Fun fact: Presidents from both parties, including Reagan and Obama, have proposed "return-free filing", where the IRS prefills the information they already know about you and if you don't have anything else to report, you just sign it and pay the bill / receive the refund. But _for some reason_ (millions of dollars in lobbying by Intuit and H&R Block), this has never even been brought up for a vote in Congress.
Yep, and that's why I don't care that I make mistakes on my forms every year XD They just send back the corrections for me to sign. Lets me rush and just skim everything before submitting everything
As a tax accountant I found this painfully accurate and hilarious lol also, the whole time he was threatening his life I was thinking“you still have to file taxes in prison” lol 😂
@@Michael-vf2mw @donnyb2343 yes they charge you and yes you would get a trial and sentencing and then your punishment will be added onto whatever you are serving.
Taxes are easy everywhere if you only work (1 income/m). If you do bunch of shit besides that, it gets overwhelmingly annoying and time consuming. Only if you are willing to share with the country that did not participate in the process. If you're not...
@@lad4830 I have 2 "incomes". One is work and one is from health department (idk how to call it in English) all is taxed and I just have to accept data they put in system, just one more confirmation than others
@@lad4830I'm French, I do the same one click for my salary, and then for my other entrepreneur activity I log in a different site, put a couple numbers and click, then pay. If I have income from an investment, it's one number to add on my previous form. It's complicated only when people try to 'optimize' the system, ie when they try to do tax evasion. Better have a consultant for that, indeed.
it's actually good for people who spend a lot of money and earn a lot of money. just give them access to your accounts and they'll file them for you. plus they know the tax code way better than you do so they can get deductions that you never knew existed. My tax guy didn't even ask me if i wanted to file taxes, I just got the bill and a letter from the IRS saying I owe 15k to them. I was expecting 100k+ for not filing for the last decade.
tax guy makes sure you have provided required documents to keep the IRS off your shade, you are free to file your own taxes if you don't want to pay any money to any guy.
@@greatleader4841no it's not? The IRS knows about everything you owe, they just make you jump through unnecessary hoops so that "tax guy" is actually a job, which it has no right to be.
@@tyronbasista2729 I didn't even have an option, he automatically does it. I just ignore the IRS and eventually they give up. also they charge like 150-250 depending.
As a Norwegian, I cannot relate. Government has already filled in the tax papers for you, and you don't need to do shit. Maybe just look over, if you have some weird stuff going on and change it. But that's it. It's super easy, barely and inconvience.
Same in uk but if u do anything besides just eork then taxes become more conplex even in autonated systems uts not the gov filling paperwork its your employer so only basic employees have that luxury
Yeah, America is weird. I file my taxes wrong every year and just wait for them to send me the corrected forms to sign. About ready to say screw it and send a blank form to let them send it back
@@Mohenjo_Daro_It’s only weird if you don’t look at why it’s like this. Short answer is: you can either do a complicated tax form or pay a company that lobby (ie bribe) politicians to keep it complicated (and like this, you get to tax the individual, and the company) Terrible for taxpayer, but politicians don’t care
No. You will receive one fine penalty bill after another until the IRS gets permission to garnish your income into bankruptcy while repossessing everything you material own. At that point your remaining taxes owed would be cancelled, your credit rating will become worthless for a few years…. But hey, you could call it a win that you never went through with filing the taxes. … and in the end you would wind up spending way more time and signing forms then doing your taxes correctly up front would have cost you.
@@qwertyutopia4667 Anything you own would be garnished. So anything your family is using like a car or a house. So they would be screwed. But if you don't have a family on the outside that is dependent on you, then you are fine. Im sure it doesn't matter for most prisoners anyway. They probably make no income, and are below the threshold where they would be taxed.
As a tip worker who has to manually enter how much i made in tips at the end of night in order to have it show on my w2, i always just report credit card tips. They cant track my cash tips only the credit card tips so good luck calling me on how much I actually owe.
Usually in these skits my reaction is, "Oh yeah, I remember when I found that out. It fucking sucks but you gotta do it." Then he said you need to file taxes for any side jobs like tutoring a kid for 40 bucks. And my jaw hit the floor! And then he kept talking about stuff I didn't know you had to file for. By the end I just went they're gonna send to me to jail cause I'm not doing all this shit.
I appreciate the existence of tax breaks but navigating loopholes feels dangerous. How can I ensure I'm taking advantage of tax-advantaged investment structures without potentially encountering unintended consequences?
Loopholes can be tricky, but there are plenty of proven tax-advantaged structures. IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement accounts are great options. You can also explore tax-efficient investment vehicles like municipal bonds or index funds. These offer benefits like tax-deferred growth or tax-exempt interest. Talk to your financial planner about these options.
Yeah, planners could make a lot of difference, particularly in a market such as this. Bonds are pretty unstable at the moment, but if you do the right math, you should be just fine. Bloomberg and other finance media have been recording cases of folks gaining over 250k just in a matter of weeks/couple months, so I think there are a lot of wealth transfer in this downtime if you know where to look. I have been using an FA since 2020, and I return at least $30k ROI, and this does not include capital gain.
It's even worse, it's near impossible to escape too. If you move away to another country you're still responsible for US taxes and filing them every year as a US citizen, and the only way out of that is to get citizenship of another country, then pay the USA to decide if they're going to consider getting rid of citizenship for you or not(which can take a couple of years). While they're making their choices you still need to file US taxes, and most applications to revoke US citizenship are rejected, with you needing to repay and wait for approval again after fixing whatever reason they rejected originally(sometimes it's not even your fault, if they add new requirements after you apply but before they process it for example). The USA really wants you to pay them taxes no matter what.
@@scragarQuick question, what if you have been living with family after a serious illness and not have worked for 3 years, thus making $0, would you still need to file taxes on.... Not making money cuz this seems a bit weird.
@@DodsodaloOften times no, if you make less than the standard deduction (around $11k) you don't always have to file (unless of course you want your withholdings back). But if you have any income outside of work and disability, you generally still need to file. Source: I'm a former tax preparer The IRS has tools like these to guide you in your decision to file www.irs.gov/help/ita/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return
Zach really amps up his upload schedule during the last months of the year If I remember correctly, he also did lots of uploads last year around this time too
@@jth_printed_designs if your government makes you so wary of them, why vote for them? If you can't trust your government then you should question everything and not just what fits your narrative
Same. I hate it so much. I get shitty (unfairly) with my wife when it’s time to file because I’m a child in a man’s body with poor emotional regulation.
Clearly I was being listened in on, I was literally JUST talking about the frustrating world of taxes with my husband just as this was posted. 😂 I take great comfort in the fact that Zach is brilliant enough to post theoretical physics videos, which are far beyond my level of comprehension - yet is just as befuddled and exasperated as the rest of us when it comes to the wonderful world of US tax processes (or at least does a great job of pretending that he is!)
I love living in Scandinavia, where this isn't a thing. I get a letter in the mail, log on to the tax office website, and just hit confirm if everything looks correct. Takes, maybe, ten minutes every year.
Prisoner: "We ain't got money or income. Which means no taxes. This is heaven." IRS: "Sorry, but having no income is no different from having income to us. Now, file your taxes." Prisoner: "... Shouldn't have killed that man who was filing my taxes. This is hell."
Me: "So if i get fuckef, and i get tipped 40 dollars for it, do i need to file taxes for that?" Government: "Yes, so that the united states can have a turn too"
by paying taxes on illegal activites you are basically self snitching, or are you telling me that you file tax on "I sold stolen car" and the IRS goes "okay, thanks for sharing with us, much appreciated" Surely they call pd or fbi on you, right? So that doesn't make much sense why would you do that.@@MrMiddleWick
@@lad4830 "If you do report your income from illegal activity, you aren't necessarily turning yourself over to federal authorities." One google search man
Meanwhile in the Netherlands: Here's your completely filled in tax form, you don't need to do anything, but if you have some remarks, hit us up. Unless you own your own company, than it's a lot more complicated, but at that point it's just part of being a businessowner, something you specifically chose to make your profession.
Taxes are really pretty simple in the US if you're a regular employee. You get a W2 form that says how much you made and how much was already taken out of your paycheck, then that is referenced against how much the IRS says you should have paid. If you underpaid taxes, then you owe, and if you overpaid taxes then you will get money back. You can file deductions on your taxes and these are like discount codes you can apply to reduce your tax burden. Its done this way because everyone has different circumstances and a "one size fits all" system would result in a lot of people overpaying and some people underpaying. The tax system makes sense once you understand it, and once you get to that point you can use a lot of things to your advantage. In other countries you don't get this option, you're just at the mercy of the govt.
@@jth_printed_designs you're not really at the mercy of the government, you can appeal basically everything you want, but you don't have too. And clearly a very large portion of the US has no idea either. The whole business sector around people doing your taxes for you is very alive. All it is in the Netherlands is that it is already prefilled, so you don't really have to do anything if you don't want to. You still absolutely can.
@@jth_printed_designs "... would result in a lot of people overpaying and some people underpaying" bruh we already have that anyways, except the big decider of it is the worst possible one: rich people underpay taxes
@@jaspermooren5883 Which means people are getting ripped off without knowing it. In the US you have the exact same option to be ripped off in the same way, and this makes doing your taxes insanely simple.
@@jth_printed_designs except it is clearly not insanely simple. For a lot of people it is very complex. Do you work in the industry that does taxes for other people or something? Cause the idea that this is completely stupid is more or less universal in the US I thought. A very large portion of the population is not capable of filling in these forms accurately (don't underestimate how much difficulty a lot of people have with seemingly relatively simple administrative tasks). Let's say 20% of the population has issues with this stuff. That is a huge amount of people! And in the Netherlands you can, but don't have to do that. The government doesn't rip you off (in fact usually the government gets ripped off cause it is very hard to know the little details of exactly what you did, so most of the time the government gives you more money at the end of the year than you technically should get, since the government basically always assumes best case scenario for the citizen). But administrative efficiency is way more valuable than a few euros here and there.
y'all americans are really really lucky to live in such a tax friendly environment, where i'm from the government straight up eats 40% of your capital gains, adds 10 more types extra fee on top of that, basically saying, "if you pay then you stay", if you wanna immigrate the correspondent makes it her lifes mission to not approve your visa
Nah the government eats up most of our money in Anerica too. Especially if you're part of the "middle class". That's what all the forms are for, so they can know exactly how much you have, just to tell you in addition to the money they take out of your check every month (state and federal + sales tax on anything you buy+property tax if you own a house or land) that you still owe them more🙃. The only people lucking out are the ridiculously rich, who get a ton of tax cuts so they can stay insanely rich.
@@professional.commentator From a google check, it would have to be Denmark at 42%. Norway is the second highest at 35.2% with France and Finland at 34%. However, if someone is going to complain about Capital Gain Taxes then I am going to play the smallest violin for them. There are charts on how you can play games with the Tax Code and Capital Gain Investments. Things the average person can never tap into because they are stuck with the worse options on those charts, cash based incomes. So if someone complains online that they can't even get that crooked Capital Gains system to work for them.... Here, join my band of the microscopic!
Taxes are theft. Tax when you earn money. Tax when you spend that money that was already taxed. Taxed when you inherent money that was already taxed when it was earned but never spent.
You have to file any source of income legal and illegal but that's actually how they get caught Al Capone. The government doesn't care how you got the money, they just want thier cut.
Incorect alcapone was taken in due to a specific law created by a supreme court ruling that states even during prohabition the sale of calcanol would be taxed No other crike fell under this only alcahol was ruled to still require tax when sold ilegaly this is the verdict the irs used ro get alcapone drig dealers do not pay tax and the irs dont tend to investogate ut its cash in hand they dont magicly see the sales. They just knee alcapone had clubs that ilegaly sold alcahol so it was an ieasy case
@@demonic_myst4503 Yeah, it's too hard to prove in small amounts. How are they going to prove you made a $10,000 cash profit on a car you sold when you just buy your groceries and gas with that cash over a few years?
You should be. Not saying this to be a d*** or anything, if they don't know what they want and keep you in their back pocket, best to just walk away, or don't catch the feels to begin with. Situation like that can easily leave you jaded. Either way you choose, I wish you the best with it.
@@zeusdarkgod7727 don’t worry about being a dick. My friend tells me the same thing everyday. I can’t exactly not catch feelings in the first place because I already have. She says that she doesn’t want to break up with her boyfriend because she’s always wanted a long term relationship. But then later she’ll tell me that she loves me and she always will.
@@duck4699Man that is just manipulative, she does not care, she wants everyone hooked. If she cared, she would not do this. Except under specific circumstances, I am not getting into a throuple situation.
I love how Zach's videos are both hilarious summaries of the confusion and lostness that comes will adulthood while also teaching me more about how to do my taxes than school ever taught me.
Filing taxes at 18 I didn't know my scholarship money for housing was taxable that I would have to pay later so to my surprise I owed quite a lot federally because of my scholarship that never touched my bank account
That sucks. I'm glad that most of those stupid forms are automated here, and we only have to add in some additional info or maybe adjust some bits of it, but having to hire someone and having to figure out so many forms sounds excruciating.
I can't stop laughing at this video. I am in tears right now. This is me explaining taxes to both my kids, my wife and a few colleagues from work that moved to the US as adults. Zach is a comedy gold mine (which he would have to pay taxes on).
As someone who's worked at the you-know-where for over a decade, I feel bad for the absolute bonkers job security these real life scenarios have provided.
i wonder if i can just not pay them, then when the irs comes and tells me i owe money, i just give it to them before they arrest me, just so i dont have to find the number, cause they already know
3:53 Yeah it's called "Ill-gotten gains". I'm completely serious, you have to pay taxes on the profit from drug deals. Many criminals will, because it 1. can be used to show good faith and 2. prevents you from being charged for tax evasion on top of whatever else you were being charged for. Used to be, you could deduct your legal fees, but they changed that. Now you can't deduct anything from illegal income. This also means that since Mary Jane is still a controlled substance at the federal level, even dispensaries in legal states can't deduct shit from their taxes. The IRS is out here playing 5D chess against criminals while the actual police just shoot black people in the back and sprinkle crack on em to close cases
The US government: "Hey, so, I'm gonna need you to pay taxes on all your earnings. No, I'm not gonna give you any help to do it." "What if I'm rich?" The US government: "Oh shit, man, lemme tell you about all those cool loopholes that'll allow you to pay nothing."
The thing is, majority of Americans get their check taxed before they receive it. But by law you still have to do your taxes. This is why everyone gets angry around this season. Now people are saying you have to taxes when you have zero income. I'm sorry, I draw the line there. I think someone is just conspiring at this point. Not to mention All the homeless people gonna be in jail do to tax evasion of being on the street and not reporting that $5 they got from someone. Someone is just jacking off to the fear of taxes. So that no matter what you do, you always will just go to jail. Then get taxed for the lack of money you made.
Fun fact: Presidents from both parties, including Reagan and Obama, have proposed "return-free filing", where the IRS prefills the information they already know about you and if you don't have anything else to report, you just sign it and pay the bill / receive the refund. But _for some reason_ (millions of dollars in lobbying by Intuit and H&R Block), this has never even been brought up for a vote in Congress.
That is some BULLSHIT. That's BEYOND BULLSHIT. This entire government can kick rocks.
O'er the land of the free.... and the home of the brave
*salutes with right hand over heart*
Millions of dollars of legal bribery
Yep, and that's why I don't care that I make mistakes on my forms every year XD They just send back the corrections for me to sign. Lets me rush and just skim everything before submitting everything
Oh, we had this passed in Poland a few years ago.
I'm just... rubbing that in your face just.... yeah...
As a non-American, I'm so glad my taxes are as easy as opening a letter and reading "we owe you $15 dw we sent it to you already"
Over here it's paying 100 bucks to an accountant that'll go like.
"Yeah the government owes you like, 800. You'll receive it in three to four months."
Same here in Sweden
Where is this? I'd like to move there
@@youmadbro742Non-America.
@@youmadbro742 I'm from New Zealand but I think most western countries (US excluded of course) do this as well
As a tax accountant I found this painfully accurate and hilarious lol also, the whole time he was threatening his life I was thinking“you still have to file taxes in prison” lol 😂
If i'm doing life for murder are they gonna book me for tax evasion?
Same
The wildest part of this video is finding out you still have to pay tax in prison. That is honestly upsetting.
@@donnyb2343 Yeah, exactly how would that play out? Wondering the same
@@Michael-vf2mw @donnyb2343 yes they charge you and yes you would get a trial and sentencing and then your punishment will be added onto whatever you are serving.
As a european, my taxes are basically a software user agreement => "ok" => "validate" => "confirm" and it's done
Don't forget about logging in part, that's the hardest one
Taxes are easy everywhere if you only work (1 income/m). If you do bunch of shit besides that, it gets overwhelmingly annoying and time consuming. Only if you are willing to share with the country that did not participate in the process. If you're not...
@@lad4830 I have 2 "incomes". One is work and one is from health department (idk how to call it in English) all is taxed and I just have to accept data they put in system, just one more confirmation than others
@@kahtyman7293MY PASSWORD
@@lad4830I'm French, I do the same one click for my salary, and then for my other entrepreneur activity I log in a different site, put a couple numbers and click, then pay. If I have income from an investment, it's one number to add on my previous form.
It's complicated only when people try to 'optimize' the system, ie when they try to do tax evasion. Better have a consultant for that, indeed.
"Hammer and sickle and a stack of forms", I love that line.
This joke really hits hard, because it's actually accurate. Communist countries have a tendency to become nightmarish bureaucracies.
Imagine paying for someone to do your taxes only to have to do them yourself
Realy dubble dipping from your profits
it's actually good for people who spend a lot of money and earn a lot of money. just give them access to your accounts and they'll file them for you. plus they know the tax code way better than you do so they can get deductions that you never knew existed. My tax guy didn't even ask me if i wanted to file taxes, I just got the bill and a letter from the IRS saying I owe 15k to them. I was expecting 100k+ for not filing for the last decade.
tax guy makes sure you have provided required documents to keep the IRS off your shade, you are free to file your own taxes if you don't want to pay any money to any guy.
@@greatleader4841no it's not? The IRS knows about everything you owe, they just make you jump through unnecessary hoops so that "tax guy" is actually a job, which it has no right to be.
@@tyronbasista2729 I didn't even have an option, he automatically does it. I just ignore the IRS and eventually they give up. also they charge like 150-250 depending.
@@greatleader4841 my reply was directed towards the original commenter rather than you
Imagine robbing someone at gun point, then demanding they file your paperwork...
IRS is like an old school mob, they don't care where the money comes from, just how much you owe 'em.
@@honooryu5374i remember a batman episode where joker goes insane because he feared how the IRS are coming after him if he dosent pay taxes
@@Demomanflower Al Capone got screwed over because of tax evasion
Meruca sucks.
But if you only deal in cash and everyone around shuts the fk up, they have no way of tracing it right? @@honooryu5374
As a Norwegian, I cannot relate. Government has already filled in the tax papers for you, and you don't need to do shit. Maybe just look over, if you have some weird stuff going on and change it. But that's it. It's super easy, barely and inconvience.
Same in uk but if u do anything besides just eork then taxes become more conplex even in autonated systems uts not the gov filling paperwork its your employer so only basic employees have that luxury
Yeah, America is weird. I file my taxes wrong every year and just wait for them to send me the corrected forms to sign. About ready to say screw it and send a blank form to let them send it back
@@Mohenjo_Daro_It’s only weird if you don’t look at why it’s like this. Short answer is: you can either do a complicated tax form or pay a company that lobby (ie bribe) politicians to keep it complicated (and like this, you get to tax the individual, and the company)
Terrible for taxpayer, but politicians don’t care
Is that Pitch Meeting reference?
That's a Pitch Meeting reference
@@shalomjophress5153 - yeah yeah yeah.
“You still have to file taxes in Jail.”
“What’ll happen if I don’t pay taxes in jail? Do I go to jail?”
No. You will receive one fine penalty bill after another until the IRS gets permission to garnish your income into bankruptcy while repossessing everything you material own. At that point your remaining taxes owed would be cancelled, your credit rating will become worthless for a few years…. But hey, you could call it a win that you never went through with filing the taxes.
… and in the end you would wind up spending way more time and signing forms then doing your taxes correctly up front would have cost you.
@@Wired2812so if you have life in prison with parole, than it’s fine.
@@Wired2812 than*
@@qwertyutopia4667 Anything you own would be garnished. So anything your family is using like a car or a house. So they would be screwed. But if you don't have a family on the outside that is dependent on you, then you are fine. Im sure it doesn't matter for most prisoners anyway. They probably make no income, and are below the threshold where they would be taxed.
@@Wired2812what if you refuse to fill out or sign anything? wont they just get a court approval for power of attorney and do it themselves?
With all the demeaning things I had to do, somehow taxes were the worst part of having a minimal wage job.
Just work a government job and they do it for you
Feel like there's thousands of pron and OF workers saying the same thing
It's even worse when you decide to do it yourself, but then lose a whole day to it while triple checking all the data.
@@geckogeico2212 I heard they have to file taxes too.
@@professional.commentator Yeah, you do. No clue where that clown got his information.
Sometimes you should just listen to your intrusive thoughts and go straight for the tax evasion.
How... just.. how
It's not evasion if you're stateless
As a tip worker who has to manually enter how much i made in tips at the end of night in order to have it show on my w2, i always just report credit card tips. They cant track my cash tips only the credit card tips so good luck calling me on how much I actually owe.
@@DarkBiCingood to know. I'll try my best to leave only cash tips from now on.
@@DarkBiCin Bro delete this comment. Everybody knows that everyone does this, but dont self snitch on yourself like that
“STOP SAYING RANDON NUMBERS AND LETTERS!” Zach really just blurted out what each and every one of us thinks whenever we are doing our taxes 😂
It really is so douchey!
Usually in these skits my reaction is, "Oh yeah, I remember when I found that out. It fucking sucks but you gotta do it." Then he said you need to file taxes for any side jobs like tutoring a kid for 40 bucks. And my jaw hit the floor! And then he kept talking about stuff I didn't know you had to file for. By the end I just went they're gonna send to me to jail cause I'm not doing all this shit.
Lmao
Lmao
Still have to file in jail
@a_d3mon Difference is that they can't put me in jail for not filing taxes in jail. I'm already there!
@@dphantom1314 they might not be able to put you in jail... But they could extend your time there 😆
I appreciate the existence of tax breaks but navigating loopholes feels dangerous. How can I ensure I'm taking advantage of tax-advantaged investment structures without potentially encountering unintended consequences?
Loopholes can be tricky, but there are plenty of proven tax-advantaged structures. IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement accounts are great options. You can also explore tax-efficient investment vehicles like municipal bonds or index funds. These offer benefits like tax-deferred growth or tax-exempt interest. Talk to your financial planner about these options.
Yeah, planners could make a lot of difference, particularly in a market such as this. Bonds are pretty unstable at the moment, but if you do the right math, you should be just fine. Bloomberg and other finance media have been recording cases of folks gaining over 250k just in a matter of weeks/couple months, so I think there are a lot of wealth transfer in this downtime if you know where to look. I have been using an FA since 2020, and I return at least $30k ROI, and this does not include capital gain.
Could you kindly elaborate on the advisor's background and qualifications?
Don't be hesitant to contact Sonya Lee Mitchell and follow her directions.
this Sonya looks the part but i'd do my due diligence. I set up a call, thanks.
I looked this up and indeed, inmates convinced for crimes STILL have to file their taxes.
It's even worse, it's near impossible to escape too.
If you move away to another country you're still responsible for US taxes and filing them every year as a US citizen, and the only way out of that is to get citizenship of another country, then pay the USA to decide if they're going to consider getting rid of citizenship for you or not(which can take a couple of years). While they're making their choices you still need to file US taxes, and most applications to revoke US citizenship are rejected, with you needing to repay and wait for approval again after fixing whatever reason they rejected originally(sometimes it's not even your fault, if they add new requirements after you apply but before they process it for example).
The USA really wants you to pay them taxes no matter what.
@@scragarWHAT?!
@@Sly-Moosebasically
USA: 🔫 give me my money
@@scragarQuick question, what if you have been living with family after a serious illness and not have worked for 3 years, thus making $0, would you still need to file taxes on.... Not making money cuz this seems a bit weird.
@@DodsodaloOften times no, if you make less than the standard deduction (around $11k) you don't always have to file (unless of course you want your withholdings back). But if you have any income outside of work and disability, you generally still need to file.
Source: I'm a former tax preparer
The IRS has tools like these to guide you in your decision to file www.irs.gov/help/ita/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return
"The flag should be a hammer and a sickle, and a stack of forms" dissolved me faster than the Soviet Union.
We'll be lucky if we don't dissolve naturally in the next 70 years, what kind of time frame is that?
I love that he did specify in America, because we all know how shitty and dumb taxes there are. 😂
everything (except the library system in allen county) is shitty and dumb in america
Canada has a pretty similar tax system.
Not as shitty as you not knowing which their and there to use.
He said america, not united states of america@@aidangattinger8975
@@ben-i2h1cmurica bad npc
Zach really amps up his upload schedule during the last months of the year
If I remember correctly, he also did lots of uploads last year around this time too
ye and the year before he does this thing where he uploads everyday in December until new years :) third year so far
Yes because UA-cam pays more in ad revenue in December
more December ads = more revenue
Came for the taxes, stayed for whatever this guys relationship situation is. 😂
It really makes prison not look so bad.
You still have taxes
@@Loyd4798 What are they gonna do, send me to super prison?
@@MrJed87seize your assets?
@@MrJed87 Prison slavery.
@@Habitt5253still no taxes
10/10 🎉 one of your best skits! That tax prep man is my hero. His dedication to the code will not be forgotten 😂
Fun fact, in the Netherlands you download an app that's prefilled, sign it and send it in.
I usually get it done in like 5 min.
We need that here
Sounds like you're getting ripped off. And you're happy about that?
@@jth_printed_designs if your government makes you so wary of them, why vote for them? If you can't trust your government then you should question everything and not just what fits your narrative
As someone who's been doing their family's taxes years...yep 😂
Same. I hate it so much. I get shitty (unfairly) with my wife when it’s time to file because I’m a child in a man’s body with poor emotional regulation.
@@artOVtrolling😂
My taxes are usually "Hey, we owe you money. Would you like a cheque or bank transfer?"
I had to literally take a day off work this year to file my taxes and my tax situation was far from the most complicated it could have been.
How much did the gov pay you an hour to file your taxes? Minimum wage?
@@josephpostma1787 They don't pay us anything. It's called coercion.
@@Grafyte You guessed it!
@@josephpostma1787 They pay me to not be in prison and keep their side of the social contract.
It's a good thing this was funny enough to have me falling over with laughter, because otherwise I'd be crying at the truth of it.
"You still have to file taxes in prison" tf are they gonna do if i dont? Arrest me?
Take away your visiting privileges probably.
I haven’t laughed out loud this hard in a while haha this was gold
That gold’s a W2-G form you need to file.
In the UK my self employed tax return takes like 8 numbers and 8 yes/no questions to type in and then pay by debit card. Takes Half an hour.
Maybe Britain isn't so bad...
@@pottedplant37_ Some good and some bad. Like anywhere the grass always seems greener...
Clearly I was being listened in on, I was literally JUST talking about the frustrating world of taxes with my husband just as this was posted. 😂
I take great comfort in the fact that Zach is brilliant enough to post theoretical physics videos, which are far beyond my level of comprehension - yet is just as befuddled and exasperated as the rest of us when it comes to the wonderful world of US tax processes (or at least does a great job of pretending that he is!)
I love living in Scandinavia, where this isn't a thing. I get a letter in the mail, log on to the tax office website, and just hit confirm if everything looks correct. Takes, maybe, ten minutes every year.
How is no one pointing out that the student loan thing was to *reduce* his taxes?
Prisoner: "We ain't got money or income. Which means no taxes. This is heaven."
IRS: "Sorry, but having no income is no different from having income to us. Now, file your taxes."
Prisoner: "... Shouldn't have killed that man who was filing my taxes. This is hell."
The Almonds need their own episode
Blink 69 times if you're being held hostage and forced to make soo many videos.
It's a yearly tradition at this point :P
I love all your videos, every video you make is always top tier content ❤
6:35 what they gunna do, put you in double prison.
that "No. you do." is the most serious I've ever heard zach and it's honestly a little scary.
As a tax preparer myself, hearing all the form names didn’t confuse me, but seeing Zach get confused made me laugh
a hammer sickle and stack of forms is crazy
*"I don't wanna do that."*
Sums up most my life.
loving these regular uploads!
Me: "So if i get fuckef, and i get tipped 40 dollars for it, do i need to file taxes for that?"
Government: "Yes, so that the united states can have a turn too"
No that's prostitution and illegal in most states :/
@@aname8174 IRS don't care how you get your money. As long as you pay, they don't care
@@aname8174 You have to file taxes on all income, legal or not.
by paying taxes on illegal activites you are basically self snitching, or are you telling me that you file tax on "I sold stolen car" and the IRS goes "okay, thanks for sharing with us, much appreciated" Surely they call pd or fbi on you, right? So that doesn't make much sense why would you do that.@@MrMiddleWick
@@lad4830 "If you do report your income from illegal activity, you aren't necessarily turning yourself over to federal authorities." One google search man
I would totally watch a movie with only Zack starring himself and Ryan George as the entire cast.
Omg I hope they are friends.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands: Here's your completely filled in tax form, you don't need to do anything, but if you have some remarks, hit us up.
Unless you own your own company, than it's a lot more complicated, but at that point it's just part of being a businessowner, something you specifically chose to make your profession.
Taxes are really pretty simple in the US if you're a regular employee. You get a W2 form that says how much you made and how much was already taken out of your paycheck, then that is referenced against how much the IRS says you should have paid. If you underpaid taxes, then you owe, and if you overpaid taxes then you will get money back.
You can file deductions on your taxes and these are like discount codes you can apply to reduce your tax burden.
Its done this way because everyone has different circumstances and a "one size fits all" system would result in a lot of people overpaying and some people underpaying.
The tax system makes sense once you understand it, and once you get to that point you can use a lot of things to your advantage. In other countries you don't get this option, you're just at the mercy of the govt.
@@jth_printed_designs you're not really at the mercy of the government, you can appeal basically everything you want, but you don't have too. And clearly a very large portion of the US has no idea either. The whole business sector around people doing your taxes for you is very alive. All it is in the Netherlands is that it is already prefilled, so you don't really have to do anything if you don't want to. You still absolutely can.
@@jth_printed_designs "... would result in a lot of people overpaying and some people underpaying" bruh we already have that anyways, except the big decider of it is the worst possible one: rich people underpay taxes
@@jaspermooren5883 Which means people are getting ripped off without knowing it. In the US you have the exact same option to be ripped off in the same way, and this makes doing your taxes insanely simple.
@@jth_printed_designs except it is clearly not insanely simple. For a lot of people it is very complex. Do you work in the industry that does taxes for other people or something? Cause the idea that this is completely stupid is more or less universal in the US I thought. A very large portion of the population is not capable of filling in these forms accurately (don't underestimate how much difficulty a lot of people have with seemingly relatively simple administrative tasks). Let's say 20% of the population has issues with this stuff. That is a huge amount of people! And in the Netherlands you can, but don't have to do that. The government doesn't rip you off (in fact usually the government gets ripped off cause it is very hard to know the little details of exactly what you did, so most of the time the government gives you more money at the end of the year than you technically should get, since the government basically always assumes best case scenario for the citizen). But administrative efficiency is way more valuable than a few euros here and there.
I love the consistent “Almonds?” Reference between skits.
He’s always able and willing to share his almonds
You've made my week with all these new videos every day, thank you
I gotta love how the IRS has all this information already, but we still have to give it to them.
It means, they want money, for nothing.
“Life is all about paper work and forms.”
As my mom would say. This goes hard as well when paying taxes.
y'all americans are really really lucky to live in such a tax friendly environment, where i'm from the government straight up eats 40% of your capital gains, adds 10 more types extra fee on top of that, basically saying, "if you pay then you stay", if you wanna immigrate the correspondent makes it her lifes mission to not approve your visa
Nah the government eats up most of our money in Anerica too. Especially if you're part of the "middle class". That's what all the forms are for, so they can know exactly how much you have, just to tell you in addition to the money they take out of your check every month (state and federal + sales tax on anything you buy+property tax if you own a house or land) that you still owe them more🙃. The only people lucking out are the ridiculously rich, who get a ton of tax cuts so they can stay insanely rich.
What country is this?
@@professional.commentator The Republic of Texas
@@professional.commentator
From a google check, it would have to be Denmark at 42%.
Norway is the second highest at 35.2% with France and Finland at 34%.
However, if someone is going to complain about Capital Gain Taxes then I am going to play the smallest violin for them. There are charts on how you can play games with the Tax Code and Capital Gain Investments. Things the average person can never tap into because they are stuck with the worse options on those charts, cash based incomes. So if someone complains online that they can't even get that crooked Capital Gains system to work for them....
Here, join my band of the microscopic!
This one had me in stitches; it was the best one yet!
Just going to call this Part 2 to Adulting for the first time
Alright, I've been checking out your videos for a while, but this convinced me to subscribe.
0:18 the man just went full big smoke order
That fucking monologue at the end... Bravo!
"are you saying my drug dealer has forums?"
"Yes." 😂😂🤣🤣
the fucking almonds man i swear
"This is exactly what communism is..." I about died.
It isn't though.
@@kakahass8845 that's the joke
@@MrMiddleWickOk I'm not very good at understanding jokes so could you please point out where is the funny?
in my country everything's online and prefilled so you basically just sign in and click yes, yes, yes......
The almonds every time man
Cashews betta
I watched this over and over again lmao every time. I loved this skit. 😆😆😆
Taxes are theft. Tax when you earn money. Tax when you spend that money that was already taxed. Taxed when you inherent money that was already taxed when it was earned but never spent.
Taxation = theft is undeniable after watching this 😂
@5:15 I hear that everywhere what is that song, I might as well find it since I hear so damn often.
This mans use of effects are SO on point that the content doesnt matter. Every transition is funny XD
4:57 why did I see this coming
Honestly, this is a really informative video
“stop saying random numbers and letters. it’s really douchey” lol
You have to file any source of income legal and illegal but that's actually how they get caught Al Capone. The government doesn't care how you got the money, they just want thier cut.
Incorect alcapone was taken in due to a specific law created by a supreme court ruling that states even during prohabition the sale of calcanol would be taxed No other crike fell under this only alcahol was ruled to still require tax when sold ilegaly this is the verdict the irs used ro get alcapone drig dealers do not pay tax and the irs dont tend to investogate ut its cash in hand they dont magicly see the sales. They just knee alcapone had clubs that ilegaly sold alcahol so it was an ieasy case
The irs have never been able go after low case cash in hand ilegal buisness
@@demonic_myst4503 Al Capone was not low case tho.
@@demonic_myst4503 Yeah, it's too hard to prove in small amounts. How are they going to prove you made a $10,000 cash profit on a car you sold when you just buy your groceries and gas with that cash over a few years?
@@Rose-yx6jq which is the point u vant use such a high profile case as a example of how all other cases will go
This video was so good that it almost made up for the dread it gave me going into the next tax season
Love your content keep up the great work
He forgot the part where you had to wait again and/or reschedule for a different day if you have to leave to get other papers.
I love the "almond" gag it's been in like his last 5 videos I swear
But why did the relationship part hit so hard for me. He actually described my current relationship perfectly and now I’m questioning my choices.
You should be. Not saying this to be a d*** or anything, if they don't know what they want and keep you in their back pocket, best to just walk away, or don't catch the feels to begin with.
Situation like that can easily leave you jaded.
Either way you choose, I wish you the best with it.
@@zeusdarkgod7727 don’t worry about being a dick. My friend tells me the same thing everyday. I can’t exactly not catch feelings in the first place because I already have. She says that she doesn’t want to break up with her boyfriend because she’s always wanted a long term relationship. But then later she’ll tell me that she loves me and she always will.
@@duck4699Man that is just manipulative, she does not care, she wants everyone hooked. If she cared, she would not do this.
Except under specific circumstances, I am not getting into a throuple situation.
@kaljinx
Don't even do specific circumstances man, three people situations NEVER end well, there is always somebody third wheeling
@@Rattlehead-gy9cttrust me I know, my three-way scenario is me loving the dude as well and the same for him loving me.
I love how Zach's videos are both hilarious summaries of the confusion and lostness that comes will adulthood while also teaching me more about how to do my taxes than school ever taught me.
Filing taxes at 18 I didn't know my scholarship money for housing was taxable that I would have to pay later so to my surprise I owed quite a lot federally because of my scholarship that never touched my bank account
The way he said are you in danger 😂😂
At some point I'm going to bill the IRS. I'm doing your job for you, I deserve your paycheck.
I love that the “Almond?” joke is showing up in all videos lmao
As a 14 year old in France, this is accurate.
That sucks. I'm glad that most of those stupid forms are automated here, and we only have to add in some additional info or maybe adjust some bits of it, but having to hire someone and having to figure out so many forms sounds excruciating.
5:03- *almond?*
I can't stop laughing at this video. I am in tears right now. This is me explaining taxes to both my kids, my wife and a few colleagues from work that moved to the US as adults. Zach is a comedy gold mine (which he would have to pay taxes on).
As someone who's worked at the you-know-where for over a decade, I feel bad for the absolute bonkers job security these real life scenarios have provided.
i wonder if i can just not pay them, then when the irs comes and tells me i owe money, i just give it to them before they arrest me, just so i dont have to find the number, cause they already know
What're they gonna do if I don't file my taxes in prison, arrest me?
Him randomly starting to eat chips or popcorn, never gets old 💀🤌🏻
im starting to think that these videos are an excuse for zac to eat almonds
"You saying my drug dealer has forms?" "Yes." 😅
As someone who finished a final course involving taxes, this is painful and hilarious
"The flag should be a hammer, a sicle, and a stack of forms". Fucking gold.
3:53 Yeah it's called "Ill-gotten gains". I'm completely serious, you have to pay taxes on the profit from drug deals. Many criminals will, because it 1. can be used to show good faith and 2. prevents you from being charged for tax evasion on top of whatever else you were being charged for. Used to be, you could deduct your legal fees, but they changed that. Now you can't deduct anything from illegal income. This also means that since Mary Jane is still a controlled substance at the federal level, even dispensaries in legal states can't deduct shit from their taxes.
The IRS is out here playing 5D chess against criminals while the actual police just shoot black people in the back and sprinkle crack on em to close cases
"Alright I'll bite, what the fuck is that?" got me rolling xD
I think anyone who does their taxes would be willing to do any and all of those things to get out of it. Only, it doesn't get you out of it.
I like how this turned into a therapy session.
The US government: "Hey, so, I'm gonna need you to pay taxes on all your earnings. No, I'm not gonna give you any help to do it."
"What if I'm rich?"
The US government: "Oh shit, man, lemme tell you about all those cool loopholes that'll allow you to pay nothing."
The govt doesnt tell them the loopholes, very expensive lawyers do. You can exploit a lot of those loopholes too with a little effort.
Bill Gates literally donated $5 billion dollars to himself so that he doesn't have to pay taxes.
"The flag should be a hammer, a sickle and a stack of forms" this man's comedic genius is unparalleled
As a European, taxes are deducted from my salary before I receive it. Problem solved.
It is the same in America if you are paid on a W2 form which is most Americans with a job anyway.
The thing is, majority of Americans get their check taxed before they receive it.
But by law you still have to do your taxes. This is why everyone gets angry around this season.
Now people are saying you have to taxes when you have zero income. I'm sorry, I draw the line there. I think someone is just conspiring at this point.
Not to mention
All the homeless people gonna be in jail do to tax evasion of being on the street and not reporting that $5 they got from someone.
Someone is just jacking off to the fear of taxes. So that no matter what you do, you always will just go to jail. Then get taxed for the lack of money you made.
This is why I haven't filed taxes for the last 10 years.