Alright everyone, I am no tax professional by ANY means! My mom has done taxes for businesses for a long time and the best way she described learning how to do them is following the directions. Screw the tax wizard websites and paying other people.... if you can follow directions and have an hour or two to spare, then DIY (it's free!). Usually anything besides a basic 1040(EZ/A) form (amending returns, 1099s, additional credits, etc) will cost you extra when you use a tax preparer. Some preparers charge a percentage of what they get for you returned.
IRS.gov has a lot of resources to help people file their taxes correctly. For every single form they issue there is a corresponding instructions file. There is even a hotline you can call with questions, and a Common Mistakes page that lists things to avoid.
*ALL THE FORMS (current year and previous years) ARE FREE AND FOUND AT THE IRS WEBSITE**
This year, after browsing the IRS website and finding the specific form to claim the education credit, I figured out how to claim it! A good friend of mine also recommended amending last year's taxes so I won't miss out on the lost credit from before.
For example.. take my (as-of-late) tax troubles (because I finished them!!!): last year I used an
online tax wizard (one of the mainstream companies that offers free
1040EZ filing) and only received my federal withholding taxes back. I
had no idea how to go about trying to claim an education credit...
although I knew they existed. Long story short, the free wizard didn't
help me claim education credits so I went without.
Anyway, I ended up having to both amend last year's taxes (form 1040X) which required me to complete form 1040A since you cannot claim education credits on a 1040EZ form. The instructions are pretty clear for each form.. they have cute little worksheets and tell you which lines to add, subtract, or numbers to divide by. All you need is a little patience. I'm not going to lie it definitely took me a few hours to finish all three forms. My mom was nice enough to double-check them for me and she cleared up a few terminology questions I had.
The 2 forms (that I found relevant for my purposes) to claim education credits are form 8917 and 8863. I used 8863, however there is more than one type of credit to suit multiple needs.. so read the instructions and find what applies to you!
Happy Tax Season, everyone.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Motives.
Alright I just need to vent for a minute...
I had chem II lab today. We were given the task of figuring out how to measure the heat capacity of a styrofoam calorimeter. As we're doing what we're doing someone in the group says something like, "Oh I don't know if they're right.. I don't really care, it's not like I'm ever going to use this." I've heard this a ton! ....in high school.
I proceeded to ask, "Wait, aren't you a chemical engineer major? Don't you think heat exchange will be pretty prevalent in your field?"
"Well yea but in that industry they have all these intricate computers and machine that do it, so this is dumb."
Hey man, to each their own. And who knows if we'll ever need to construct a coffee cup calorimeter! It's (not quite disappointing, but not quite upsetting).... disturbing? No, that's too harsh. But to go through your college courses like that, just LEAVE!
Maybe it is my own intentions and goals that are being biased here... I mean, the whole reason why I want to become a doctor is to be able to help people without being limited to fancy ridiculous computerized machinery. Medicine is an art, Healing is a gift. And if someone becomes immobilized because they can't figure out how to do something without the technology... and don't care to know the fundamentals... then... lol NO! Just go. Please.
The rest of us have important work to do, rather than sit back and wait for a paycheck for watching a computer monitor all day.
Maybe harsh... IDK. I'm not very fond of my lab group.... I miss my old lab group!!!!!
I know I will make the best of any situation and any group.. this is MY grade we're talking about. We'll see how next week goes.
For instance, don't pick acid/base reactions and assume simply HCl and NaOH will have a heat transfer... lol whatever. I wanted to do redox reactions... but what do I know? I'm not in the honors college like all three of them....
I'm sure it's just me, and my perception. Blehh..
I have a much better feeling about my Bio lab partner, she seems sweet :)
Anyway, enough ranting. Principle of the post: actually pretend to give a shit, especially when you have a lab group. If one person doesn't give a damn, then how can I rely on their data? How do I know that they are maintaining accuracy and precision?
I had chem II lab today. We were given the task of figuring out how to measure the heat capacity of a styrofoam calorimeter. As we're doing what we're doing someone in the group says something like, "Oh I don't know if they're right.. I don't really care, it's not like I'm ever going to use this." I've heard this a ton! ....in high school.
I proceeded to ask, "Wait, aren't you a chemical engineer major? Don't you think heat exchange will be pretty prevalent in your field?"
"Well yea but in that industry they have all these intricate computers and machine that do it, so this is dumb."
Hey man, to each their own. And who knows if we'll ever need to construct a coffee cup calorimeter! It's (not quite disappointing, but not quite upsetting).... disturbing? No, that's too harsh. But to go through your college courses like that, just LEAVE!
Maybe it is my own intentions and goals that are being biased here... I mean, the whole reason why I want to become a doctor is to be able to help people without being limited to fancy ridiculous computerized machinery. Medicine is an art, Healing is a gift. And if someone becomes immobilized because they can't figure out how to do something without the technology... and don't care to know the fundamentals... then... lol NO! Just go. Please.
The rest of us have important work to do, rather than sit back and wait for a paycheck for watching a computer monitor all day.
Maybe harsh... IDK. I'm not very fond of my lab group.... I miss my old lab group!!!!!
I know I will make the best of any situation and any group.. this is MY grade we're talking about. We'll see how next week goes.
For instance, don't pick acid/base reactions and assume simply HCl and NaOH will have a heat transfer... lol whatever. I wanted to do redox reactions... but what do I know? I'm not in the honors college like all three of them....
I'm sure it's just me, and my perception. Blehh..
I have a much better feeling about my Bio lab partner, she seems sweet :)
Anyway, enough ranting. Principle of the post: actually pretend to give a shit, especially when you have a lab group. If one person doesn't give a damn, then how can I rely on their data? How do I know that they are maintaining accuracy and precision?
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