Turbo Tax?

[GraceEun]

Anybody here have experience with using Turbo Tax for tax returns? If so, how was it? I'm filing independently for the first time and am a bit unsure of what to do.

 

Thanks!

[rising_star]

Yes! I've used TurboTax for several years. I'm not sure what your background economically is but, you should check the IRS's free e-file page to see if you're eligible for any of the free e-file services before you definitively go with TurboTax. I see that you're in TN so you probably don't have a state tax return but, if you do, some of those are available for free e-filing as well. I don't have the link handy (just google/bing "IRS free e-file" and you'll get the official IRS page). My experience with TurboTax via the free version has been positive. Other members of my family do their taxes using the paid version and they've been fine, except for maybe taking a deduction they shouldn't...

[Eigen]

I had really bad luck with it last year, and ended up doing mine by hand. 

 

It had absolutely no idea how to handle my fellowship, and ended up saying I owed more in taxes than I made, due to it doubling and tripling up the tuition remission part of my "income", with no commensurate deduction. 

 

That said, it was fine the previous 4 years I used it, so it was definitely an update in last years version. 

 

By that point, I was familiar enough with my taxes that I just got the paper forms and did them by hand, and it ended up taking a lot less time than I'd have expected. In general, there's a good chance you won't (at this stage of your life) make more from itemized deductions than from the standard deduction, so you can file an EZ return. 

[Ciarrai300]

I use TurboTax and find it super easy and convenient.  I think it just depends on your situation.  If you have a pretty typical, straight forward, situation (for example: worked full time and just have 1 or 2 W-2s) it works really well.  I'm guessing if you are in more complicated situations it becomes a bit hairier.

[geographyrocks]

Be sure to use the TurboTax Freedom edition instead of the free edition (that is, if you qualify for these).  The freedom edition allows you to file state taxes for free (if your state is listed).  The free version does not. 

 

I've used TurboTax for years, and I've never had a problem.

Edited January 27, 2014 by geographyrocks

[LisaCampbell]

I have used it. My experience was good with it I found the turbo tax software very easy and fast. I am planning to use it nest year again. I have got the

turbotax 2013 coupon Also. Now i can save my money on this amazing software.

 

 

[Pitangus]

I used TurboTax last year and had an easy enough time with it. It took some finagling to get my fellowship entered correctly, but I knew enough about the Form 1040 to check and make sure TurboTax entered everything in the right places.

[Lisa44201]

I love it. I've been using it for years with no problems. It's easily handled the years I've had to file in two states (moving is fun!....), getting married, having kids, etc.

[LisaCampbell]

Yes! No doubt. Its a good software. I will use it next year as well, along with the turbo tax coupon that i alreadygot from www.a2zdeals.com

Edited February 4, 2014 by LisaCampbell

[danieleWrites]

I get my taxes done by a CPA. I make my kid do his taxes by hand while I watch. I did my father-in-law's taxes on Turbo Tax. You should have no trouble doing your taxes either by hand or with Turbo Tax. I recommend by hand (it's free), if you don't have a lot of stuff to work with. It's a matter of figuring out where your W2s and 1099s go and doing some basic math. Tax programs of any kind can get you locked into things (like Eigen pointed out) because they can't think of forms in any other way. The upshot of CPAs is that they can find tax breaks you wouldn't otherwise know about. The downshot is that they're not only really expensive, but pretty much pointless for anyone not using a Schedule C.

[Between Fields]

I had really bad luck with it last year, and ended up doing mine by hand. 

 

It had absolutely no idea how to handle my fellowship, and ended up saying I owed more in taxes than I made, due to it doubling and tripling up the tuition remission part of my "income", with no commensurate deduction. 

 

That said, it was fine the previous 4 years I used it, so it was definitely an update in last years version. 

 

By that point, I was familiar enough with my taxes that I just got the paper forms and did them by hand, and it ended up taking a lot less time than I'd have expected. In general, there's a good chance you won't (at this stage of your life) make more from itemized deductions than from the standard deduction, so you can file an EZ return. 

 

How did you end up handling your fellowship? I'm in a similar situation, in which the thing has nearly doubled my income but not seen the fact that it was purely to pay for tuition as a reason for a deduction... An accounting professor owes me a favor, so I might have to ask for some advice. Hah. I did find this, though: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-lafa/103901f.pdf So, hopefully, that applies to graduate assistants as "employees."

[bgreenster]

Anybody here have experience with using Turbo Tax for tax returns? If so, how was it? I'm filing independently for the first time and am a bit unsure of what to do.

 

Thanks!

 

I used Turbo Tax last year, and again this year.  This year, I'm on a fellowship that includes a stipend, so that made things more difficult - I ended up on the phone with a Turbo Tax accountant who helped walk me through it all.  

 

Even before grad school, I've used their program for years, with good experiences.  And if your tax situation is fairly straightforward, you should be able to use their free version (I also was Tennessee resident until this past year, where you don't have to fill out a state form... which was nice).  Otherwise, I'd go with the others' suggestions.

 

 

How did you end up handling your fellowship? I'm in a similar situation, in which the thing has nearly doubled my income but not seen the fact that it was purely to pay for tuition as a reason for a deduction... An accounting professor owes me a favor, so I might have to ask for some advice. Hah. I did find this, though: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-lafa/103901f.pdf So, hopefully, that applies to graduate assistants as "employees."

 

I think some of this is hard to answer, as each person's situation and fellowship may be a bit different.   Is your fellowship just for tuition, or does it include a stipend?  If it's just for tuition, it shouldn't count against you - and the school should give you a 1098-T that you put into your deductions (and not under income).  Even if it is higher than your tuition, if your household income is low enough, you shouldn't have to pay.

 

I ended up having to pay taxes on mine this year, which was brutal, because of the stipend.  Actually, don't even get me started - this year's taxes had me all up in arms about the IRS

[juilletmercredi]

I used to use TurboTax too; I only stopped using it because me and my husband's income together was over the AGI limit for the Free File through TT (which is something like $31,000), so I switched to H&R Block which had a higher limit.  I think this year we may be under again, so I can switch back.  Yay!  I loved Turbo Tax.  It made filing taxes so easy - plain-English questions, no complicating adding line 245 to line 8,596 and I feel like it really went over pretty much everything.  I paid one year to get my taxes done "professionally" and I regret it: the people at the local Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block are not accountants; they are regular Joes, like you and me, who have gotten special "training" to use programs that are essentially the same as the one you use online.  They don't know how to handle complicated situations like fellowships; they had no idea how to handle mine.  Basically I gave them $240 for nothing.

 

Even if I didn't qualify for Free File, I would MUCH rather pay the $15 or whatever to do it through TurboTax or H&R Block than do it for free by hand.  My time is worth too much, and those tax forms are crazy.

 

Hah. I did find this, though: http://www.irs.gov/p...afa/103901f.pdf So, hopefully, that applies to graduate assistants as "employees."

 

It does not.  It applies to full-time employees of universities who get tuition benefits as part of their compensation packages.  But fear not, because you don't have to pay taxes on any scholarship income that goes towards tuition and required fees.

 

How did you end up handling your fellowship? I'm in a similar situation, in which the thing has nearly doubled my income but not seen the fact that it was purely to pay for tuition as a reason for a deduction

 

The correct way to handle it, technically, is enter the FULL amount of the fellowship you get in the "scholarships and fellowships" line.  This includes the amount of the tuition waiver/payment, required fees (including health insurance), plus the stipend.  Then you enter the amount you spent on tuition and fees in a different box, and they automatically deduct that.

 

Since this can lead to awkward situations as noted above, the way I personally have always handled this is simply reporting only the stipend portion of my fellowship under the "scholarships and fellowships" line.  Since I know the amount of my tuition + fees + health insurance part is basically moot (it's totally deducted from your taxable income - fellowship support that pays for your tuition and required fees is not taxable), I don't bother.  I suppose that's technically incorrect, but it's not as if I get audited the IRS will demand any money from me.

 

Some versions of Turbo Tax and other online tax preparation software will ask you two separate questions - how much you made from fellowships total, and then how much you paid in tuition and fees.  When they ask them that way, it usually turns out all right wrt them deducting the tuition + fees from the fellowship.  I've found whenever I had to deal with a 1099-T (which my university never sends me, I might add), that's when it gets dicey, so I just don't bother anymore.

[verklempt]

I am trying to do my taxes with Turbo Tax. Since I worked last year and then went to graduate school and received a stipend, I am being told that I owe $3700 in taxes. Ouch. I did not know that the stipend was taxable.

[zipykido]

Your school probably has tax advisers as well, you can go and ask them questions. In most cases your stipend is considered taxable income but your don't need to pay into medicaid or SS. I've used turbotax before and it's free federal filing if you make under a certain amount. For any new people, you can probably ask your payroll office to withhold a certain amount from you paycheck each month for federal taxes so you're not left with no money at the end of the year to pay taxes.