Taxes?

[slandis3]

Well its that time of year again. We normally use turbo tax but i think we are going to have our taxes done somewhere this year.  Where does everyone go?

[micki]

I HATE taxes!  

[ohioreef]

I have used H&R Block's TaxCut software for the past several years. I always file electronically and have my return direct deposited. I usually get the refund within 7-10 days, but not this year! The IRS won't even accept my return until Feb 11 because we have education credits.

[REDPYRO]

me too....so gay!

[micki]

What is the reasoning behind that?

[Slicktrax]

they are probably not accepting those yet so that students have a chance to get their tuition statements corrected if needed.  saves the hassle of amended returns later on.

ps, i know a very knowledgable CPA right here in tipp city

[REDPYRO]

tuition, I and maybe he is reffering to the teacher credit.  they dont accept my taxes until after a certain date when i take my deduction for teacher supplies

[Slicktrax]

education credits (hope & lifetime) are for tuition payments.  as teacher, you get the teacher deduction for school supplies paid out of pocket.  if its the school supply deduction, i have no clue why that would hold up the ability to file your return.

[REDPYRO]

i use taxcut and last year it would not let me....

of course this year i am still missing several documents for file...people are so slow sending stuff out

[verper]

ps, i know a very knowledgable CPA right here in tipp city

I think I know that guy too! 

[MechanicalEngineer]

From what I've heard, they've just passed some new tax laws that don't go into effect until early-mid Feb., so maybe that's the hold-up...but I'm sure our resident Tax-Guy knows the truth!  *hint hint*

[ohioreef]

I've never had them hold up my return due to us taking Charlotte's $250. What's holding us up is the Lifetime Learning credit. Something to do with changes made to the AMT at the last minute.

[Slicktrax]

basically a chance for them to make sure their computers work.  here a short blurb from the irs about it.

"The February date allows the IRS enough time to update and test its systems to accommodate the AMT changes without major disruptions to other operations related to the tax season. Although as many as 13.5 million taxpayers will not be able to file their returns until Feb. 11, the effect of the delay may be lessened by the fact that based on previous filing patterns only 3 million to 4 million taxpayers file returns with the five affected forms during these early weeks of the filing season.

The Feb. 11 delay caused by the AMT patch will affect any taxpayer using any of these five forms:

Form 8863, Education Credits
Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits
Form 1040A Schedule 2, Child and Dependent Care Expenses for Form 1040A Filers.
Form 8396, Mortgage Interest Credit.
Form 8859, District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit. "

[MechanicalEngineer]

Thank you for that wonderful clarification.  Makes me hate tax season a wee bit less.   

[Riderc82]

I went to the tax place that has the statue of  iberty as their company mascot because last year was my first whole year of being a homeowner.  Next year I will be using one of the online programs or turbo tax.  It cost me $160 because I itemized, which is 60 more than last year.  Once again I was disappointed because it seems like I knew more about things that can be written off than the lady doing my taxes.  My taxes can't be sent in till the 11th as well because I bought new Low-E windows for my house.

[Emily]

Rick, how does it work being a new home owner...we got our home in Dec of 06 so we jsut hit 1 yr....does that do anything for me?  My mom did taxes last year and she didn't think we did anything about the house since we didn't really pay anything at taht time or something like that.  I don't know....probably a dumb question...i am just new to this stuff

[Slicktrax]

how about maybe?  you get to choose the larger of your itemized deductions (the most common are mortgage interest, real estate, state and local income taxes and charitable deductions) or the standard deduction.  so if the itemized add up to more than standard, it will help.