@ GoldenStache- Expecting way too big of a refund to consider any gift card oiprion
@Longwaytogo
If you are expecting a very large tax refund you are doing something wrong. Don't give the MAN an interest free loan.
I have my wife at 4 dependents (her, me, 2 kids). I'm mostly a stay at home dad now. Should I have her claim even more dependents; or is there a way to just tell payroll how much you want deducted? How else can I get more out of her paycheck?
Also she is a teacher, so we have been sort of using tax return as part of our summer funding since she only gets paid 10 months a year.
@ eil- I agree that $445 is a rip off which is what prompted me to consider doing it myself. Should have done it last year but I sold some stock, did some energy efficient upgrades,... and was a lazy wimp. Got to fix that this year
If you are getting the Child Tax Credit for both kids, that is probably part of your overpayment. We get that plus EITC, so I have DH claim 14 to get his withholding as close to zero as possible. Not quite enough for our state withholding, but they won't let you go to 15.
I've been doing our taxes myself forever. I did them on paper for years, until we got the option to use TurboTax for free to efile. I actually dislike the Q & A format, it takes me longer than just putting the numbers in the spots on the forms. You can download a copy of the 1040 or 1040A or EZ, and the appropriate instruction book from IRS.gov, or get a paper copy from your library (once they get them, things are delayed again this year). Pull out last years copy, look at this year's form, follow along in the instructions (they go line by line), add other forms as you need them, most are shorter and often have sections that don't apply to you. This is where you will learn how the details affect your taxes. If you want to efile, run it thru TurboTax or Tax Act or whichever, and see if the bottom line agrees with what you calculated. Look at the finished 1040 from the software to find differences - did you forget something, or did they not include something you did, and why?
I always do at least a quick calculation on paper, even if I use TurboTax, just to make sure they didn't miss something. Our taxes are pretty simple (no itemizing, no stock sales, etc), but we've got kids in college, EITC, additional CTC, HSA, so there are a bunch of forms. I walk the kids thru doing their taxes, too. DS2 has been doing them since he was 15.
Oh, and I hear you about the no pay in summer thing - DH taught 12 years and his school did the same thing. Don't forget the teacher supply deduction!