When it comes to income taxes, I'm a complete financial geek. I have an idea a couple of months in advance what my refund will be. I cannot wait for January 31st each year, which is the deadline for banks and employers to send out important tax information to customers. I usually file by the first week of February and get my refund by mid-February.
This year, my tax situation is a little different because of Westin. I had to wait a couple of weeks longer than normal to file my taxes, because his social security number hadn't arrived yet. (It took almost 10 weeks to get here, which seems like a LONG time!) The government says my son is worth at least $1,000 in tax credits, plus an income deduction of $3,500. I say he's worth a whole lot more than that, but I'll take what I can get! I finally filed last week, and should get my refund before the end of February.
If any of you use TurboTax, you can get a 25% discount on your Federal and State returns by accessing TurboTax through Fidelity's Website. Go HERE and click on the Visitor entry. That's a great savings in my opinion, and that's what I did.
If your Adjusted Gross Income is less than $56,000 for 2008, you can prepare and file your taxes electronically for FREE. Go to THIS SITE for help. If you do your own taxes and don't file electronically, you're missing out. It is by far the easiest and fastest way to do your taxes.
A few years ago I took a tax preparer's course through H&R Block, and then worked for them for a few months part time during tax season. It was a great learning experience, though some mental attrition has admittedly taken place since then. It's hard to keep up with all of the ever-changing tax laws. Although I love doing my own taxes, I'd never want to do it for a living. I'll just keep it as a hobby, thank you very much.
Happy Filing!
This year, my tax situation is a little different because of Westin. I had to wait a couple of weeks longer than normal to file my taxes, because his social security number hadn't arrived yet. (It took almost 10 weeks to get here, which seems like a LONG time!) The government says my son is worth at least $1,000 in tax credits, plus an income deduction of $3,500. I say he's worth a whole lot more than that, but I'll take what I can get! I finally filed last week, and should get my refund before the end of February.
If any of you use TurboTax, you can get a 25% discount on your Federal and State returns by accessing TurboTax through Fidelity's Website. Go HERE and click on the Visitor entry. That's a great savings in my opinion, and that's what I did.
If your Adjusted Gross Income is less than $56,000 for 2008, you can prepare and file your taxes electronically for FREE. Go to THIS SITE for help. If you do your own taxes and don't file electronically, you're missing out. It is by far the easiest and fastest way to do your taxes.
A few years ago I took a tax preparer's course through H&R Block, and then worked for them for a few months part time during tax season. It was a great learning experience, though some mental attrition has admittedly taken place since then. It's hard to keep up with all of the ever-changing tax laws. Although I love doing my own taxes, I'd never want to do it for a living. I'll just keep it as a hobby, thank you very much.
Happy Filing!
3 comments:
I don't even want it as a hobby-- it is a CHORE to me (& Jat!)
Thanks for the info though!!
matt usually does ours right away too. although this year we were waiting until after this week because of this new law about 1099-B documents (http://blogs.courant.com/george_gombossy/2009/02/tax-forms-coming-late-this-yea.html) just to be sure we had all the paperwork we needed.
Yea, we're still waiting for one measly $10 interest statement (thanks, Wachovia). Another cool "new kid" tax thing for NC is you can deduct up to $5000 of NC 529 contributions and there is no income limit.
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