Worked on your taxes yet?

I did a "quick and dirty" run-through with the information I have so far.  It looks like I'm in the group who the news people said would have a nasty surprise this year.  One of the "tax cuts" passed in the stimulus bill wasn't a cut at all, but rather just a reduction in withholding.  That's OK, if you are right down the middle on deductions, etc., but many people are discovering that, rather than getting a tax refund, they are going to have to pay more in.

I haven't done mine yet but I don't have any deductions. I am hoping to get at least something this year.

Havent done mine, nor figured out how I'm going to do them yet (with the complicated situation in life lately). Hopefully will get some $ though.

I haven't done mine, and taxes are always confusing to me. I have a friend who does taxes for people as a side job, and she always says that she is able to get people huge refunds. I don't feel comfortable with her doing my taxes, because we are friends, but I can just never figure out the concept of what she does. It is my understanding that you get a refund only if you paid too much the first time. But, my friend is able to write off so many things, and claims that she gets refunds for people this way. She says the line can be blurred and a lot of things can be written off, and she was audited last year and got the green light for everything after the audit, so it's not like anything she did was illegal..

So, it is driving me insane to figure out how she does it ...I don't want to ask too much, because then she will be like "Oh let me just do your taxes"...And I don't feel comfortable giving away all of my info!!

But anyway if anyone knows any good sites that discuss the basics of how to do your taxes and get the most out of it, can you please let me know?? I am curious...

I haven't gotten my W-2 yet. But my taxes are insanely basic---just my salary (one job) and bank interest for income, deduct mortgage interest, charitable donations and sales tax (standard claim), and that's it. I use TurboTax Federal Free Edition, but I don't e-file. I print it out and mail it in.

I don't mind if I have to pay more than was withheld. It annoys me for the government to keep my money interest-free anyway.

mrblanche said:

I did a "quick and dirty" run-through with the information I have so far.  It looks like I'm in the group who the news people said would have a nasty surprise this year.  One of the "tax cuts" passed in the stimulus bill wasn't a cut at all, but rather just a reduction in withholding.  That's OK, if you are right down the middle on deductions, etc., but many people are discovering that, rather than getting a tax refund, they are going to have to pay more in.

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I was burnt when they did the same thing while George Bush Senior was president.  This time around, I upped my withholding to match the same rate as the year before.  But I won't be looking at taxes for another 3 or 4 weeks.  I have too much paperwork to gather before I can get started.

Our taxes are always a pain.  Good thing my husband is a CPA!  We have my business (better starting finishing up recording my expenses/ balacing the bank statements & calculate my mileage); the farm income and we own a special type of stock in the company my husband works for so we usually can't start anything until March.  I did change my state and federal withholdings last year so I hope we don't have to pay so much in.

We had to pay last year, due to Dottie getting unemployment.  But none of that this year, so I was kind of surprised, although I had heard the warnings.

I haven't got any papers yet. My taxes are going to be a little more confusing this year because I worked until June, had 2 different unemployment claims and now I am in college. Since the government is paying my tuition, it is considered income.

No I haven't started that pain yet.  I have a lot of info to get together before it can be done.  For years, I had done it myself.l  Last year I took it to a relative who has a local business doing taxes.  She has done taxes many years and I trust her.  She quick filed for me last year and I was done by the middle of February.

I've started gathering things but DH hasn't received his W-2 yet.  DS is going to college next year and I have to fill out the FAFSA asap.  We had more withheld this year because I don't like surprises.  I'll be happy if we break even or come close to it in either direction.

Still waiting on W2's here, too, and also have some unemployment for both my husband and I.  Not looking forward to it this year.  We also have a son going to college and need those to do the FAFSA since I don't want to "guestimate".