Don't know if there are many tax gurus out there but maybe someone can help me. I normally send my taxes to my grandpa but the turnaround time to get my refund always takes a while so i'm going to do the turbo tax ez1040. Now, this is the first year that i'm married so should I file married together or seperately? Also, I paid $468.11 in student loan interest and my wife had $150 in tutition. Is there a place I can put that info in? Otherwise, we live in an apartment and don't have any deductions. Should be pretty straight forward off my w-2. Anybody use the turbo tax? Is it pretty easy in your opinion? Can I efile and get my refund into my account? Thanks in advance.
You can't claim student loan interest if you file 1040EZ. You would need to file a 1040. If you get a refund, an e-file should allow you to have it posted directly to your checking or savings account.
File a 1040, married jointly. You can do that electronically and get the money straight into your account. You can use TurboTax if you're unsure, but the form is really straight forward if you want to take a stab at it on your own. Like you said, it's pretty much plugging in your W-2 info, taking the standard decutions, and entering your wife's tuition (there's a line item for it).
Your return doesn't sound too complicated. You probably don't have enough to itemize as Scribo said, so just take the standard and read all the questions thoroughly and you should be fine.
I wasn't suggesting to itemize. The only thing he needs to worry about is tuition and student loan interest from the OP. Both of those are a box on the 1040 so it's easy to fill out. Taxes usually are easy to fill out unless you start itemizing. Just check out the form, plug in the numbers, and you should get a total pretty quickly. Definitely try it yourself before buying Turbo Tax.
Scribo is right, it should be very simple and if you e-file and do a direct deposit, you should have your refund in 1-2 weeks. All you will have to do is enter your W-2, and student fees like tuition, books, and interest. Since you're not itemizing I'm sure you could be finished in less than an hour, with most of your time being spent on filling in your personal information. Just be sure to file a 1040 and not a 1040ez. If you go to www.irs.gov there are links to places that offer free returns as long as your income is under a certain amount, last year I think it was $56,000. Oh, and yes, you have to file married filing joint Hopefully you've been claiming 0 at work and you have a nice return headed your way. Pugs
Married Filing Jointly You qualify to fill out a 1040A if you want to file a short form, though I'm not sure why it would matter considering you are using software. I've never used TurboTax(I'm an accountant, and always did my taxes using our software at work), so it may ask you fewer questions if you file a 1040A. Student Loan interest is simple, the amount goes on line 33(1040) or 17(1040A). Tuition is different. It needs to be optimized. If she is in her first two years of college and hasn't taken the HOPE credit for two prior years then you would take the credit($150) by filling out a Form 8863. If she is upper class or graduate you have to decide between the Tuition and Fees deduction(Form 8917) or Lifetime Learning Credit(Form 8863). Tuition & Fees Deduction is basically a deduction from your income. If you are in the 25% bracket or higher(Your income would have to be over $83,468) than this is probably a better bet than the Lifetime Learning Credit. Lifetime Learning Credit is a 20% credit, so it would be worth $30 to you. If you make less than the $83,468, than this credit would be better for you. It would be 20% vs 15% basically. Your home state could effect things too, depending on what state you live in. E-File your return and choose Direct Deposit and you'll get your refund back fast. Here is a chart detailing when you will get your refund depending on your filing date: IRS Refund Chart
