[Toro]

Beginning January 16, 2006, TurboTax is being made available at no cost to servicemembers by the Department of Defense at the Military OneSource website at http://www.militaryonesource.com/. It requires a login, but supposedly the download is free for anybody interested.

[LT4Life]

Does anybody have any insight as to whether or not TurboTax/H&R Tax Cut do a pretty good job for first time homeowners? My wife and I bought our first house and now I'm wondering if it's better to go to an actual tax person or if the software versions do just as good a job. I've used TurboTax for the past four or five years but it was pretty standard stuff. Also, any insight on TurboTax vs H&R Tax Cut. Thanks all.

[Techsan]

I've used Turbotax for the past 4 yrs, and used H&R Tax Cut this year. Very similar features to Turbotax, and quite easy to use.

As far as first time homeowners go, you should be ok using either Turbotax or Tax Cut. Both programs do a great job of asking all of the right questions.

[LT4Life]

Turbotax still offers it free but they have a catch...you have to have earned under 52k AGI or less. I don't know if this includeds your spouse or not but should work for the youngheads before they get rich like the oldheads.

http://turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom/

EDIT: Also if you go through the USAA website you can get a 20% discount if you want to pay to use TurboTax.

[ 25. January 2007, 10:57: Message edited by: LT4Life ]

[KM]

The IRS extends filing deadlines for members of the Armed Forces for the following reasons:

You or your spouse are serving in a combat zone or in direct support of those in the combat zone and receive hostile fire or imminent danger pay. The deadline for filing income taxes is 180 days after your last day in the combat zone or hazardous duty area. Got to http://www.irs.gov/n...=108331,00.html to see a list of combat zones. In addition to the 180 days, the extension includes the number of days left in the filing period when you entered the combat zone or hazardous duty area. The filing period is January 1 through April 15. So, if you or your spouse entered the combat zone on March 31, you would add 15 days to your 180-day tax filing extension.
You or your spouse is hospitalized outside of the United States as a result of injuries suffered in a combat zone or hazardous duty area. The deadline is 180 days after discharge from the hospital. Note that the extension does not apply to the spouse if the service member is hospitalized in the United States.

Your command will have notified the IRS of your deployment to a combat zone but you may want to notify the IRS directly through its special e-mail address. E-mail the deployed member's name, stateside address, date of birth, and date of deployment to combatzone@irs.gov or call the IRS main helpline at 800-829-1040. If the IRS sends a notice regarding a collection or examination, return it to the IRS with the words, "Combat Zone" and the deployment date in red at the top of the notice so the IRS will suspend the action. Write, "Combat Zone" on the envelope as well.

Unlike a regular extension, this combat extension waives interest and penalties attributable to the extension period.

[ 25. January 2007, 11:13: Message edited by: KM ]

[MacGyver]

yes, the adjusted gross income of $52k or less does include your spouse's income, if you file jointly.

And for the first-time home buyer. You can use the closing costs as a itemized deduction, or you can take the standard deduction. You will need to look at your specific situation to determine if it benefits you. At any rate, TurbTax will help you figure it out just fine.

[Beaver]

Publication 530
TAX INFORMATION FOR FIRST TIME HOMEOWNERS

"The only settlement or closing costs you can deduct are home mortgage interest and certain real estate taxes"

[F-15E WSO]

Points on a mortgage are also deductable as long as you meet the handful of criteria they give you in Pub 530

[RangerMateo]

TaxSlayer.com has been useful for me in the past, also free for AD and I don't think there is an income restriction.

[Whitman]

RangerMateo, on Jan 16 2008, 09:26 AM, said:

TaxSlayer.com has been useful for me in the past, also free for AD and I don't think there is an income restriction.

"2". Used it last year and it worked great. You can even add investments which I think TT free version doesn't allow.

http://www.taxslayer...ry/default.aspx

[LT4Life]

W-2's are out...

Also, I have had problems with this question time and time again over the past years so I was hoping somebody could provide some insight. I live in Washington but am still a Fl resident (driver's license and car registration) but own a house here and of course my wife/kid are here so what state am I technically a resident of (as far as the IRS is concerned)?

[Bergman]

LT4Life, on Jan 19 2008, 12:32 AM, said:

W-2's are out...

Also, I have had problems with this question time and time again over the past years so I was hoping somebody could provide some insight. I live in Washington but am still a Fl resident (driver's license and car registration) but own a house here and of course my wife/kid are here so what state am I technically a resident of (as far as the IRS is concerned)?

Florida.

Most people seem to use the rule of thumb that 2 out of the following 3 things must be from the same state to claim residence (and therefore file taxes from that state and/or avoid state income tax where you're living): driver's license, residence, car registration. You meet that requirement. FWIW, I kept Texas plates and license for 10 years on AD and never had any problems while living outside of TX.

[Dupe]

The free version of TaxCut is not intended for financialy well-to-do captains and majors. Its meant for an E-4 who's married with kids. Your VITA office on base can do more complicated returns (to include trickiness such as foreign earned-income, capital gains, and rental properties)for free if you make the time for it. Also, the VITA office can do your state return whereas TaxCut really just seems like a marketing trick to get you to pay for the software working up your state return.

[Jenkspaz]

For those of you using TurboTax this year for your filings: be very careful about letting the software grab your info from your investment companies (for those that have mutual funds/stocks/etc.)

I clicked "Import All" for my various financial institutions, and out of ######in' nowhere, I owed the government almost $1500!!!

What I did this year was take my "failing" investments and transfered them into my Roth IRA to boost my contriubutions for this year (I usually put my own hard earned dollars into my IRA, but this year, decided it was best to reinvest my hard earned dollars to Budweiser and move some of my other funds around, instead).

Turns out, TurboTax's automated system saw all of my "sells" into other accounts as taxable income. But what "I saw" was me transfering failing funds into other failing funds.

When you file your 1099-Bs, enter all of the values yourself. For me, my average cost basis (which is not accounted for when you let TurboTax import your info for you) was higher than my realized returns. Which means, my long term capital gains were $0.00. I understand that's a terrible year for inverstors, but at least I filed it "how it really happened" on my tax forms. Not only did I save myself from owing anything to the government, but I got I nice boost for the money that I actually did put into my IRA.

Most of the time it's easier to let TurboTax enter your info for you, but this year (at least in my case), it was much more accurate to do it myself. Plus, I got to take advantage of a TON of wash sales that I took part in over the year! HELLO TAX RETURN!

[Jaded]

In my opinion, Turbotax has a better interface and is easier to use than Tax Slayer. That said, I just finished filing my taxes using Tax Slayer, since it will file your state tax returns for free. It looked like one would have to pay to get Turbotax to do that.

[sirjrod00]

I have a quick tax question someone out there smarter than me might be able to answer: I just got married last year (I'm an O-2, deployed 4 months last year tax-free, wife is a teacher). I'm assuming it's better to file joint...is that the right move? I was thinking about doing them both separately and then joint to see which was the better refund...anyone have any opinions on this?

[LT4Life]

sirjrod00, on Jan 25 2009, 03:29 PM, said:

I have a quick tax question someone out there smarter than me might be able to answer: I just got married last year (I'm an O-2, deployed 4 months last year tax-free, wife is a teacher). I'm assuming it's better to file joint...is that the right move? I was thinking about doing them both separately and then joint to see which was the better refund...anyone have any opinions on this?

I had a similar question a while back after I got married. I did my taxes through turbotax and before I submitted went back and toggled between the two options and closely watched the number in upper left. Filing joint was by far the best option for me at the time. Hope this helps.