Well it's January of a new year and everybody who was fortunate enough to have a job last year should be receiving their tax forms sometime this month. My mother has done my taxes since I began working over a decade ago because she actually worked in the field for years before moving on to mental health (LOL! ). I want to start doing my own this year. How difficult is it to do your own taxes without screwing something up? My mother started using TurboTax over the Internet the last couple of years but they charge fees for their convenience and quickness. I believe the IRS has e-file or something like that now that taxpayers can use. What is the best route to take when wanting to start doing my own?
I've used both H&R Block and TurboTax. Actually, the last 2 years, I fill in both and see which one gives me the better result. They're both pretty easy.
I highly recommend TaxActOnline.com Mr. New-dad-to-be. If it is just the Federal, and with no bells and whistles (reports, comparisons, extra forms, etc.), it's free and so is e-Filing. http://www.taxact.com/taxes-online/free-online-tax.asp
It totally depends on your tax situation. Basic tax filing is pretty straight forward. If you have your own business or are claiming a bunch of deductions, it can be more complicated. I generally use the previous year's taxes as a guide and look up forms as needed. It's just a matter of plugging numbers in. Next year of course if you got married then you'd have to add incomes if you filed jointly. And you also get the fun child tax credit (in addition to the individual deduction) when the kiddo is born.
hmm....I guess I should call my last employer, since i have since moved to Nacogdoches so i can get my forms.
We've done Turbo Tax and H&R Block (just used them because we sold property and didn't want to mess anything us). Turbo Tax is easy to use. I'm pretty sure there was a free version you could use too, you just have to pay extra to have it deposited straight into your bank account.
This depends on the child meeting all of the following criteria: From http://financialplan.about.com/cs/taxes/a/ChildTaxCredit.htm If the child is born AFTER June, then I am afraid not... but I seem to forget if Pun said he's expecting it before...
Nope, if the kid is born that year, then you can claim the child for the whole year. My daughter was born 11/28/2007, and we got to claim her for the whole year of 2007 (we filed with H&R block that year just to be sure). There's a whole bunch of other criteria if you have joint custody where the child doesn't live with you a lot of the time, adopt or gain\lose custody, but if the child is your own, you can claim him\her. Essentially if they lived with you 100% of the time they were alive, they are eligible for the tax deduction. But if they're not married, only 1 of them can claim her as a dependent on their taxes for 2009. Sorry if I'm bringing up the marriage topic Lil Pun. You do what's best for you, but I was just raising relevant tax scenarios as they relate to your situation. They're expecting July 5, the same date as our next kid is due.
But what bout the child tax credit (which I think Swoly was referring to)? I know you can claim the baby as a dependent, even if it is born 12/31, but didn't Swoly's post describe what is needed to claim the child tax credit?
You still get the credit. The "at least half a year" refers to custody situations or adoption status (ex: you and your ex split custody and the kid lived with the ex for 8 months means no credit for you). As long as the kid lived with you 100% of the time they were alive, you get the child tax credit. Even if they were born on 12/31, you get the credit. That's how H&R Block described it to me last year, and we got the credit even though our daughter was born 11/28. We also took the dependent deduction.
Thanks for the info on the kid guys. Hopefully this year I'll get to go ahead and do my own returns looks like it is pretty easy with all the free tools available now. If you receive a refund, how quickly does it come back if you e-file?
It varies. If you file early in the season, it gets processed quicker. Most people file in April, so the IRS is overloaded and it takes longer. I've had them refunded within a few weeks, and I've had them take upwards of 6 weeks.
Here's a question. Is there some way to file my returns from 2006 without paying like $250 to Jackson Hewitt or somebody? It's just a straigh-forward filing, no wacky deductions or dependents. I wasn't able to file until now for reasons that are boring. I'd like to get more than half of my refund from that year back.
They weren't far off, but i have no clue why they were different. They have been the last 2 times I filed. In 2007 (2006 tax year) H&R got me something like $200 more than TurboTax. Last year, it was the other way around.
I've been using a CPA for about 7 years now. Every year I see how I fare on TurboTax first and every year my CPA does better. The last 3 years I've had a business so it has been doubly important to use one (I changed CPAs when I went into business). Overall, I think I've saved about 25 grand.
I always use www.turbotax.com. I do the deluxe version which is $30, but it's totally worth it to me and a breeze to do.
Amen. My CPA nets me, on average, about 2000-3000 more per year than TurboTax or any of that other crap. CPA is the way to go.
I've filed my boyfriend's taxes since we were 16. The first time I did it, I had my accounting teacher check over my work. We file early and choose the direct deposit option and it usually shows up within 3 weeks.
