4th Annual Tax Thread - 2006

[Plasdom]

I made a lot of money donations to the church last year. Can I claim it as a deduction without a receipt? They were all checks

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: Plasdom
I made a lot of money donations to the church last year. Can I claim it as a deduction without a receipt? They were all checks

Yes. Your church should give you a copy of your donations since you wrote checks. In the absence of that, I'm sure you'd be ok because you have a record of the donations in the form of canceled checks.

 

[msparish]

I just received a college grant back-dated for the Fall '06 semester. However, the grant was not disbursed until January 2007. Do I report this for 2006 or 2007 taxes? Thanks.

 

[OutHouse]

Question:

A friend of mine who is a widow receives monthly SS money for her two boys ages 15 and 17. the SS checks are to the boys but she is their mom so the money goes into her bank account. Does she claim that money as part of her income or do the boys have to file their own returns because the SS checks have their name on them?

 

[Plasdom]

Originally posted by: AmigaMan

Originally posted by: Plasdom
I made a lot of money donations to the church last year. Can I claim it as a deduction without a receipt? They were all checks

Yes. Your church should give you a copy of your donations since you wrote checks. In the absence of that, I'm sure you'd be ok because you have a record of the donations in the form of canceled checks.

The amount is fairly large ~$5K, spread over small amounts given throughout the year. I will try to contact the church for a receipt, but since it dramatically increases the amount I get back (+$800) I want to still claim it even if I don't get the receipt

 

[blurredvision]

I know you guys said you will not answer questions about state returns, but I think this might be a general question. Is it OK for my wife and I to file jointly federal, but file as seperate with state? We're going to file jointly for federal due to the return we'll get, but taxact is showing that we'll owe our state (KY) $250+ if we file jointly. If I change that to file seperately, we then get back $40. I figure if taxact is letting me set them differently, then it should be ok. But I wanted to check here first .

 

[Albis]

Does anyone know if student loan interest is tax deductible for state income taxes?

I know it is for federal but does it work the same way for state?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: msi1337
here is an easy one for you.

I will be e-filing with turbotax soon. I seem to have lost the printout of my 2005 1040... so I have no idea what my AGI is to "electronically sign" this years return... is there any way for me to calculate the AGI myself? I had only (1) W2 last year and one 1098-T

I was wondering if I input the data into this years turbotax if it would recalculate the same AGI.

also.. I know I can submit form 4506-t to request this info, but I wanted to see if I could figure it out first..thought on this?

Call the IRS - they can get you a line item summary.
Otherwise, redo your taxes for 2005. You can not use 2006 programs and be guarenteed to get the proper numbers

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: animalia
I've been getting paychecks at my employer based on a w-4 that don't remember what I put on it. there is considerable taxes taken out ( about 150 in federal and 65 in state) my gross pay is about 740 every two weeks, which I guess is okay for a part time student like myself. anyways....will about the same amount be withheld from future paychecks if I claim 1 allowance, which states I am single and have only one job...? which is true. does a higher number mean more withheld or less? sorry if it's already vbeen answered...this thread is ginormous.

High number of exemptions on a W4 result is less income tax being withheld.

Your employer should be able to provide you with a copy of the current W4

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I have a quick question before I file my taxes..this is the first time I have actually made any decent money and I was wondering if you guys think I will owe anything, total wages,tips, other comp. was around 14.3k and the only amount of federal that was taken out was 670$...will I end up owing as a student? (about 1200$ went towards school tuition, books) ... can I count gas, or is it to hard to prove it if I get audited?

I was using taxslayer.com and it said I would end up owing 365$.... (without the tuition, books deducted because I don't know how to do that).

Any thoughts appreciated!

Tuition costs only can be deduced for the Hope or LLC.
Hope is for the first two years of undergrad schooling.


Your other question requires actually entering the data for your taxes.

You have demonstrated that you can do that.

You need to ensure that your parents are not claiming you as a dependant.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Dangerer
Hi, can someone help me with this situation?

Basically i'm 20 years old now and started working in mid 2005 when I was 18. My mom paid some tax lady to file my taxes last year. She charged a pretty sizeable fee and filed me as an independent and I received a tax return of $1500 which was basically everything but the social security tax. Now the problem is she charges so much, if I were to file taxes myself this year instead of having her do it, would I be able to get the same amount back? I made the same this year as I did last year.

Without knowing what the other lady did, we can not guess.

Take your numbers, use one of the free services and see what pops out.

The amount back depends on the amount in and any other goodies that the IRS has been told by Congress to add in for people. Most is usually for low income earners in the form of credits.

 

[TFM]

Wow - it's amazing that you're doing what you're doing! Awesome!

I just finished e-filing using TurboTax deluxe online. However, i'm not certain if i need to send something in or not.

I am a minister and just this past year received my approved 4361. I was under the assumption that i was to send a copy along with my return when i filed it (with the W-2s and other forms). However, when i e-filed through TurboTax online, nothing was mentioned about having to send anything in. I just receieved notice that the IRS had accepted the return from them and that it was simply a matter of waiting until the return was debited to our bank account. So do they not need proof of my approved 4361? Am i not supposed to send anything in?

Thanks!
Chris

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: BaNzaiDags
Question:
On my 1098 form i recevied for my equity line of credit. says box 1: Mortgage Interst $X,XXX.XX.
And right below it shows: Total Interest / Points Paid with the same number.

Does this mean only had interest and did not pay any points for this loan?

You are the only one that would know if you had points for the loan. Check the closing statement.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: msparish
I just received a college grant back-dated for the Fall '06 semester. However, the grant was not disbursed until January 2007. Do I report this for 2006 or 2007 taxes? Thanks.

You received the funds in 2007. That is the key date

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Albis
Does anyone know if student loan interest is tax deductible for state income taxes?

I know it is for federal but does it work the same way for state?

It would be dependent on the state tax laws.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
I know you guys said you will not answer questions about state returns, but I think this might be a general question. Is it OK for my wife and I to file jointly federal, but file as seperate with state? We're going to file jointly for federal due to the return we'll get, but taxact is showing that we'll owe our state (KY) $250+ if we file jointly. If I change that to file seperately, we then get back $40. I figure if taxact is letting me set them differently, then it should be ok. But I wanted to check here first .

It would be dependent on the state tax laws.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Citrix
Question:

A friend of mine who is a widow receives monthly SS money for her two boys ages 15 and 17. the SS checks are to the boys but she is their mom so the money goes into her bank account. Does she claim that money as part of her income or do the boys have to file their own returns because the SS checks have their name on them?

IRS SSI Benefits Pub 915

Who is taxed. The person who has the legal right to receive the benefits must determine whether the benefits are taxable. For example, if you and your child receive benefits, but the check for your child is made out in your name, you must use only your part of the benefits to see whether any benefits are taxable to you. One-half of the part that belongs to your child must be added to your child's other income to see whether any of those benefits are taxable to your child.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: TFM
Wow - it's amazing that you're doing what you're doing! Awesome!

I just finished e-filing using TurboTax deluxe online. However, i'm not certain if i need to send something in or not.

I am a minister and just this past year received my approved 4361. I was under the assumption that i was to send a copy along with my return when i filed it (with the W-2s and other forms). However, when i e-filed through TurboTax online, nothing was mentioned about having to send anything in. I just receieved notice that the IRS had accepted the return from them and that it was simply a matter of waiting until the return was debited to our bank account. So do they not need proof of my approved 4361? Am i not supposed to send anything in?

Thanks!
Chris

E-filing is intended to reduce IRS paperwork for the Taxes.

It would be safest to send in the 4361 with a note stating that the tax return was e-filed.

 

[TFM]

Thanks!

Chris

 

[thirtythree]

Thanks for doing this again.

Sort of a dumb question, but for some reason this is the first time I've noticed state "use tax" -- am I really supposed to pay taxes on everything I bought tax-free online? I thought that was part of the appeal of buying online...

EDIT: Oops, I guess this is a state question. Didn't read that till after posting

 

[FoBoT]

this might be helpful

2006 IRS e-file Refund Cycle Chart

Transmitted and accepted(by Noon) between: -Direct Deposit Sent -Paper Check Mailed
01/12/2007 and 01/18/2007 -01/26/2007 -02/02/2007
01/18/2007 and 01/25/2007 -02/02/2007 -02/09/2007
01/25/2007 and 02/01/2007 -02/09/2007 -02/16/2007
02/01/2007 and 02/08/2007 -02/16/2007 -02/23/2007
02/08/2007 and 02/15/2007 -02/23/2007 -03/02/2007
02/15/2007 and 02/22/2007 -03/02/2007 -03/09/2007
02/22/2007 and 03/01/2007 -03/09/2007 -03/16/2007
03/01/2007 and 03/08/2007 -03/16/2007 -03/23/2007
03/08/2007 and 03/15/2007 -03/23/2007 -03/30/2007
03/15/2007 and 03/22/2007 -03/30/2007 -04/06/2007
03/22/2007 and 03/29/2007 -04/06/2007 -04/13/2007
03/29/2007 and 04/05/2007 -04/13/2007 -04/20/2007
04/05/2007 and 04/12/2007 -04/20/2007 -04/27/2007
04/12/2007 and 04/19/2007 -04/27/2007 -05/04/2007

 

[KBeee]

Wow - this is so parochial

 

[Turin39789]

I need HSA help. I have a W - $550 in box 12a on one of my W-2's, which prompts the tax software for me to fill out a form 8889

It looks like Taxcut Basic will handle them, but I'm still not sure that I am doing this right. I had a plan with a $1500 deductible, my employer put $500 in the account and I put in $50. I spent all of $17 dollars and $523 went into my HSA for this year. It looks like I get a deduction I start with the lessor of my deductible and $2700, so $1500, then I subtract my employer contributions and get $1000 then I get to deduct the smaller of that or my contribution($50) so I get a $50 deduction.

Then it gets to the distributions section, I'm not sure what to do here, I had $523 in my account on 12/31/06 and kept the same account for my new hsa this year

 

[archcommus]

I am a student and cannot deduct tuition payments or loan interest paid because I am claimed as my parents' dependent. All money paid WAS my own and not my parents'. Can my parents claim this money as deductions? If not that just seems wrong, SOMEONE should be able to deduct the 3 grand I paid for tuition.

 

[Mrfrog840]

I started a business on December 17th in the state of Washington. It is a contractor business (home theater installation). I am contracted through CC. I never received payment from them until 2007 for the jobs we did in 2006. I also opened a bank account and deposited 20,000 USD to start my business in December. Do I still file my w2's from my previous years employers or do I need to fill out separate forms since I started my business in 2006?