Beth got her W-2 from work yesterday, so she used the free form at TurboTax to see how much she'll get back. She wasn't sure it was right, though, because it says she'll get back more than she paid in taxes. So, not that I know much about taxes, I went over it with her.
She filled in all the info properly, except that she indicated that no one else was claiming her as a dependent on their tax return. You know the question - did your parents provide for more than half of your support? Since she pays for her own clothes, beauty supplies, and gas, she was sure that she had paid for more than half, and we shouldn't claim her as a dependent. I had to remind her that we pay for the roof over her head, her auto insurance (since she has maintained her B average), food, utilities, etc. She's nowhere close to paying more than half the cost of living her life.
It didn't make a difference, though. She should get all the taxes she paid in back, as well as an additional $300 because she missed out on the stimulus refund last year. At least, as far as we can tell. She was ready to go ahead and e-file her return - TurboTax not only lets you prepare your easy tax return, e-file is free too - but I told her I thought she should wait and have her dad go over it with her, just because he's the one who's been doing the taxes, and he might see something we missed. Now that she's seen the money she can claim, she's ready to do it as soon as possible. Can't really blame her...
For the first time, I'm actually ready ahead of time, rather than waiting until the last minute! Our taxes are WAY complicated, with every farm expenditure needing tracked, two people with self-employment, plus one person with regular employment, college, etc, etc, etc. It's giving me a headache just thinking about it!
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