What do I need for my taxes to be done?

[Humphrizzle]

I am trying to ready all of my information to do my taxes and am overwhelmed with the lack of knowledge on the subject... I delivered pizzas for 10 months of the year and have kept a log book of my mileage and expenses. I have 2 W2 forms. And I would like to claim the rent I have paid this year. I have 14k worth of mileage to claim. I dont know how though.


Is there any helpful tips someone could give me just to ease my mind?

Any tax credits I could be entitled to?

I'm 21, no dependents, live alone, single, and have an annual taxable income of about 10,000 dollars for 2009.

[civicturbo10]

I think your good to go. Did you consider using Turbo Tax? The instructions from the software are great.

[Humphrizzle]

i've used Tax Slayer and HR block in the past and didnt think they were giving me what I expected out of my return.

[TougeGTR-33]

Turbo tax man!!

[600 Double R]

i agree turbo tax. great software simple and easy to use. it has all kind of features to claim mostly anything you can think of. i know mileage from a job and all. that might help you out. i filed my taxes using the deluxe edition every year.

[BanginJimmy]

You can use turbo tax, but I honestly dont think you will have the deductions to itemize. You can deduct your mileage and if I remember correctly maintenance on your car, but you cant deduct rent.

[civicturbo10]

i've used Tax Slayer and HR block in the past and didnt think they were giving me what I expected out of my return.

NOt sure what is Tax slayer is. H&R Block is ok if you don't want to do it. Like everyone says Turbo Tax software..go look at it in bestbuy, and report back, lol. Alot of my friends use it as well as myself, highly recommend it b/c it basically holds your hand in explaining what u can and can't do.

[Humphrizzle]

i did the turbotax free edition and didnt seem like i was getting what i expected out of my return.

any tips on what else i can put on my deductions?

havent filed yet.

[PRO®]

i did the turbotax free edition and didnt seem like i was getting what i expected out of my return.

any tips on what else i can put on my deductions?

havent filed yet.

in school? have any student loans?

[civicturbo10]

i would at least get the deluxe version and take a look at the deductions you can possibly take. Base on what you said so far tho it appears the standard deduction will be higher than itemizing for your case scenario. But i may be wrong. Maybe you can borrow from a buddy so you can run the scenario through. You have plenty of time to figure it out, April is way in the future. Also there are ways to save on purchasing it. You will have to be creative w/o downloading for free the upper versions...

[Humphrizzle]

in school? have any student loans?

nope

[Humphrizzle]

i would at least get the deluxe version and take a look at the deductions you can possibly take. Base on what you said so far tho it appears the standard deduction will be higher than itemizing for your case scenario. But i may be wrong. Maybe you can borrow from a buddy so you can run the scenario through. You have plenty of time to figure it out, April is way in the future. Also there are ways to save on purchasing it. You will have to be creative w/o downloading for free the upper versions...

my itemized deduction was 14000 dollars.

standard is 5700

i got back 1000 using tax slayer.

thanks.. making work credit helped a lot.

[600 Double R]

turbo tax deluxe.

[Paree4g63]

Is the standardized dedution the usual one to pick? My itemized was under 2k and if I had chose that, my refund decreased by HALF! So, I was like F**k it; stick to the standard deduction(that includes gas, mileage), right? My filing was simple, single, no kids or mortgage.

[hondachik]

W-2's

[trajedy]

Turbo tax fails..

unless i for some reason just cant seem to follow the simplest of instructions.

last year i barely made over 1k off of part time work from september to the end of the year and got back nearly 200.

According to turbo tax my 10k on temp work = 220 on federal and -44 in GA..
WTF?

According to my usual tax guy im good for this year.

[PRO®]

Turbo tax fails..

unless i for some reason just cant seem to follow the simplest of instructions.

last year i barely made over 1k off of part time work from september to the end of the year and got back nearly 200.

According to turbo tax my 10k on temp work = 220 on federal and -44 in GA..
WTF?

According to my usual tax guy im good for this year.

nearly 200 as opposed to 176 (220-40)?

am i missing something, lol? looks almost the same figure to me

[trajedy]

nearly 200 as opposed to 176 (220-40)?

am i missing something, lol? looks almost the same figure to me

I only made 1 thousand and got back 200.

This year I made 8.5 thousand and it says I'm only getting back 176.

I see something wrong with that.

[joecoolfreak]

It still amazes me that people don't understand how/what filing your taxes means.

What kind of refund/how much you owe has absolutely NOTHING to do with how much you make.

It has EVERYTHING to do with how much you already paid versus how much you should have paid. If you fill out your W4 correctly, you shouldn't owe/or get a refund. It's that simple unless the tax codes change or stimulus packages are approved etc...

Some people over pay their taxes all year long so they get a big refund. Some people don't pay enough taxes during the year, so when they file, they owe taxes.

None of this has anything to do with how you file your taxes: yourself by hand, through software like turbotax, or having a CPA or tax accountant do them. Generally speaking most people's taxes here on IA are simple enough that they should just be doing the paperwork themselves by hand.

So, do conclude: Cliffs - IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MUCH YOU MADE, BUT IT'S HOW MUCH YOU PAID ALREADY VERSUS HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD HAVE PAID ACCORDING TO HOW MUCH YOU MADE ;-)

[JennB]

My god, finally. Someone who gets it!!!


You can make $500,000 a year and get back $6 or make $10,000 a year and get back $1,500. It's what you had withheld, not what you make.

[trajedy]

My god, finally. Someone who gets it!!!


You can make $500,000 a year and get back $6 or make $10,000 a year and get back $1,500. It's what you had withheld, not what you make.

W4's haven't been touched.
Same job, everything filed exactly the same as last year..

Going through who I did i went from turbo taxes 176 to right around a grand.

[JennB]

What was your AGI and taxable income for this year vs last and withholding this year vs last? That's what you need to compare.

We have a progressive tax system. If you earn more, you pay a higher tax percentage. You didn't have any taxable income if you only made 1,000.

If turbo tax is telling you one thing and a tax preparer is telling you another, one of them is wrong. Either you forgot to enter something or the preparer made a mistake. Compare one return to another and find the difference. Added deduction, credit, additional income, something is different.