Winter 2020-2021 in the U.P.

[Midwest Player]

How do you know Schwab won't issue you a corrected 1099 in mid March requiring you to file an amended return?
Do you win a prize for early submission?

Hey, are you trying to Jinx me? I don't ever recall having to file an amended return and especially not for an incorrect 1099. My Schwab Consolidated was quite simple this year. No 1099-B transactions and just 1099-INT and 1099-DIV.

Now my Ed Jones Consolidated Statement this year actually had a reclassification of a dividend paid in 2021 back to 2020. Also one of my mutual funds with another major mutual fund company had 1099-DIV numbers that didn't match up what was on the December statement. In total they agreed but the split between capital gains and dividends didn't agree. Don't know why, but I always go with what they report to IRS.

Let me tell you how I do my taxes. Come Dec 31st, I make a list of all my assets and what they are worth. Everything from cash to the cash surrender value of my life insurance and everything in between. The list for 2020 was 37 items long. Then next to each item, I list the income from each for the year and if it was interest, dividend, capital gains, income deferred, or no income, and what the qualified dividends were. Most of the info is available as soon as I get my Dec statement, but have to wait for my 1099's to confirm everything and to get the split on qualified dividends from my mutual funds. I also have to pay foreign taxes from my mutual funds and this always makes things more complicated. Damn international fund. I wish I didn't have it.

Then in mid Jan I buy my H&R Block tax software and as tax statements arrive I enter them into the software. By the time the last statement arrives I pretty much have my taxes done. I just check my numbers against my worksheet to make sure everything agrees. I also hand crank out the tax computation to make sure the tax software is doing it correctly, and also check that the software is calculating the taxable portion of my social security correctly. Bingo everything checks and is doubled checked and then the Efile button is pressed and the taxes are sent.

Oh, the prize I get is the peace of mind knowing my taxes are done, and one less thing to be concerned about. At my age, you never know how long you health will hold up. Oh yes, the almost 5 figure tax refund will also be nice. In normal times Jan and Feb is pretty much devoted to snow shoveling and income taxes then come March and the casino trips start, but like last year with the covid this year will be different.