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I find it more approachable to use the question/answer format compared to reading all of the instructions on detail, determining if that particular section appl
by DavidPeiffer 6y ago
I find it more approachable to use the question/answer format compared to reading all of the instructions on detail, determining if that particular section applies to me, and wondering if I found every form to cover every situation from the last year.
An example is figuring out whether I would owe taxes on the gain from the sale of a primary residence I owned for less than 2 years. Figuring that out manually took some googling, finding an IRS guide, reading multiple pages of regulations along with exceptions and determining where I stood.
Another is determining HSA contribution limits when my wife and I were in individual HDHP plans part of the year, and a family plan the remainder.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoIf your tax situation doesn't change from year to year you don't need to scour the instructions. Just work through the forms using last year's return as a guide.
- wernercd 6y agoExcept things change from year to year so even if YOU don't change, the underlying tax laws move over time.
- JadeNB 6y agoAnd there have been a lot of tax changes recently. Although my personal situation didn't change significantly, the filing experience changed more during the past administration than in the 10 years I'd been filing taxes before that, even though those previous 10 years included multiple moves and changes of jobs, and the purchase of a house.
- astura 6y agoThey changed form 1040 drastically a year or two ago. Plus tax law changes from year to year.
- jxramos 6y agoThey did, but the line instruction verbiage is easy enough to trace where it went in the end if you search certain keywords and phrases you can hook into the right places more or less.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoThe new 1040 is essentially the same as 1040EZ split across two pages with the option to add more schedules as necessary. No big deal.