I’ve used TURBOTAX for years. We have a fairly straight-forward tax return since our kids are on their own and our house is paid for. Not many deductions (except for charitable giving). TURBOTAX for tax year 2014 installed in minutes. It did a quick update and then I was ready to input my tax data. TURBOTAX has two modes: the “hand-holding” mode that takes you step-by-step through the tax return and the more independent approach. Since I’ve been using TURBOTAX all these years and my return is simple, I choose the independent approach. After I inputed my numbers, I had the results: I owed the Feds about $200 and NY State about $800. TURBOTAX eFiled both the Federal and State returns. The whole process took about a half hour. Have you done your taxes?
I have used TurboTax for about 4 years. this year I got back $1944 from the Federal and owe the state $107.
Steve, I’m glad you’re getting a refund. I try to break even, but this year it just didn’t work out.
I always print out the form & fill it in by hand, making my 4s look like 9s, my 5s like 6s, my 7s like 1s and/or vice-versa. With a little creative mathematics you can save a LOT of money!
Dan, I have plenty of friends who use your methods of tax preparation!
I’ve switched to the H&R Block software a couple of years ago. One year I used Turbo Tax and H&R Block and got the same results. So since it’s cheaper and easy to use it’s H&R Block for me. I never understood why someone would want a large refund from the IRS. Why give them an interest free loan of YOUR money throughout the year?
Paul, I feel the same way. I adjust my withholding to just break even at tax time. But people love to get large tax refunds. I’d rather have the money to spend throughout the year.
I got a larger than average refund this year but it was due to collecting social security for the first time-I turned 66 this year. I’m still working so I wasn’t sure how my taxes would turn out. I would rather get a refund than pay out.
Steve, we’ll be contending with the tax implications of Social Security next year. My wife is going to collect since she’s turning 66, too.
I hate to get a big refund (although I also hate to owe a large amount)– it just means the government has been using my money interest-free all year. My husband and I file jointly, all of our children are still dependents, and we still have a mortgage. I pay someone to do our taxes–that’s reassuring to me. Anyway, I have all my paperwork together, so I just have to drop it by the accountant’s office.
Deb, the smart way to deal with taxes is to pay them and try not to have a large refund or tax bill. But sometimes it’s hard to juggle the numbers to get those optimal results. Having someone you trust do your taxes is also a good way to go.
We go to the accountant the week after we get back from Florida. When we were working and had big expenses we always wanted to get back a big refund but these days breaking even (or coming out a little ahead) is the goal. Since we get back a bunch of money from Jackie’s union for our prescription drug costs and for our Medicare Part B costs we’re doing fine.
Jeff, Diane is going to start collecting Social Security this year (I’m holding off until I’m 70). That may complicate next year’s tax return.
We’re getting our stuff together for the accountant this week.
My sister used to do my taxes. When my folks passed away and we got a house, we decided to use the accountant who helped settle their estate.
We’re very happy with this arrangement.
Beth
Beth, changes in deductions and buying/selling a house can make a tax return complicated. It’s best to let a trusted professional handle it.
We drop off the stuff today, will go back in three weeks or so to sign and finish. Since we moved to Oregon, our state taxes are brutal and we never get a refund, even though we have extra withholding and pay estimated too. Come to think of it, I haven’t had a refund since I got married…
Rick, we used to get NY State tax refunds when Patrick and Katie were in college. But, since they graduated and got jobs, we’ve been paying.
Phil uses Turbotax too. Given what I know about his organizational and math skills, I live in dread.
Patti, basically you just input the numbers into TURBOTAX and the software does the rest.
Wasn’t there a scandal with Turbotax recently? Speaking of taxes, I went to the library yesterday to get tax forms and a book and they didn’t have any books due to, they claimed, government cutbacks. I’m in no hurry; I know I’ll have to pay since my pension takes almost no deductions.
Bob, the Government wants you to go online to get the tax forms and instruction books. They eventually want to go paperless.
We made sure to take Federal witholding on Jackie’s pension and Social Security. I just started getting SS and made sure to take the deduction too.
Jeff, we’ll take the SS deductions, too. AAA is calling in independent contractors to help with all the broken down cars. The AAA wait time is now 24-hours. The high volume of calls is unprecedented. Most of the problems are due to dead batteries. The sub-zero temps kill batteries left-and-right!
The argument of why let the government have the loan when the money could be earning interest is moot these days, since there’s hardly any interest to be had from any source.