Excited to do Taxes....Am I Crazy? 2012 taxes Questions.
January 27th, 2011 at 07:33 am
I want to do my taxes. I am actually pretty sure I have all the documents I need. I say pretty sure because the last two years I seem to keep forgetting documents BUT in both cases once the tax return was amended I got a slightly larger refund (daycare reciepts, etc.).

I will be itemizing again this year, because I refinanced my house this year. Actually I could be itemizing every year from this point on until I pay off my house. I keep forgetting that I am single (well head of household) so I only have to meet $7,850 in deductions to itemize.

I am going to have to do some math BUT I might do that thing where one year you pay your property taxes after Dec 31st so it is applied to the next years taxes and then pay that following year before the 31st so that you have double property taxes and the mortgage interest in one tax return and basically itemizing every other year. I dont know, I might pay enough in taxes and interest just to itemize every year for a while. See last year we did not itemize because we were like $200 short BUT that was as married and the property taxes were smaller.

This year the basement was finished, inspected and the house value rose by 39K, thus the taxes went up. I refinanced the house, and I went from a deduction for a married couple to head of household.

I wonder if I will still get head of household in 2012? See I will still have a house, but My son will have lived with his father Jan - August because I was deployed. BUT I would still have provided about half of his expenses for that time frame because I provide the Medical, Dental and I already purchased ALL his clothing for while I was gone, to make the process easier. Then Sept - Dec I will be providing basically 100%. *** Edit*** My Ex-Husband could claim head of household because he would have had our son more than 50% of the time, I also wonder if he might fight me for the dependant deduction (even though our divorce decree states I get it- his child support was reduced because I am suppose to get the deduction). I am really confused. A few months ago I was going to have my Ex live in my home basically rent free (which then basically there would have been no question on the provided support issue), but I think it would better for everyone for him to rent an apartment instead. ??????????

What do you do to make your tax time easier? I would like to create a checklist of items I need to file my taxes but I always seem to forget until it is time to file and then it is too late for that year.

Next Year I need:
W-2
1099-INT ING
1099-INT USAA
Property Tax
Mortgage Interest
Daycare Receipts
529 Statement
Church Donation Receipt
Charity Donation (Itemized) Receipt
?????

I started my tax return at turbotax...With just my income and interest entered I am at a $1604.00 fed return. I wonder how much it will be once I have my itemized deductions in? I would like $2505+ when both my state and federal are done, because then my Emergency Fund would be funded and I could start my other savings goals and start saving for Flood Duty daycare. I should know before the end of the evening because I know I will not be able to sleep until I have it finished.