Got our vehicle back and filed the taxes

Most of my income is predictable, and I have sufficient withholding taken out for those. Accurate prediction of investment income is more problematic, especially since capital gains are paid in December (hard to predict a year ahead). Luckily, I can download CSV files with the YTD earnings. Every quarter, I download and process the CSV files to adjust my estimated payments accordingly. Haven't been hit with a penalty yet.
Mark

Just got my car back too. Unfortunately the repair bill was greater than the federal refund we received.

I try to DIY when I can.

My dad had zero interest in cars, yet he worked on the family cars himself. A different time when people paid cash and didn't use credit cards.

But some jobs I have to pay for. I just got a rear wheel bearing replaced on my 2006, it's a tough DIY as the bearing is pressed in, and access as well. That cost $800! But, well worth it. I know I should not have been driving as long as I did knowing it was bad, about 4 mos. So glad that's done with too. Also had a broken caliper bolt replaced with a heli coil and new bolts. Drove 1 1/2 years missing one caliper bolt (fixed caliper, not floating, can't do that with floating). So more things fixed and good feeling they're in the rearview...

Normally I use TurboTax but for 2025 it isn’t compatible with Windows 10. I used H&R Block software as an alternative. One major shortcoming is it doesn’t import the appropriate data from the completed 2025 return to generate the 2026 1099-ES vouchers. That has to be done manually by manually inputting the appropriate numbers. TurboTax for 2024 generated the 1099-ES directly by extracting the needed info directly from the completed filing. What H&R Block suggests as an easy way is to simply divide what you owe for 2025 by 4 and send that in with a voucher.

My accountant e-filed mine about two weeks ago, she charged me $60. The good news was, no IRS or state taxes due and I'll even get $50 from the state as the result of a homestead tax credit (or something).

It's easy, if you don't want to pay tax, just use my simple formula:

no income = no taxes!

Good to know as the 1040 ES is new to me, for the TY 2026. I'll need to enter this info a year from now.

Also in 2020, I bought a new laptop because Turbo Tax didn't work on Windows 7 (was Win 10 free upgrade to 11). I'm typing on a Win 7 laptop right now, reason being, I have car mfg software that is questionable on whether it runs on Win 10. Funny I did use that software in Dec 2025.

Some of this forced upgrades is legit, some is to generate revenue, imho. I can tell everyone that I am not able to get to the vast majority of websites now when it detects I am on Win 7. This website is fine lol

You should be sending out Estimated Tax vouchers in 2026 based on what you owed in 2025. Otherwise you can be penalized. The 1099-ES schedule is quarterly beginning on 04/15/2026. The same pretty much goes for Pennsylvania. In that regard, see https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/revenue/docu...

I get a kick out of the fact that I pay quarterly PA taxes even though I get it all back as a refund.

Usually, I don't have enough PA taxable income to make the minimum. I can't take a chance though and pay a few $$ to avoid the penalty.

I should not owe more than $1000 next year, I actually should get $4000+ back as usual. But, what if something unforseen happens and I take another capital gain winding up with a penalty? So I'm doing the quarterly payments which I expect to get back 100%, maybe my refund is about $10k next year. I get it, first world problems, but deeply annoying. Now that I know how to pay online, when everything is back to normal, if I have a large gain, I will pay that quarter to avoid this again. Live and learn, nothing wrong with learning...

and DOH! You're saying PA, I'm saying IRS. Well, I'll figure out how to pay PA as well. Turbo Tax did say something about a penalty in PA, and then said I don't owe one...

Paid my taxes a couple weeks ago. This year I will make estimated payments so I don't get stuck with underpayment of tax next year like I did this year.

IRS took the money electronically which is good.

When I login to the IRS portal, there's no record of it.

I think it's normal, likely still processing. Or lost. But not likely imho to be lost.

The IRS "lost" one of my quarterly payments. I saved the cancelled check, so I was able to prove I made the payment. Still took 6 months to get resolved though.

For that reason, I thought long & hard before going to direct debit payments. The bank keeps records for 2 years, but the IRS can go back 7. With the price of a stamp these days, I'll take my chances.

For many years I sent my estimates in by ordinary mail, never using registered or such which would provide evidence of my mailing date.

Then, about three years ago, either the USPS or the IRS somehow delayed processing my check for about a month. While it is the mailing date that governs whether your payment is late, apparently they implement a grace period to allow for normal postal transit time, but it was exceeded in this case and they charged me a late payment penalty.

So, all things considered, I switched to direct debit. It has worked so far. It does cost me money, as the debit hits my account sooner than the check would clear, so I lose some interest, but get peace of mind.

Quotitng from https://www.washtrust.com/blog/financial-records-what-to-tos...
“In general, banks that do not return original checks to customers are required to keep copies of checks for seven years.”

As I wrote before, this is the first year I am making estimated tax payments to the IRS and state online rather than by personal check and USPS mailings. With each system, I get a confirmation email stating that a payment was made. I print out these confirmations and store them with my 2026 tax folders that include receipts for tax deductions, assuming I will itemize next year, plus RMD, QCD, etc. When I file my 2027 taxes next year, besides the TurboTax and pdf electronic files, I keep a paper copy. My estimated tax payment emails will be kept with the paper copy.

I get a payment confirmation for both state and federal which I print to PDF and save in my tax documents folder. I never have had any problems with the web portals. The only complaint I have is that my county charges a "convenience" fee for web payment. It has to be cheaper for a web payment than manually processing a check!
Mark

I used Turbo Tax as I do every year but I may not continue. They keep on trying to upsell all of their additional services even though I payd for the product. Very annoying. Also, I found out when I wanted to calculate my non-money donations that they do not include the It's Deductible programs as they have in previous years. I could not find an equivolent program that was free. Very disappointing.

hello

informed delivery, Saturday, a letter from the IRS was coming.

This ruined my day. I have never gotten a letter from the IRS, and upon googling, there is no good reason to get one.

What also ran through my head was the sheer amount of lost mail--what if this one is lost?

I won't lie, I was agitated. My thoughts were penalty due, that makes sense. Or, audit, but that makes little sense as we took the standard deduction and everything is electronic as well, what is there to audit?

Last thought was it's raining, the mail may not come, in which case it should come Monday, but now I have to stew about this letter through the weekend.

It came, and was IRS notice CP303.

"Your personal information was used to access an IRS online service."

Yes, me, on 4/18/26, because as mentioned, I wanted to verify the estimated payment showed. By now, all seems in order--tax transcript is available for 2025, and, I am in compliance, shows $0 owed.

What a relief. Sounds like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but per AI, most people feel nervous about getting a letter from the IRS.

The Flyers did lose last night, but at least I'm not in trouble with the IRS. They'll win tomorrow night.

I think most people suppose that when they hear of an IRS audit they are speaking of the horrible situation where a man actually visits your house and goes over your files with you. But apparently those are actually quite rare. When they come up with their audit rates they include all those letters where they just send you a correction of one kind or another.

I used to be proud that I had never been audited but I've gotten more than one of those letters so I'm pretty sure on their way of keeping score I have been audited more than once.

Two examples of letters:

1. One year I lost my record of an estimate I had paid and did not claim it when I filed. They corrected that, so that was actually money coming back to me.
2. Another year the Postal Service or the IRS delayed processing of one of my estimates for a full month so where I had filed claiming I had paid on time (because it is the mailing date that counts) they charged me a modest late payment penalty.

So some audits are much more threatening than others.

Same goes for me, hate the upsell as well. Plus, it’s getting way too expensive compared to other tax programs.

When I worked the young office workers would all gab about how much they were getting back from taxes and what they were going to do with the money - often $1.5k - $2k.They would ask me what I was going to do with my tax refund and always seemed puzzled when I said, "I have to pay". When you're old you don't have much in the way of deductions.

As for vehicles, my truck is in now for an oil change, tire rotation, etc. I want to sell the thing but can't do it yet. We ordered a 2026 F150 Lariat 4x4 the end of last November. Got confirmation from Ford on 11/30/25. Since then it's been crickets. 4.5 months and no VIN or build date. We were originally told by the dealer "probably the first part of March". Yeah, right. We have a 6 week land trip coming up soon and will have to use the existing truck instead of the new one we were supposed to have by now. Poop. Not happy.

I looked more into the question of what the IRS counts as audits--in particular which of the many letters they send out count as audits and which do not. I believe my note quoted above is badly mistaken, and am back to thinking that at age 77 I have never been audited.

While I read pages and pages on this subject, here is a simple summary one source provided which I think is a good guide to whether a particular letter you get is considered by the IRS to be an audit, and will thus count in the overall audit rate statistics they publish:

Key practical distinction

A reliable indicator:

Audit: “We are examining your return” and asking you to substantiate items → counts in audit statistics.
Non-audit notice: “We changed your return based on information we have” or “verify this item/identity” → generally not an audit.

We ordered a Chevy Tahoe last May (end). It took about 10 weeks to be delivered mid August. A good thing because vehicles likely on the line at the same time had a $800 price increase. 2026's have a $5,800 increase. I don't think folks are oblivious because last year GMC's were already six figures relegating us to Chevy. Look as I type and a base tahoe will be listed about $75k.

The above was the reason for my capital gain that I didn't pay taxes on last August.

I acted like this is going to one day be a barn find. Have the original order showing the config with my name on it (GM knows this is for me--such a process is non existent with Japanese, but exists with German), copy of the MSO, the status emails, etc. etc. As if it matters--it's a Tahoe.

I like to learn about life, even at my age. And again, I knew nothing about paying the taxes when the gain was realized--now I know.

I will not deny that the American vehicle ordering process is underwhelming, when compared to German. At the same time, I will never again take a vehicle off the lot, why would I? Why would anyone? Convenience. But just think of vehicles sitting outside aging away, nein danke! Seriously, how many folks say, I gotta buy a car on Saturday, and then go to Uncle Shane's for the game. Like buying a car is the same as getting a haircut or going to Costco lol

p.p.s. the best way to get an update on the ordered vehicle at GM, was the GM chat bot. Yes, the dealer has the most up to date info, but so does the chat bot. One can't realistically call the dealer 2X per day to ask if there are any updates. As a matter of fact, I knew it was delivered to the dealer before the sales mgr did. Ford likely has the same.

p.p.p.s on the forum, there were folks who didn't even know their order#. Was never given to them, nor any printed confirmation that their order existed. Dealers can be sneaky. As mentioned, there is an order between the customer, and GM. It has a number and it spells out the config of the vehicle. To not give this to a customer is bizarre.

For me, a car is just a necessary evil. I live alone in a rather secluded location and only have one car. So it needs to be reliable since everything is miles away from my home. I always have relatively new cars, but spend as little time as possible buying them. One day I'll just realize it's time for an upgrade, go to the dealer the next morning and drive back home in a new car a few hours later!

This has been working fine for me actually. But I may have found the best of both worlds, because when I got my 2023 VW Taos, the dealer had just received a shipment the previous evening. The car I bought was still in the shrink-wrap and I sat in the waiting room while they unwrapped and prepped it - that was the newest new car I've ever had!

A number of years ago, when I showed up at the dealer to upgrade, turned out there had been a severe storm that knocked out the power in that area (although things were fine at my home). I started walking out when I saw this but the salesman said they could still sell me a car "the old way".

And so they did - writing everything up by hand and calling people on their cell phones when they needed info on the loan, etc. They were able to get another dealer whose power was still on handle the registration and plates, and I drove off with a new car within a couple hours!

Same situation here. Live alone and need to have a reliable car. I typically buy new and drive for as long as possible (~15years & ~200K miles). When repair costs start adding up you realize it's time to replace. Buying used can leave you open to purchase someone else's problem. I don't want to spend my time getting cars repaired, I have better things to do.
Mark

Personally, a 15 year old car with 200,000 miles is nowhere near my definition of a "reliable car"!

I usually upgrade within 5 years or 50,000 miles. If I have equity in the car and the mileage is low enough for a decent trade-in, I'm about ready for a change.

My father was an engineer and made a big point of teaching me about everything mechanical at an early age. So, I was able to do quite a lot of my own auto maintenance by the time I was able to get a drivers license. I continued like this for many years, but as my job got more demanding and time was more precious, I started letting mechancs do that for me. I still have tools and will do some minor things, but I just don't enjoy it anymore and have better ways to spend my time.

Now that I'm retired, at my age it's painfully clear that TIME is my most important resource. So, I just don't want to waste it doing things I dislike - such as fixing cars or waiting around while somebody else fixes it.

I never go out farther than 5 years on an auto loan and more often than not, I have bought when the manufacturer has a 0% interest promotion. If I can trade-in and get a new car with no cash while keeping the monthly payments the same (usually lower) than they currently are, that's the sweet spot for me.

Yeah, I know all the arguments against this, but I've considered it pretty thorougly and have done the spreadsheets. As a result, I spend very little time or money on auto maintenance and know that I have reliable transportation when I need it.

A YouTube short that said you may have been doing your brakes for the last 30 years yourself, but you may no longer be able to. Seemed the determining factor was if there is an electric parking brake, which my wife's has. They must be retracted in order to service them (stupid, not this again, my 1998 Maxima had that, just actuated by cable not electrically--better to have shoes inside the discs, and not rely upon the pistons extending). The new vehicles apparently bar devices from being plugged in without a subscription (VW first did this 10+ years ago but claimed it was not to discourage DIY). Well, with a coworker paying $2,400 on a Honda Civic for brakes, we need to DIY more than ever. I find it hard to get used to the idea you possess and legally own something, but you have no right to touch it or repair it. On something like a car lol

As each day goes by and there's no knock on the door, I think I'm free of the IRS. Just need to make another payment by 6/15--crazy I should take a chance but I won't. I'll give up the interest to be safe. And how about them Flyers.

p.s. I always thought leasing was the way to get something one cannot afford. But if one looks online today, lease payments exceed purchase payments, at least on my wife's. That's inverted imho. The older I get, the more I'd be ok with paying cash for things. But I totally understand someone 30 years younger (like a coworker--I'm older than their parents lol), often cannot do that and must borrow. Borrowing is not the end of the world, if done in moderation. The day does come, imho in our 50's, when we are free of debt. It's very anti-climactic, but still good.