[missk]

When I was younger I always did my taxes on paper and mailed it off to get my refund. It was very simple... tedious and lots of reading, but simple and I felt good about doing it myself. I'm a stay at home mom now and I certainly have time to do taxes on my own. For the last five or so years, my fiancé has been getting his taxes done and has been charged a ridiculous $250 bucks. I didn't realize this until I looked over last year's return. So I would like to do his taxes myself. I don't think there is anything too complicated. Just dependents, house tax info, bank interest info, and work info. That's it.

So I would like to know do you think I should do it the paper way or do it electronically?

If I do it electronically, which system should I use.. turbo tax, etc.

He of course wants me to get all the tax breaks I can get for him, will the electronic way help me with any "tax breaks"? Or would it be best to read everything in the book that comes with the paper form?

Sorry if it's too many questions. I just want to make sure I do this in a way that we can benefit from.

[ebaines]

I would suggest that rather than paper, pencil, and calculator you use tax preparation software like Turbo Tax or Tax Cut. There are no "special breaks" regardles of how you do it, but I've found the software to be pretty easy to use. You can file electronically directly from the program if you want, or you can print out all the completed forms and mail them in. If you haven't done taxes in a while you should get Pub 17, "Your Federal Income Tax," available from the IRS web site here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf As you work on the return you should compare with his last few years of returns to make sure you're not missing anything. For example if he has loss carry-overs from last year you'll need to know that, and also want to check that you've accounted for all 1099's from banks and investements. The first year you do this it's a bit or work to get all the data into the prorgam, but then next year all the basic information is pulled into the next year's return, which make it really simple. Good luck!

[missk]

Okay thank you! I hope I didn't mean to sound greedy when I said "tax breaks". Just want to make sure I cover everything. Thanks a bunch for your information!

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes if he is just paying 250 for his taxes they should be fairly simple, but I will agree, Turbo tax or Tax Cut are two of the best online systems

[missk]

Just an update. I did the turbo tax and it turned out just fine. No problems, was fairly easy, and I would do it again. Thanks for the answers.