Claim Your Credits!

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.