free

[00:09:45] shows, right? God bless. Thank you folks for being

[00:09:47] on our safe talk and to our subscribers. We love

[00:09:50] you. We can still come in with the content for you,

[00:09:53] but go check out the free shows because we're talking

[00:09:56] about the more detailed stuff there. What's up?

[00:09:59] So going back into these past experiences, right?

[00:10:02] I've heard stories of people trusting someone in their

[00:10:05] family or trusting someone they were referred to to

[00:10:09] file their taxes and this person stole their money.

[00:10:14] Oh, no. I've heard stories of that. I'm sure you

[00:10:17] have too of where this person filed and said,

[00:10:19] hey, I'm going to get you a refund. The check is

[00:10:21] going to come to me and then I'll raise the

[00:10:23] payment to you. And this person just disappears.

[00:10:26] How does this person disappear? Where did they go?

[00:10:29] I've heard stories of that, of people getting taken

[00:10:32] advantage of. That makes people a little leery.

[00:10:35] That causes what that force is, is that forces the

[00:10:39] individuals to go to a TurboTax or a tax act or one

[00:10:43] of these self-filing programs that are out there.

[00:10:46] You still don't know, really don't know, even

[00:10:48] though they have breakdowns and explain everything

[00:10:50] to you. Honestly, some people really don't know,

[00:10:53] okay, this thing is suggesting that I do this,

[00:10:55] then I'm going to follow the suggestion. I'm going

[00:10:58] to do this and I'm going to do that. No.

[00:11:01] Those past experiences, I think, really play into

[00:11:05] why there's so much anxiety around tax time

[00:11:08] because there's some crazy stories out there,

[00:11:10] man, about how people have impacted.

[00:11:13] I would say be careful with these pop-ups, right?

[00:11:16] The storefront was empty a week ago, but now

[00:11:18] it's tax season and boom, it's a pop-up tax

[00:11:20] preparer office. Where were you before?

[00:11:23] You know what I mean?

[00:11:24] At the end of the day, the unfortunate thing

[00:11:27] is that the government was like, oh, I'm sorry

[00:11:29] that happened to you, but you still owe.

[00:11:33] Still owe. That's right. You still owe on that.

[00:11:37] Yeah. It can be really, yes, all that.

[00:11:41] All that. Overall, it contributes to our anxiety.

[00:11:45] The combination of these financial implications,

[00:11:48] the need for it to be exact, the complexity

[00:11:51] of the laws, it stresses us out. Period.

[00:11:55] So stressful.

[00:11:56] On that note, what can we do to battle

[00:12:00] some of these anxieties and the stress of it all?

[00:12:03] As employees, these are just suggestions,

[00:12:05] but these things may help you along the path.

[00:12:08] You may consider doing all of them or some

[00:12:10] of them depending on your tolerance

[00:12:13] or whatever you need. The first thing is,

[00:12:16] tax season often brings waves of anxiety

[00:12:22] to us as employees. So what could you do?

[00:12:25] You can acknowledge that anxiety.

[00:12:28] You can acknowledge that stress and try

[00:12:30] to understand the undermined things of it all.

[00:12:34] Now that may seem like burdensome and a lot to do.

[00:12:37] So you may be able to do that or you may not

[00:12:40] be able to do that, but you can try to acknowledge

[00:12:42] it and say, okay, hey, I understand why I'm stressed.

[00:12:46] It's almost like having self-awareness within yourself

[00:12:49] and being able to realize that.

[00:12:51] No, it's coming. It's coming.

[00:12:53] And so the next step is early planning

[00:12:57] and being organized. So procrastinating

[00:13:01] and waiting until the last minute is only going

[00:13:04] to amplify or increase that stress,

[00:13:09] especially when it comes to taxes.

[00:13:11] So you can start early.

[00:13:12] So that means start now.

[00:13:14] I remember my dad, to his credit,

[00:13:18] he used to have one of those, not a Rolodex,

[00:13:20] but one of those accordion type file things

[00:13:23] that stretched out and he would put things in there

[00:13:25] by alphabetical order.

[00:13:26] This is going under A, B, C, D.

[00:13:29] He used to have those things

[00:13:30] and prepare himself for those tax seasons.

[00:13:34] So he had everything, every receipt, everything.

[00:13:36] So he had it already organized.

[00:13:38] So by the time the end of the year came,

[00:13:40] he would have all of that stuff right here.

[00:13:42] All you got to do is just hand it over to your tax preparer

[00:13:44] or you just pull it out when you're ready to file your taxes.

[00:13:47] So early planning and being organized

[00:13:50] will help relieve some of that stress.

[00:13:52] Start early.

[00:13:54] Yeah, I tell myself that every year.

[00:13:56] I'm okay with it, but I still end up waiting

[00:13:59] too long to have two buckets of receipts

[00:14:03] that I got to go through and pick out the ones.

[00:14:06] But I should be more intentional

[00:14:08] because I know which ones are going to impact me

[00:14:10] tax-wise at the end of the year.

[00:14:12] So I need to be like, maybe this year

[00:14:14] I think I'm going to be more intentional

[00:14:15] as I save new receipts.

[00:14:17] But yeah, I'm a victim of this too.

[00:14:18] I wait too long and then it takes me like a whole day

[00:14:21] to prepare.

[00:14:22] And then you're scrabbling.

[00:14:23] Yeah, I got to take a day off.

[00:14:25] Literally, I think I have to get some PTO,

[00:14:27] take a day off.

[00:14:28] I'm serious and get on my stuff

[00:14:29] because it's too much.

[00:14:30] It's too much.

[00:14:31] I waited too long.

[00:14:32] I don't want it to take away from my weekends.

[00:14:35] Think about it.

[00:14:36] If you have multiple accounts,

[00:14:37] multiple streams of income,

[00:14:39] like you mentioned multiple streams of income

[00:14:41] and all these different things,

[00:14:43] it's going to factor in.

[00:14:44] Hey, okay.

[00:14:45] That's just you as an individual.

[00:14:46] Imagine if you have family and dependents

[00:14:48] that you're responsible for.

[00:14:50] That's even more stress.

[00:14:52] Side business.

[00:14:53] You got a side hustle and you're doing this and that.

[00:14:55] Yes.

[00:14:56] You got to have everything accounted for.

[00:14:58] Even if you're into sports betting as an employee,

[00:15:01] you have to pay taxes on those winnings.

[00:15:05] So you need to make sure you have...

[00:15:07] Good call out.

[00:15:08] Yes.

[00:15:09] You have to pay taxes.

[00:15:10] That's something to think about as well.

[00:15:12] You can report that on your taxes.

[00:15:13] If you're taking a loss,

[00:15:15] you can report that.

[00:15:16] This is just a fun tip for you.

[00:15:18] Yep.

[00:15:19] Another thing is trusted professional guidance.

[00:15:22] I want to throw that word in here.

[00:15:24] It just says seek professional guidance,

[00:15:25] but trusted professional guidance.

[00:15:27] Do your research.

[00:15:29] Review and see,

[00:15:30] hey, what has been people's experience

[00:15:32] using these people to file their taxes.

[00:15:35] So as we know,

[00:15:36] tax codes are intricate and navigating them can be overwhelming.

[00:15:42] So you should consider getting the assistance of some trusted...

[00:15:47] If you can afford it also.

[00:15:49] That's the other thing I throw in there.

[00:15:50] If you can afford it.

[00:15:51] Sometimes you can't not afford it.

[00:15:53] You can't afford not to do it, but of course.

[00:15:55] It may be a little bit more expensive,

[00:16:00] but it may be well worth it.

[00:16:03] So instead of you paying that $60 that you pay by doing it yourself on tax act

[00:16:08] or turbo tax,

[00:16:09] you may have to pay double or triple that.

[00:16:12] But they know those tax professionals are on their stuff.

[00:16:16] They know where to get you more money and what to write off and stuff like that.

[00:16:21] Go ahead.

[00:16:22] I give you a good personal advice is like a good one is going to take an hour or two

[00:16:28] to interview you and understand your life and everything that impacts it.

[00:16:35] Because that is where you that's the avoid part, right?

[00:16:40] What if you do something that you have a credit for?

[00:16:44] You don't even know.

[00:16:45] You don't even know.

[00:16:46] So a good tax person is going to interview your life.

[00:16:49] You may think it's evasive.

[00:16:51] What you asking me all these questions for?

[00:16:52] Because you could be contributing to the local this and oh, that's a tax credit.

[00:16:59] Oh, you have an elderly person that you care for in the house.

[00:17:02] That's a tax credit.

[00:17:03] You have children.

[00:17:04] Your tax.

[00:17:05] You don't know.

[00:17:06] Some people think that, oh, I just had a child.

[00:17:09] 1231.

[00:17:10] Guess what?

[00:17:11] You can write them up.

[00:17:12] It's a whole year now.

[00:17:13] Yep.

[00:17:14] They don't know that.

[00:17:15] You don't even know.

[00:17:16] Oh, I figured because it was 1231, they were born that I can't do it for this.

[00:17:20] No, you can.

[00:17:21] But that's what I'm saying.

[00:17:22] So guess something like if they're really digging in, then you know they're good.

[00:17:26] There should be a better sign of a good sign.

[00:17:29] That's a good sign.

[00:17:30] That's a good flash.

[00:17:31] Sorry.

[00:17:32] No, you're good.

[00:17:33] Thank you, sir.

[00:17:34] The next one is utilizing technology.

[00:17:36] So there are numerous apps and online tools that can simplify the tax filing process.

[00:17:42] Again, I mentioned some like TurboTax, Tax Act.

[00:17:45] They can walk you through, but you should still do your research, right?

[00:17:48] Even some employers provide electronic access to W-2 forms.

[00:17:53] But as you, as an employee, don't know you have that capability and you prefer not getting it through the mail, but an electronic version.

[00:18:02] Your employer may have that option, but you may not even know that as an employee.

[00:18:09] Then there's tax software that can guide individuals through the filing process, helping eliminate errors and the streamlining.

[00:18:17] Streamlining the process.

[00:18:19] So you will definitely want to embrace technology to make the process more manageable.

[00:18:24] I will say I use TurboTax myself, and it is easier to put your data in.

[00:18:31] And so what TurboTax that you can put in.

[00:18:35] There's a number that's on your W-2 that you can enter and it will pull it, pull in the data and your information.

[00:18:42] So you don't have to upload anything. You don't have to scan anything, so you're protected.

[00:18:47] So this technology, it can work for you if you know how to use it.

[00:18:52] And it could also help you like you mentioned in number and the first two that you can early planning, right?

[00:18:59] If you start scanning things in and budgeting and it starts putting it in the buckets that you need it to be in and you get your write offs, right?

[00:19:05] So folks who are preparing early and if you do write off instead of the standard deduction, we cover that in the other two shows.

[00:19:12] So go there. That could help you get organized. You can start accounting for it.

[00:19:16] And I'm intentional this year. I won't end up with what my bucket is right over here.

[00:19:20] That's why I'm looking at it and I can scan things in and start accounting for it early so I can watch my stuff early on.

[00:19:27] So yeah, technology is good.

[00:19:30] Yep. Yes, correct. If you use right. That's the big caveat there.

[00:19:35] So if the next one you want to look, you said it just now, you want a budget for those tax liabilities.

[00:19:42] So say I may have a nine to five, but I do some side work and I have my own business or I'm a contractor and I'm 1099.

[00:19:53] 1099 employees are contractors. You're reliable for your own taxes at the end of the year.

[00:20:00] So understanding that and planning for these tax liabilities throughout the year can help you mitigate that anxiety associated with your potential tax bill.

[00:20:10] Again, prepare preparing yourself in early planning and organization throughout the year can help you do that.

[00:20:18] And if you do the math, it'll help you save accordingly.

[00:20:22] So like you want to prepare yourself and make sure that you're tracking that if you are a 1099 contractor and you say, OK, I owe this much.

[00:20:32] The IRS has a nice tool out there, a tax calculator or estimator.

[00:20:36] And you can say, hey, this is how much I've made as a 1099 employee. How much should I have to pay?

[00:20:42] There's I know there's a percentage out there that you like to throw out there. What do you say?

[00:20:45] I'd say 30, 35 percent. Right.

[00:20:47] For what? For paying taxes? Yes. Yes. 25 to 35 percent.

[00:20:51] You can estimate that's what you're going to pay total state, local, federal, that type of thing.

[00:20:57] So that's something that you can use. It's like that 25 to 35 percent.

[00:21:01] Like the estimator is better.

[00:21:04] The estimator is better because it'll give you a more targeted number, right, that you would have to do.

[00:21:10] So that's just something for you to utilize.

[00:21:13] And when it comes to budgeting for tax liabilities, the next thing you want to do is you want to take advantage of deductions and credits.

[00:21:20] Yeah. Like familiarize yourself with any available deductions or credits that may reduce your tax liability.

[00:21:27] Common deductions include those related to education, home ownership and charitable contributions.

[00:21:34] So let's say you are a religious person, you go to church or you go to your mosque or whatever religion you're into and you pay contributions and you give to charity.

[00:21:42] Whether that's your tithes or you're just giving a gift.

[00:21:45] Those things can be considered charitable contributions.

[00:21:49] Right. And so you as an employee should know that you just bought a home.

[00:21:54] You may get some deductions or some credits.

[00:21:58] You just you're in school. You may get some deductions and credits even if you have a nine to five.

[00:22:02] But you're also going to school. You may be eligible for some of those things.

[00:22:07] So take advantage of those things and that and realizing that can help in some ways can help alleviate certain stress.

[00:22:14] Another big thing that we're really advocates of and we've all have been saying is practicing self-care.

[00:22:21] Give yourself some grace.

[00:22:23] Tax related anxiety can definitely and will definitely take a toll on your mental well-being.

[00:22:29] So practice some self-care techniques such as exercise, being mindful, getting adequate sleep to manage that stress.

[00:22:37] Taking breaks during the tax prep process can help you maintain focus and prevent burnout.

[00:22:44] Let's think about it. If you're scrambling at the last minute and you're already in a heightened anxious state, you could miss something.

[00:22:53] I got to request my day off. I'm not even playing.

[00:22:58] I don't want to be I don't want to be distressed out if I have a day if I have the day then it's like an eight hour period where I'm working anyway.

[00:23:05] If I can, you know, I can just tackle it because I waited too long.

[00:23:08] You know what I mean? No. Yep.

[00:23:11] And then the last tip to help alleviate that can potentially help alleviate some anxiety and stress during tax time is communicating with your employers.

[00:23:21] So if you're uncertain or you have concerns that arise from tax related matters, you don't know where to start.

[00:23:28] Yeah. Yeah. Don't hesitate to communicate with your payroll team or your HR team at your employer.

[00:23:37] Employers may provide resources and clarification on company specific matter, tax matters and offer some reassurance and support.

[00:23:47] If you work for a company that has a good HR and our payroll team, they should have some resources available.

[00:23:55] Now, again, I want to let you know that your payroll professional, your average payroll professional should not be giving you legal tax advice on what you should file.

[00:24:05] No guidance. Yeah.

[00:24:07] They should guide you and point you in the right direction.

[00:24:09] Hey, you may want to go look over here.

[00:24:12] Like those signs that say, hey, this way.

[00:24:15] Follow the signs.

[00:24:17] Yeah. And it depends, right? If you have a good relationship with them and whatnot.

[00:24:21] Yeah. They're not going to give you advice, but the guidance may get better.

[00:24:24] Little pointers and tips like, you know, one of the things when we fill out the W to the new W-4, it used to be easy. Single whatever.

[00:24:32] This now it's, oh, put $2,000 for every child you have.

[00:24:38] And they're like, what? How many? What? Folks get caught up there.

[00:24:42] And so you got to multiply that for every child. And there's these new boxes that you got to check off.

[00:24:47] So you can again, I can't tell you what to put there, but look out for this.

[00:24:52] Okay. People get tripped up on this part all the time. Look out for that.

[00:24:55] If you're listening to this and you're like, oh, that W-4 stinks, check out our boy, Gerard Hall, that payroll guy, thatpayrollguy.com.

[00:25:03] He built a spreadsheet to help you go through the process and you can see your number change and you can see that it's a great tool.

[00:25:14] And go check it out. And just if you have trouble, that is it. We've used it.

[00:25:19] And I think we used like an employee, a random employee as an example to see, oh, this is actually working. This works.

[00:25:26] So we proved it out and it works. It's good. It's a good tool.

[00:25:31] Yep, it is. In conclusion, we're going to recap some of these bullet points and give you some of the key takeaways.

[00:25:40] So Brian, in your opinion, what are some of the key takeaways from this?

[00:25:45] I think it's confusing. Be prepared.

[00:25:48] Prepare yourself for the complexity of it. Right?

[00:25:52] What's going to be complex we have, we're scared.

[00:25:55] There's a financial impact. It's time consuming.

[00:25:58] There's privacy concerns and that you had a bad past experience.

[00:26:02] Right. So just if it's too late for you to go back to the past, you're going to have to go back to the past.

[00:26:07] I'm going to be more mindful. I'm going to use some technology and get myself prepared in advance.

[00:26:12] Yes, again, one of the key things for me is like you just said, like you just ended on, start early.

[00:26:17] Yeah.

[00:26:20] Also, I think that's a good thing.

[00:26:23] I think that's a good thing.

[00:26:26] And I think that's a good thing.

[00:26:29] I think that's a good thing.

[00:26:33] So you can request an extension.

[00:26:36] And that is, like you just said, like you just ended on, start early.

[00:26:40] Yeah.

[00:26:42] Also educate yourself.

[00:26:43] Yes.

[00:26:46] You know that, yes, that the normal deadline to file is April.

[00:26:50] But you can request an extension through the IRS that you may be approved to file later on in the year to give yourself more time to prep.

[00:26:59] out to me saying, man, I forgot that I have to, I got to file my taxes now. You can avoid that by

[00:27:05] educating yourself and knowing these different deadlines and these workarounds that you can like

[00:27:10] file later on in the year and be like, okay, I'm going to file in October instead of April.

[00:27:14] I give myself more time to collect all my data, get everything together, and then I can

[00:27:18] file for the prior year later on in this year. Right? You want to make sure you budget

[00:27:25] for potential tax liabilities, especially if you do get work or you're 1099 or self-employed

[00:27:31] and you want to make sure that you really watch those things so you don't end up owing

[00:27:37] or you break even at the end of the year. Right? Know what works for you. Get

[00:27:41] trusted professional guidance and help on these things. And the most important thing is to not

[00:27:48] allow yourself to become burdened so much more than you have to take breaks. Yeah.

[00:27:54] Man, practice self-care, give yourself some grace when it comes to these things

[00:27:59] and really just utilize technology. I've known of some people, I've dealt with people in the

[00:28:04] past. They were like, I don't trust anybody to do my taxes for me. I don't trust no,

[00:28:10] I don't trust any technology or system or website to do it for me. I'm going to do

[00:28:16] it myself. Yeah, that's you. That's fine. Be educated though. Get educated. Yeah. And

[00:28:22] prepare yourself and make sure that you're taking advantage of any potential deductions

[00:28:27] and credits that are out there. And again, prepare early. I just want to call one thing

[00:28:35] out there for you said the extension, the filing extension. Be careful because it's

[00:28:41] technically only the extension to file. If you know you pay every year, you're supposed

[00:28:48] to still pay on April 15th and then you can file. You have more time to file. So just

[00:28:55] be careful. If you get back money every year, then you should be safe. But again, educate

[00:29:01] yourself. If you're going to take advantage of the filing extension, just go right to the IRS.

[00:29:06] They define what you can do for the extension. I just went there to check it out. And

[00:29:10] I remembered, I was like, wait a minute. I think it's just to file, not to pay. But if

[00:29:14] you pay and it's true, and if you pay every year, then you're going to have to pay something

[00:29:18] and then can file. Yeah. Thank you for saying that. I know I said, I think I said file,

[00:29:23] but I didn't conclude all the extra stuff. So thank you. Yeah, no, no problem. Yeah.

[00:29:27] It's just this while we're talking about it, the things that make us anxious is just

[00:29:32] being educated. I had somebody recently reach out to me and was like, oh, I want to be

[00:29:37] exempt. But IRS defines exemption very specifically. You qualified last, you got all your money back

[00:29:45] last year and you expect the same scenario this year. Oh yes. If you think about it. So there

[00:29:52] are some that classify them as if you're a international person and you came in and you

[00:29:58] have a work exemption and you may not have to pay certain taxes. You want to make sure

[00:30:04] that you're set up correctly because that can cause some different, that's part of the prep.

[00:30:09] Prep. Yep. Students. We talked about students real quick. Students have an exemption.

[00:30:13] You're a full-time college student. There's an exemption. You're going to get all your

[00:30:16] money back. And if you set it up right, you don't have to pay out the gate. Little things

[00:30:21] like that folks, right? Again, those things makes us anxious. Just to get educated about

[00:30:26] it, get better about it, reach out to us. If you have trouble, we can guide you and point

[00:30:29] you in the right direction. At some point, I want to get a tax professional come on and

[00:30:34] help us through these things. But if you know somebody good, let us know. We'll have them on.

[00:30:39] But yeah folks, that is it for this week's Safe Talk as we prepare for tax season.

[00:30:46] Don't get too stressed out. Get prepared. I like that one. I think that's the biggest

[00:30:50] callout is get prepared, get educated, and really be proactive instead of letting it

[00:30:57] come full rain down on us like I did. Now I got to request a day off so I can deal with my taxes

[00:31:03] for real. But all right, until the next time folks, again, look out for this season. In

[00:31:09] our ecosystem of shows, we are this season, we're talking about getting folks, getting young

[00:31:16] folks excited about getting into payroll because we're aging. We're an aging group

[00:31:21] and we really need some young folks to backfill payroll because if not, what's going to happen?

[00:31:28] So that's what we'll be talking about throughout the season. We're going to have some guests.

[00:31:31] We're going to have some young payroll folks come on and tell us about being in payroll.

[00:31:35] I want to get my daughter on, talk about just the paycheck side of it, like the anxiety

[00:31:40] of oh my gosh, I'm a new employee. Right? So we're going to get all kind of different

[00:31:44] point of views and maybe that'll be a good Safe Talk to have them on. My daughter and

[00:31:48] her girlfriend want to come on and talk to us about because they're brand new to the workforce.

[00:31:52] So we've been planning it, like putting it off, but now it's perfect. This is the perfect season.

[00:31:56] This is what we're talking about. And yeah, just look out. We're going to have fun with it, man.

[00:32:01] Yep. Cool. To the next time folks. Yep. We love you. Peace.

[00:32:05] Before we sign off, here are a couple quick things. Don't forget to follow. It's about

[00:32:10] payroll on LinkedIn and it's about your paycheck on Facebook and TikTok.

[00:32:14] Thank you for being part of our payroll community and thank you for being a part

[00:32:19] of this journey with us. Until the next time, keep learning, keep growing,

[00:32:23] and most importantly, keep going. Thank you for tuning in to It's About Payroll.

[00:32:31] Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and most importantly, keep going.