Moustang

For the most part TurboTax walks you through each step with plain-English questions.


For example.. Do you own a House?

If you answer yes it then starts a series of questions about how much interest you paid, did you pay mortgage insurance and if so how much, how much property taxes did you pay, etc... Each answer you give fills in a line on the final tax form.

And it walks you through the entire form like that. Once it's done it gives you the chance to review each section and group of possible deductions to make sure you didn't miss any. When you're satisfied everything is right simply submit it and decide how you want to pay/be paid. (And of course pay TurboTax their fee)

With a few simple W2s and using mostly standard deductions it will probably take less than an hour and will be a simple fill in the blank set of questions.

Joeywhat

I always owe money, so I tend to put it off until April...

narphenal

Filed my using turbo tax on the 28th, had it direct deposited into my account on the 12th, didn't even notice until the 14th.

$1891

jerseygirl

How much is the turbotax fee?

Mustang Mama

Not yet. Waiting on one more tax document to come in. No shopping sprees with this years taxes. Husband getting laid off at the end of the month. Taxes going on bills.

jerseygirl

Nevermind

Just filed and paid over $100 for it, getting the best return I've ever seen so oh well

Scothew

Bout what I pay for turbo tax and it works quick and. Easy

jerseygirl

Yeppers! Very happy about my return! Going to be a nice amount in the bank lol!

StangMahn

PSA: If you have your taxes done somewhere, make sure they can read what you wrote!

Stage_3

Got my Federal return on Saturday. Only took about 3 weeks.
State has been put into the checking account already.

Rather B.Blown

Same here, and I don't turn a penny of it over to those bastards until the last minute possible.

Getportfolio

Ditto for me. I'll owe...again.

jerseygirl

What kind of exemptions do you put that you owe?

I just file as single 1 exemption for state and 1 for federal I think

In a way I'm opposite, I like that little bonus money ....

Mickstang

It's not a bonus, Diana. They're just paying back the money you've loaned them interest-free over the course of the year. I prefer to owe them a little and like Lee, not give it to them until the last minute. They're only gonna give it to some dirtbag liberal cause anyway.

2k7gtcs

It's more complicated than just number of exemptions.

If you have investments, property, or worst of all own your own business or businesses it's really complicated.

Joeywhat

That's one reason why I'm not keeping my business going much longer. It's a freakin' tax nightmare.

Getting a refund is "nice", but I'd rather have that money each paycheck. Back when I wasn't self employed I had it set up quite nicely where I payed a couple hundred at most, or ended up getting $50 back or something.

StangMahn

Businesses do make projecting the tax amount much more difficult, yes, but if you as an owner do your part to keep the books and ledgers, it doesn't really add that much complexity to a return

In the preparation programs we use now, a schedule c business can be input in about 5 minutes, provided we don't have to do tons of work to get the year end tallies.

kcoTiger

I think this is the single worst thing our gov't does to us. We hear talk about stimulating growth and they tax into oblivion those trying to grow their own businesses. Sick of the lies and theft from our govt.

StangMahn

agreed! The taxes are too high, and the hoops to jump through are ridiculous, don't even get me started on the flustercluck that comes about when hiring a second or third employee!

Moustang

I've work out how much I'll owe in advance and have that deducted from my pay. For the past decade I've always come within $75 of my estimate. Sometimes I get a tiny return, sometimes I owe a little, but I'm always very very close.

This year was the first year I hit it right on the money. I paid exactly what I owed, right down to the last penny.