Hi
I have been following mustachian advice for awhile now and it has been such a great thing to come to terms with my financial situation and have sensible plans for spending and savings. Awesome!
This is my situation. I just finished school at the end of last summer. Then I started a new job on Sept 1, 2013 with a substantially higher income than I ever made while in school (duh). Here's what I did with my new income:
1. Kept monthly spending budget as close as possible to student budget (basically went from no choice mustachian living to making it a choice)
2. Put match amount into 401k
3. Put the rest towards my student loan debt
OK, now to my question!
Prior to this new job, I just used some free online site (I think it was HR block) to do my taxes, very easy, I never had much income to report, no investments etc. So it was simple and I usually got back every dime of what i paid in (since I made so little, my education credits were greater than my withholdings).
I just got my W-2 from the job I started in Sept, and the Federal income tax withheld (box 2) is 16,100. Now there is more money on the line, I have some 401k investments, paying back loans, etc. Things are getting more complicated and I want to make sure I do everything I can to get back as much of that 16k as possible.
I am curious from more experienced mustachians than myself are there some tax breaks/credits I should be looking into? Is it worth paying for a tax service instead of doing it for free online?
I did not buy a new house, have a baby, no electric car or anything like that. I still have the same old 2000 car I had 6 years ago. I think the biggest thing would be university credits (hope credit) since I was a full time student for the majority of last year, my student loan debt, and my 401k contributions. Not sure if there are other things I should be looking into.