Debunking Common Tax Misconceptions #344

what we're talking about today. And you know, another reason we are covering taxes is because you know, when there's something that you only do once a year, you always come back to it and you're like, okay, how does this work again? You know, like whether it's maybe your pressure washer, where you're like, how does this work again? Like what like what order am I supposed? Okay turn the water on first, then start the thing up? You know,

like there's like an order of where put the cleaning solution? Yeah, like what's what's the ratio? I feel like the same thing is is true of our taxes as well, because it's something is you know, when it's not something that you do every single day, basically you forget about it. And obviously that's probably one of the reasons why they switched to the an expanded standard deduction. But there are some things that we need to keep in mind, regardless of the fact that many people only look at their

taxes once a year. Yeah, I'm glad we're talking about taxes today, dedicating an entire episode to it. Yeah, I think you know, taxes are complex and people feel bufuddled by them, and so they probably a lot of our listeners probably have you know, a few things that they've heard that have crept in over the years in regards to the way that they now think about taxes that just aren't true. And so today on the show, we're gonna cover the most popular misconceptions when it comes to taxes,

and we're gonna try to clear those things up. That's right. But first, man, I wanted to share a little story with you, which is so we talked about on the show. Honestly, maybe it's pretty close to a year ago. I purchased a new bike for myself use some of my stimmy money from last spring, and uh, I looked around. One of the best deals I could find on that particular bike that I was looking for was at Ari I

and so I was getting ready to make the purchase there. Uh, and then I got hit with the sales the online sales pitch, which is, would you like to become an ari I member for twenty bucks save ten percent? And I was like, normally, I'm not a huge fan of membership clubs, right like where you gotta you've gotta pay money to be a part of whatever membership whatever club Costco. Sadly, it's it's one of the reasons I don't like Costco. Yeah, I don't. I don't like that kind of upfront money.

But in this instance, in that one purchase, it was going to more than pay for the cost of the membership. And with ari I specifically, Dude, it's a lifetime membership. I didn't realize that, Like in my mind it was sort of like this annual thing, but no, you pay one time, you become a member for life. Uh. And in my case, not only did I get you know, that immediate savings or mentally I got that immediate savings. It turns out actually didn't receive that until a couple

of weeks ago. That's why I wanted to talk about it now, because I totally forgot about it. Dividend. You get that once a year, right, Yeah, it's a yearly payout and uh, you know, I guess they wait until they calculate Q four, I guess, and then they send sending out the checks to all the different members. But yeah, a card showed up in the mail saying how much

money I had on that thing? Uh, And it reminded me like, oh, yeah, of course, like I bought the bike last year, and so I guess I wanted to mention that to folks because that is for maybe folks out there like me who are adverse to paying for different memberships or clubs things like that. Um, something like ari I mean it could really pay and plus I've got you know, sixties seventy bucks sitting there waiting for me, uh to use. The only downside you do have to use it at ari e I. It's not like it's

cash in your hand. Yeah. Yeah, Well ari I has been one of the best retailers in America for a lot of years. To the rock Fature people, well like that they offer good products and services h and at

the same time too a great return policy. So yeah, I feel like this is not an ad for ari I, but ari is like truly, like just an awesome company or not sponsored at all by a right, but but yeah, yeah, I think it's in particular if you're buying something at r e I and you plan on doing it again, like getting the twenty dollar membership, the lifetime membership makes a whole lot of sense. That's right. Let's go ahead and introduce the beer that we're gonna share on this episode.

You and I are drinking a beer called sponsho Via and that is a collaboration between j Wakefield Brewing and Arcane Ale Works. Looking forward to enjoying this one with you and talking about it at the end of the episode after we talk about taxes. All right, let's talk about taxes. Everybody's favorite subject. Let's do it. Well, yeah, I mean taxes. There this fixed certainty in our lives, right, almost as certain as death, but basically just as certain.

But they can also be confusing and matt um. When I think about confusing things, I think about some of the films that Christopher Nolan has put out right, like seriously I had to watch as a second time, Like is Leonardo DiCaprio in the real world or in the dream world? At the end of inception, like when his token is still spending whatever. Man, I think that's the real world, that's the whole point. But I don't know, you know, so I feel like I had to watch

it again to try to figure that out. Something else that has always baffled me is how maybe like certain folks became famous in the first place, like Paris Hilton back in the day where Guy Fietti, Like, you know, that's one of the things. When I see a headline about what Guy Fietti's up to, I'm like, why who cares? Like cares about right? I mean, like D D D is a great show, but like I don't care what he's up to it in three times, okay? And like

one more thing that confuses me putting together anything from IKEA. Uh, like I'm bound to get lost at some point in the process, even if I'm following the directions, and I'm probably gonna, you know, make at least one mistake while I'm doing right. Uh. But that that's like enough about how easily I cant confused. It's actually confusing to me because I mean, come on, you know, this is another

Scandinavian country that you hail from. Your right if anybody should excel at Ikea directions with no words and odd figurine who were putting these together only an Alan wrench. It should be me, that's true. That's right. Yeah. So I don't know why I get so easily baffled at Ikea stuff, but I do. Um. But today we're gonna tackle a subject that's even more perplexing than than those topics,

and it's taxes. And I think, basically, Matt, like, what we don't want is people walking around with jankie stuff in their head about such an important subject, assuming things about taxes and their taxes in particular that could potentially even cost them money. Um, that also aren't true. That's right.

And before we kind of keep talking about taxes, I'm still thinking about Guy Fieri, which makes me think about like it's all on the Food Network, right, which is on which is a part of like Discovery plus that's like another one of these streaming platforms another uh something else you can subscribe to, you know, but because what they've got going for them as well is h GTV. Right,

My mom's all about it, dude. I mean, it's it's like it's catint for like homeowners or potential homeowners out there. I don't see how they're not gonna crush because there's so much content, you know, like just like slap anybody up there, anybody gets a show. But I saw like a commercial or an ad for Discovery Plus recently and I was like, oh my gosh, this guy Fie on it. I can't remember if it was, but I was looking at the lineup and I couldn't believe how many different

shows that they have. They're gonna do pretty well. Yeah. But you know, so we're we're talking about taxes. We're talking about making sure that we have the right, you know, the right tax information in our brains. And again, since it's the day before taxes are traditionally due here in the US, we figured now is the perfect time to clear a few of these misconceptions up. You know, some folks in Texas and Oklahoma have until June because of

the those awful winter storms. But for all the rest of you procrastinators out there, you need to make sure you get on it. Come on, make it happen. Five your taxes, U Joel. You know you mentioned like that quote unquote Janakie, stuff like floating around in our heads,

like that's often what we base our decisions on. You know, like if if we don't have, say like a tax professional in our life, if we have a misconception that we're basing those decisions on, it's really important for us to clear it up so that we can make the best in legal tax moves as we move forward. And so we want to make sure that we're all making decisions based on what's true instead of what we've heard maybe a friend say, or maybe what somebody on you know,

TikTok what they wrote wrote a song about. Although there are you know, there is some good information on TikTok. Yeah, there are some people uditioning some decent financial advice on TikTok. I'm not hating on all of them. It's not like the proven medium of podcasting, which has been around for years, which only super high professional people who know exactly what they're talking about can be a part of. Right. Well, um, yeah, there is obviously some goofy financial stuff floating around on

TikTok these days, but but also too in podcasts. There are some podcasts out there that you need to be wary of, and you might not be getting the kind of advice that you need, and you might be led astray. But all right, let's jump into the tax misconceptions, Matt. Let's start with the first one, and this one is if I file an extension, I don't have to pay

anything to the I R S until October. I've heard about that, yeah, And we wanted to lead off with that one because there might be some folks who are thinking, oh, man, I don't want to have to deal with my taxes over the next month. Maybe I should just file extension right now, and if I do that, then I won't have to pay any money. But that's just not the case, right.

It would be nice to hang onto your money for a few more months, not give any to the I R S, keep that money in your own account, earning interest the entire time. But sadly this isn't true. Even if you have filed an extension and are waiting to file your return until this fall, you still have to determine what you owe the I R S and you have to pay them now, and if you don't do that, you're gonna owe penalties in addition into the tax when you do end up getting around to paying the money

that you owe the r S later. On this fall in October. Yeah, so I'm sure a lot of folks are thinking, well, what's even the point of filing an extension if if I still have to pay? Right? But you know, making sure that you don't screw this up is important because you will owe half a percent in interest every single month that you are late in paying the I R S what you owe, So make sure

that you keep that in mind, Joel. Next up on the list is maybe a saying or a phrase that people kind of subscribe to, which is the thought that tax refunds are great. Uh. You know, if you're getting thousands of dollars back in your taxes, it feels so good, right, But you could have been using that money all year long to save more money, you know, whether you're paying off debt, or maybe you're investing in yourself, or you can put more money in tax advantage accounts to actually

grow your wealth. Uh. And so some folks will say that the problem here is that you've given uh an interest free loan to the government, and that does make some sense, right, But the real problem is that when you get money and it feels like a windfall, right, that's it's not something you're necessarily counting on maybe kind of feels like a lottery ticket. You're you're more apt

to spend it recklessly. A lump sum tax refund is more of an emotional and behavioral money problem than just then like I lost eight dollars and twenty cents and interest to the I R S problem, right, yeah, And I'm considering how low savings rates are right now, the fact that you've got a thousand dollar tax refund. It's not about the interest that you lost like that that's almost negligible, right that this very little money, But it is that idea like I just got a thousand bucks,

what am I gonna blow it on? That's the kind of mindset that I think a lot of people have when it comes to getting a tax refund. But at the same time, on the flip side of the coin, Matt, if you're smart about using that lump sum to immediately boost your savings or to max out your wrath account, then getting a tax refund isn't all that bad because, as we said, it's not really costing you all that much in actual money. The interest free loan thing is

is overblown. Just be intentional with the refund that you are getting back, but we're also fans of trying to minimize any refund that you might owe the I R S so that you can, like Matt said, use that money every single week, every month during the year, as opposed to getting it in a big lump song. And the best way to do this, the best way to figure this out is to use the I R S is tax withholding calculator so that you don't go overboard

in either direction. Well, Joel, I'm not note. I'm actually proud to say that I actually owe the state a little bit of money and I'm going to get a

small refund back from the federal government. So I feel like I'm kind of like like straddling the fence a little bit perfect Like it's tough to nail it, you know, Like it's in particular when you're self employed and you have no idea of like what you're gonna be making that year, it's tough to make estimated payments and get anywhere near you know, zero, which is like the most ideal spot. But yeah, I feel like I got bragging rights maybe for the next year. Yeah, you do, you do?

I think the nerd is bragging rights. Ever, Well, I'll let you say it as often as you want on the show, and also to just everybody out there who should pat me on my head. Good for you, but uh it, well, just just all of our listeners who are getting a tax refund, who maybe just recently found out or we're going to find out really soon that they are owed ex refund um. Just be intentional with that, and you know, do what you can next year to

maybe work towards having a smaller one. But don't treat it like found money, like money that just fell into your lap. It's your money, um, and so we want you to use even a lump some like a tax refund wisely. So make sure you don't like, just go out and buy around for the bar or something like that. You know that's awsome. I don't know, you're supporting your local restaurant or a bar. If by doing that and all the patrons there, everybody will everybody's best friend if

you do that. That's that's right, all right, Joel. We've got several other tax misconceptions that we're gonna get to, including what that you hear I feel like all the time, which is, oh, you can just write it off. We'll get to that one plus many others right after the break. All Right, we're back. We're talking about common tax misconceptions, Matt.

Let's get to one that you and I've heard a lot of small business owners say throughout the years that, uh, and this one's about tax right offs, like you mentioned before the break, and it's that mindset of I'll just buy it because I can write it off. Yeah why not. You're like, I need a new laptop maybe, or maybe I don't even need one, but I can write it off, So why not. Maybe we need new mics for the podcast, let's write it off exactly. They're basically free then, right,

Well not really so. And it makes me think of met this scene from The Princess Bride where Innigo Montoya says, you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. And I think it can be easy to fall into that trap of thinking that we can justify an expense, especially when we're talking about a business here. Uh, and then it's not actually costing us anything. Unfortunately, that's not how tax write offs work. If it did, our studio would be filled with microphones,

lots and lots of very expensive microphones. In reality, we've got like some of the cheapest mics you can buy, but man, they work really well. But okay, so let's talk about then in reality, like how it actually works, which is that when you quote quote write something off, you're actually deducting that expense from your taxable income and

then you're your only taxed on what's left. Right, So, for instance, to keep things simpler, let's say you're in fifty thou dollars and you had an expense last year of one thousand dollars for that that laptop joll that you mentioned, So you're now only going to be paying taxes on the remaining forty nine thousand dollars. You're not getting that computer for free, but you are paying less

overall taxes. And so again let's keep things over really simple here and say that your tax rate was that well, that means by deducting your taxable income by that one thousand dollars, you're not sitting in the government two dollars,

which is of that one thousand dollars. So you know, maybe a better way to think about quote unquote right off is the ability to purchase something with a you know, with a discount basically like you're getting something on sale at whatever your tax rate happens to be, you know off, like that's that is pretty good, but it's not free. And oftentimes that can be the mindset is that we're not really paying for this, and no, you are paying for it, but you are getting a decent deal on

it because you're using it to benefit your business. Yeah, so it's not caused to go overboard when it comes to buying stuff just so you can take the deduction. Um, but it is nice because you can essentially a discount on something that you need for your business. But that being said, Matt, let's talk about what that means for people's personal tax returns because you know, most of our listeners are not business owners and they're just individuals in

the UH. So when they're thinking about writing something off, well, you're gonna need to itemize your deductions in order to write anything off. But most Americans take the standard deductions, which means they won't be able to write anything off

on their taxes. It's estimated that around nine of folks are taking the standard deduction, and honestly, there's there's not really a surprise because the standard deduction was more than doubled from a couple of years ago to twelve four hundred if you're single, or eight hundred dollars if you're married filing jointly. It's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. That's a huge standard deduction. So the likelihood that you're going to exceed that and itemize your

deductions is is unlikely for most folks. So that just means that if you want to be able to deduct specific items like your mortgage interest, your student loan interest, charitable giving, if you think all that totals more than what you'd get with the standard deduction, that's when you're gonna want to itemize, that's right. Uh. And so kind of on that note too, you know, there actually isn't a standard deduction when it comes to businesses, so if

you're a small business owner, you gotta itemize all your expenses. Uh. And one of the deductions that a lot of folks might be wondering about is the home office deduction. Many folks think that because they started to work from home full time last year, or because maybe they have a desk in a room, that they can deduct that entire space on their taxes. But it needs to be the primary location of the business, uh, and that needs to be the only thing that that space is used for

in order to qualify for that deduction. So it won't apply to you unless you're self employed, if you're an independent contractor or a gig worker. And you know, the tax law overhaul of late eliminated the home office deduction for most traditional employees from eighteen through and this is from the I r S website, but they say that employees who received a paycheck or a W two exclusively from an employer are not eligible for the deduction, even

if they are currently working from home. So unfortunately, that's where things stand right now. A lot of folks are thinking that they can take that home office deduction, but not if you are a traditional W two earner. Yeah, and obviously you know, this was put in place before the pandemic um and not great timing for a lot of people because you might have been able under previous I r S rules to take some sort of a deduction, but not now. All right, man, let's get to the

next misconception that we hear. Uh. Basically a tax delusion that I've seen people believe, and it's if I get a raise, I'm actually gonna lose money, so I don't want to make more. The assumption is that earning more money is going to push somebody into a higher tax bracket, and therefore you're gonna owe a whole lot more in tax because of the increased paycheck that you're gonna be getting. There are lots of people that assume that their tax

bracket is equivalent to their tax rate. But that's just not true, right, because we live in a country where there are marginal tax rates, because we have a progressive tax system in the United States, the dollars you earn or tax at a lower rate than the dollars you earned later in the year. It's actually getting a raise isn't bad for you. It's it's it's only good. Yeah, And that's actually called your effective tax rate. And that's a far better judge for most folks to see what

they're paying in tax each year. Because you know, let's say you're single and you make eight thousand dollars annually. You might think that you're incent tax bracket, and you know what, three thousand dollars of your income will be taxed at that rate, But huge chunks of your income will be taxed at and at twelve percent, respectively, so you're effective tax rate won't. It'll actually kind of be somewhere closer to So you know what, go ahead, get that raise. It won't bump you up into a new

bracket uh and cost you a ton of money. Uh. You know, and even if some of those increased earnings will be taxed at a higher rate, you will still easily be coming out ahead by growing your income. This is an instance where you know you don't want to like chop off your nose in order to spite your face just because you don't want to pay that additional

higher rate of tax on those additional dollars. I feel like there was a dad saying, my dad, you say that to me a life, I find myself saying more of those things, like the older I get, yeah, I'm a dad. I want to know where that's saying came from too. But is there actually somebody who did that? I don't know. I don't know, maybe in some sort of fairy tale or something. I'm gonna look that one up maybe after we get done with this episode. But all right, so let's get into the next big misconception

that people have when it comes to taxes. And here's one that could cause people a lot of money. Matt. Uh, this is a lot of heartache and a lot of heartache. Yeah, a lot of back and forth with the I R S. That's never fun. This one is if I can't afford to pay the tax I owe, I don't need to file my taxes at all. And this is something Matt, I've heard over the years and people wonder like, well, why should I file my taxes if I can't pay

the bill? It seems like a waste of time, right, If I can't also send them the money that's due, why do I even bother filing? And in actuality, you have to file your taxes even if you can't pay the tax you Oh, and if not, you're gonna owe more in the end, because the I R S can assess a failure to file penalty that can increase your

tax bill even more than it originally was. The fee is literally four and a half percent per month that you're late, up to a total of Yeah, so the failure to file penalty and the failure to pay can add up to almost fifty percent if you drag it out that long. So even if you can't pay, file

your taxes. And even if you can't pay the full amount of what you owe, pay what you can because if not whatever you're unable to pay, you're gonna owe increased penalties on that money, and that can really add up. That's right, YOU'RENNA. You're gonna be paying off the nose. That's another nose saying, not if you cut it off. Uh. You know this kind of makes me think about like the movies where like somebody owes a bookiees some money. You know, like you can try running away, and if

you do that, they assume the worst. You know, they're gonna find you and they're gonna hut you down. They're gonna do something awful like like break your knees or cut your nose off. Uh. And now you know, obviously the i r S doesn't inflict physical harm on that we know of, not yet, but it's important to note that that the response you get is gonna be far superior. It's gonna be way better when you stay in contact

with the I r S and follow those procedures. Even if you don't have any money at all, they just want to keep tabs on you. Yeah, yeah, And I think that the Bookie reference is true, right, Like if you go up to and you know, hey, I can't pay, they're like, all right, well the juice is running right, Like, so you're you're gonna owe them more, but they're like rough you up a little bit. But yeah, they're not gonna break your knees. Yeah, I mean they break your

knees and then you can't work exactly. They still want to get paid. So there's that. Uh, it's probably not a great reference, but referencing like nineties mobster movies like Good Fellas, yeah, um. And to following those procedures means signing up for an installment agreement with the I r S to pay the tax you. Oh, you've got to do that too. That's what it means. By like going back to the Bookie and saying like, I don't have the money yet. That's the equivalent of an installment agreement.

And if you owe like an insurmountable amount of tax, you can attempt and offer and compromise which might allow you to actually pay less than the full amount you owe. But those can be a little difficult. The I r S reviews every one of those, and you'll have to meet certain criteria to qualify, and we would say too, because this can be a complicated process, you might want to consult a tax professional before giving it a go. And giving it a go on your own is probably

ill advised. But basically, don't not file your taxes just because you can't pay. That's a misconception that can cost you dearly. That's right, all right, we're gonna get to a few more misconceptions. Uh, We're gonna continue to attempt to clear the air when it comes to taxes, including we're gonna talk about audits. We're gonna get to that one, plus a few others right after the break. All right,

we're back. We're talking about taxes, Matt. There's so much that confuses people when it comes to taxes, and so we wanted to clear up some of the biggest misconceptions. That's what we're doing today. Let's keep going. The next misconception we want to cover applies to married folks. A lot of people assume that if they're married, they have to file jointly with their spouse. No, you don't. You can choose to file separately as a married couple if

you want. And although most folks choose to file together, and that is then the best move from a tax standpoint.

For a really high percentage of married folks, filing jointly just makes the most sense, um because filing separately, for instance, that will disqualify you from getting the child tax Credit, which is a pretty big one if you have kids, and that's going to be an even bigger deal this year, as the child tax credit has expanded from two thousand dollars per child to three thousand dollars per child or

even thirty per younger child. And so changes like that should make you think twice about your filing status and maybe you need to change it, because that's a whole lot of money you could be missing out on if you're just filing the wrong way. That's true, man, you know, but in some cases it does or it could make more sense to file separately as a married couple. So, for instance, let's say that one spouse has a lot of student loan debt uh but also has a lower

salary UH. If if that were the case, then filing separately could lower the necessary student loan payment and allow for more of that student loan debt to ultimately be forgiven so in that way, it's a little more strategic, right, But filing separately also means that you won't be able to deduct the interest you paid on the student loans, so you know, you need to kind of weigh the pros and the console. Oftentimes it kind of comes down to, you know, it's a simple math problem. It's not simple,

but it's a math problem. That's maybe what we should say. Uh. There are other situations too, like if your marriage is maybe headed for a divorce, that you'll want to file separately. But again, for most folks, filings together is going to be the best route from a tax standpoint, even though you don't have to take it truth all right, now, let's get to the next one. This one is one I'm sure you've heard before and people, Uh, this this

one has to do with debt. I've heard people say I don't want to pay off a loan because I can deduct the interest from my tax bill. Another another deductions question here, but this sounds a little bit different. Yeah, And so like, basically someone is thinking that they should hold on to debt in their life because it gives

some a tax break. That's their assumption, but most people actually overestimate the tax break that they get from a home mortgage or other interest deductions let's say student loan interest deduction that they're allowed. And in fact, because most Americans, again like we said earlier in the episode, take the standard deduction, under today's current tax rules, you aren't getting

any mortgage interest deduction. And so, you know what's happening here is that a lot of folks might be thinking the same way they had been for years, but due to the law change, uh and the change in tax code structure, that strategy has now become a misconception. The mortgage interest deduction used to apply to a whole lot more folks, and there's just very few people that actually qualify that actually take a mortgage interest deduction on their

taxes these days. Yeah, so keeping debt around in order to deduct that interest has Yeah, it's become a strategy that no longer works for a lot of folks. And really, like, it only makes sense to keep debt hanging around if you're going to be incredibly proactive and intentional with that money, you know, Like we're talking about some of the different money gears, like creating an emergency fund, investing that money

saving for some important goals or life events. It's almost less about the different numbers and the percentages, uh, And it's more about the kind of mental shift that takes place when you're able to wipe out that debt completely. For some folks, when they're able to solely focus on a single goal like a you know, like a laser, uh, they're going to be able to achieve that much better.

So this is an instance where it helps and to know what types of goals you need to you know, set for yourself in order to be successful at achieving those goals. Yeah, So if you're holding on to debt on purpose, even though you can pay it off and you know you should be paying it off because you're assuming there's a tax break associated with it, we'll dig a little further. Did you itemize your deductions last year?

Are you planning on itemizing your deductions this year? And even so, even if you are itemizing, it might make sense to pay off that debt anyway, because the tax deduction isn't as big as you thought it was going to be. And otherwise maybe you'd be tempted to spend the money, right and we we certainly don't want that to be the case. That's right. Another misconception, Matt, is

people being scared about getting audited. I don't know if it's like eighties movies that have us thinking that the I R S is is going to come to our home and just like terrorize our families or something like that if we screwed up on our taxes. But that's kind of like the bookie A K A I R. Yeah, there's like some fear for people in that. And they're like, man, they either think, one, I don't make enough money thinking

audited basically, like I make so little, they don't. They're not gonna care about me, and I can do whatever I want. Um, that's not a good way to think about things. Uh. And other people would say I should be really scared of getting audited, and they're freaking out about every little thing because they think there's this just high risk of being audited, and actually neither of those

things is true. First of all, the I R S can audit you if you make ten thousand bucks or ten million dollars right that they can still take a look at your tax return and flag some stuff and say that's not accurate. We need more information, and they can go down that path with you, So there's no guarantee that they're just gonna ignore you because you don't make very much money. But before you start freaking out, it's also worth noting that the I r S doesn't

audit that many returns. We're literally talking about half a percent of overall returns, So they're very picky, they're very choosy. They don't actually have all that much staff to be able to do a lot of audits, so very few people are getting audited. And then even more relief, if you make less than two hundred thousand dollars, you haven't even lesser likelihood of being audited, although like glaring errors

like we said, could still make you a target. If you make a hundred thousand dollars a year and you're doing a bunch of crazy stuff on your taxes, there is a much higher likelihood that you are going to be the person that's singled out foreign audit. That's right, man, This guy says he's got twenty two kids and all these social Security numbers are made up, Like that's not gonna fly, Like, maybe we should audit that. Felon yea

not saying I tried that or anything but uh. And you know to the idea too that you should be scared of getting audited, like most audits are are fairly painless. The most common version of an audit is called the correspondence audit, or also it's also known as the male audit. Is a it's it's just simply a letter asking for some clarification on your income or on a deduction that you took, and if you answer it in a satisfactory way,

that's the end of the audit. The end. So you know, don't let the fear of an audit prevents you from taking a deduction that you know that you're entitled to. You can file your your returns with confidence. Yeah, I think that's a good point to Matt, Like, if there's something that you qualify for yet don't be afraid to take advantage of it. You're not going to get audited

for playing by the rules. And if you make a minor mistake and do get audited, it's in all likelihood going to be the most painless audit of all the mail audit where you're able to clarify that really simply, and it's not something that most people need to worry about unless you are, like you said, completely fudging things up, and you're you're saying you're saying something like I do have a bunch of kids that I don't actually have, and there's a bunch of weird stuff on your return.

That's when you're gonna raise those chances. It's like, yeah, I've claimed all my pets as dependents, uh, and I would like child tax credit for them as well. You're not allowed to do that, right, And so hopefully we were able to debunk a few of the major tax misconceptions in this episode. You know, if if you're in real tax trouble, like we would recommend that you get some professional help, right, if you've been contacted by their I R s and they're looking at running a field

audit on you, you don't want those. That's where they like they like show up at your house and like set up camp. Yeah, that's bad news. And that's like when you show up in court and you're like, I'm gonna defend myself and the judges like, are you sure? You should probably get some representation, And if there's a

field not involved, you should also get some representation. Things get a lot more complicated than but you know, You can also reach out to the I R S Taxpayer Assistance or the taxpayer Advocate if you have bigger issues

and you're not totally sure how to proceed. But most of the things that we mentioned today are are you know, they're more in the good to know so that you don't make a minor goof and run a foul of the I R S category like these aren't gonna this isn't you know, the end of the story for you. If you make a small mistake out a lot of times, you can easily remedy that mistake. And so that's why we wanted to cover some of these misconceptions ahead of time.

And so, yeah, if you had any of these misconceptions, hopefully they're cleared up and you can abide by the rules, because not abiding by some of them could cost you a lot of money in a lot of aggravation. All right, let's get back to the beer that we had on the show. This one's called sponso Via and it's by Jay Wakefield and Arcane Ale Works or your thoughts on this sour ale with strawberries, coconut marshmallows and lactose and maybe it's called sponso Via instead of poncho via. Maybe

because it's spontaneously fermented. I don't know. It actually doesn't say that here on the cane, but this one kind of poured a nice strawberry kind of reddish orange color, really pretty, uh, and it was super fruity, like big time. I mean, like you cannot deny that there are strawberry in here. Uh, coconut like less so like the coconut and marshmallow, I got a lot of marshmallow. Really. Yeah, I feel like I picked up on like marshmallow weight,

like like if it drank kind of fluffy. I don't know what that means, but like I felt like I was drinking something that was a little bit fluffier but not I feel like not a lot of the marshmallow sweetness that you know, that like that you would get with like s'mores or something like. That's so funny because I feel like I got a ton of sweet really, I feel like it's the strawberry sweetness that I taste

that it's not like that candy sweetness. In my mind, it's like, I don't know, I associate it more with the strawberries because you get a good ripe strawberry so sweet, that's true. Sadly though, on this one, I felt like I got a little bit of like a chemical flavor. I don't know if you were feeling that, Like, um, I did like some of the vice, but there's this aftertaste. It was a little off pudding, so what I would

call that? Like Initially I think I kind of chocolate up to kind of like a like a pepperinus, but really it's like a clove like flavor. I'm it really does taste like, you know, like the clothes that you like shove into a you know, New Year's Day ham or whatever, Like when do people eat hams? I don't know, Christmas, New Year's but it's it's got that Easter Really people to Easter ham's. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, we don't really have like a big Eastern meal in tradition, but

it totally has that flavor. It tastes like clothes to me. Uh And so I'm not Yeah, I'm not sure if that was intentional because it doesn't say anything about that on here. But simultaneously, it wasn't like a necessarily a big turn off for me. Yeah, I mean I thought it was a really good beer, but I will say the aftertaste left a little something to be desired for me. So not my favorite that we found on the show, but still strong. Still got to enjoy a craft beer

with you, buddy. And for listeners who once to find our show notes up there, we'll have some of the different resources that we mentioned during this episode, will link to those and you can find those notes up at how to money dot com. Al Right, well, that's gonna do it for this episode. Until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out, bo