Both the Form W-2 and Form 1099 serve a similar purpose—to report income you earned from sources throughout the tax year—but each is issued under different circumstances and requires slightly different approaches for tax season planning. See the full TurboTax article for some tips to decode these two forms and what to expect when preparing your taxes.
Most taxpayers who pay interest on student loans can take a tax deduction for the expense—and you can do this regardless of whether you itemize tax deductions on your return. The rules for claiming the deduction are the same whether the interest payments were required or voluntary. To learn more about claiming the deduction, see the full TurboTax article.
TurboTax can help you take advantage of tax breaks to ease the financial burden of sending kids to college, including tax credits, tuition deductions, tax-free savings and more. To learn more about what is available and who is eligible, see the full TurboTax article.
If you find yourself dreading tax season after a year of pounding out college reports on your computer, take heart—you may be able to get back the cost of that computer on your income taxes. The IRS publishes specific requirements for educational expenses and a computer often qualifies. If it doesn’t qualify under the credit, you still may be able to list it as an itemized deduction on your taxes. Read the full TurboTax article to see how that’s done.
Going through the process of divorce or separation is a trying time for any couple. Between dividing up property, legal proceedings and handling child custody, many people can forget the tax implications as well. You can avoid missteps with the IRS —especially if there’s a breakdown in communication between spouses — by keeping in mind a few tax tips. For details, see the full TurboTax article.
Buying your first home is a huge step, but tax deductions available to you as a homeowner can reduce your tax bill. To make sure you know about all these breaks that may now be available to you, see the full TurboTax article.
If you’re an employee who works at home, you may be eligible for tax deductions that are unavailable to in-office employees. Before you claim these deductions, be sure you meet the criteria set out by the IRS, or you could face additional taxes or penalties. See the full TurboTax article for details.
If you travel for work, you may be able to claim tax deductions for some of the expenses you incur while you’re away from home on business. But your “home,” in this sense, isn’t necessarily where you live. It’s where you work—what the IRS refers to as your “tax home.” To learn more, see the full TurboTax article.
To avoid making expatriates, military personnel stationed abroad, and international mutual fund investors pay taxes to two countries, the Internal Revenue Service gives them a choice: They can deduct their foreign taxes on Schedule A, like other common deductions, or they can use Form 1116 for a tax credit and subtract the taxes they paid to another country from whatever they owe the IRS. To learn more about the foreign tax credit, see the full TurboTax article.
American citizens could owe taxes in two countries. If you’ve never lived abroad for an extended period of time, you probably don’t know the United States requires its citizens to continue to pay taxes back home. To learn about the tax issues that develop if you live abroad, see the full TurboTax article.
If you own investment or rental property, TurboTax will help you with deductions, depreciation, and getting your biggest possible refund. See the full TurboTax article for answers to these questions:
Only 1% of households were headed by single fathers back in 1960. By the time of the most recent Pew Research Center study in 2013, that number had jumped to 8%. If you’re in this growing group, read on. Tax law is gender neutral, so whether you’re a single father or a single mother, the same rules apply when you file your tax return if you’re raising a family on your own. See the full TurboTax article to find out more.
As a small business owner or freelancer, you’ll find that mastering your quarterly taxes is a key part of running a successful company. If you’ve come from a corporate or employee background, this may require a shift in your mindset, since you probably think of taxes as something you do once a year. But the good news is that paying taxes quarterly allows you to spread your tax responsibilities over the year and avoid a disruption to your cash flow come tax time. To find out how quarterly taxes work and what you need to know when filing your tax returns, see the full TurboTax article.
Whether you’re a minor donor or a philanthropist, you probably give because you want to help. Still, taking maximum advantage of tax breaks for your charitable efforts can make a difference to your bottom line. Read the full TurboTax article to see some fairly straightforward rules for deducting your donations.
If you have been paying a lot for health care recently, you may be glad to learn that many of those expenses could qualify as deductible from your taxable income on Form 1040, Schedule A. See the TurboTax article for a helpful checklist to determine which medical expenses you can take as a deduction on your income tax return.