Are you a recent college graduate? Are you going to prepare your own tax return? Do you have limited knowledge and experience about tax? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, you should read the tax tips below which will help you get your tax done with ease and take all the tax benefits that applies to you.
1. Personal exemption
Personal exemption is the specific dollar amount that IRS allows you to deduct from your income. Generally, you can take one exemption for yourself, one for your spouse if married filing jointly and one for each of your dependents. However, you can’t take personal exemption(s) on your return if you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return. When you were a college student, you might earn limited income, got over 50% support from your parents and was claimed as your parents’ dependent on their tax return. In the year you graduated from college, you might land a job and earned income more than 50% of the support you need. Be sure to check the dependent tests to see if you are a dependent or not and determine whether you can take person exemption(s) on your return. If you can take personal exemption(s), you should check Box 6 of Form 1040 for yourself (your spouse or dependents if you have any) and take the personal exemption amount on line 42 of Form 1040.
2. Wages
You may have multiple jobs during the year you graduate from college, such as jobs you had when you were a student, a temp job after graduation and a permanent job. When you had multiple jobs, it’s easy to forget reporting income from one of the jobs, especially jobs that you only worked for a very short period of time. Make sure to collect W-2s from all jobs and report total wages on line 7 of Form 1040.
If you move to a new location to start a job and meet all three IRS’s requirements, you can deduct moving expenses on line 26 of Form 1040:
3. Moving expenses
If you move to a new location to start a job and meet all three IRS’s requirements, you can deduct moving expenses on line 26 of Form 1040:
- Your move is closely related to start your work.
- Your new job location is over 50 miles away from your old residence.
- You must work full-time for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months immediately following your move.
4. Education credit
American opportunity credit and lifetime learning credit are the two education credits available on federal income tax return that help you to offset the costs of higher education by reducing the amount of your income tax. Since you might be a fulltime or part time student in the year of graduation, you should be able to claim American opportunity credit or lifetime learn credit if you or someone else paid qualified education expense for you. The maximum credit you can claim is $2,500 for American opportunity credit or $2,000 for lifetime learning credit. You need to complete Form 8863 and report the credit on line 50 and (or) line 68 of Form 1040 to get the credit.
Student loan interest deduction is another tax benefit for students who take out student loan to pay qualified education expenses. If you or someone else paid interest on the student loan, you may be able to take up to $2,500 student loan interest deduction per year on line 33 of Form 1040. However, if you are claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, you can not take this deduction.
5. Student loan interest deduction
Student loan interest deduction is another tax benefit for students who take out student loan to pay qualified education expenses. If you or someone else paid interest on the student loan, you may be able to take up to $2,500 student loan interest deduction per year on line 33 of Form 1040. However, if you are claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, you can not take this deduction.
6. Individual retirement accounts (IRA)
You should consider to make a traditional IRA or Roth IRA contribution if you want to start saving for retirement early. You may want to contribute to a traditional IRA account and take IRA deduction on line 32 of Form 1040 for additional tax saving or you may want to open a Roth IRA account so that you get tax free for all the earning from this account in the future. You can compare traditional IRA and Roth IRA, then choose the one that you think will benefit you the most. The due date to make IRA contribution is the same as tax return due date without extension. You can take the IRA tax benefit as long as you make the IRA contribution before the due date.
7. Retirement savings contribution credit
Retirement savings contribution credit is tax credit offered by IRS to encourage low to moderate income taxpayers to save for retirement. You can take this credit for your contributions to retirement accounts such as traditional IRA, Roth IRA or 401K if you meet the following requirement:
- Your adjusted gross income is less than $30,000 for single or $60,000 for married filing jointly.
- You are not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.
- You were not a full time student during the tax year.
Depending on your income level and filing status, you can get the amount of credit equal to 10%, 20% or 50% of your contribution up to $2,000 for single and $4,000 for married filing jointly. To take this credit, you need to complete Form 8880 and report the credit on line 51 of Form 1040. Don’t miss this credit if you can take it.
If you moved to a different state after graduation or earned income from more than one state, you may have to file multiple state tax returns for income you earned in different states. You can find your state wage and income tax withholding on Box 15, 16 and 17 of your W-2 forms. You can also check each state’s tax return instruction to see if you need to file state income return with the state where you earned income.
If you decide to prepare your own tax return, it is better for you to prepare your return with tax preparation software to save your time and avoid possible mistakes, especially if you need to claim credits, moving expense deduction, or file multi-state tax returns mentioned above. You can check IRS’s website to see if you can use any of the free software listed there for your federal and state returns. Or you can purchase a tax preparation software to prepare your returns. There are a lot of tax preparation software on market for you to choose. You can search reviews for tax preparation software and pick one with high reputation and low cost, or one that you think is best for your need.
Related Article(s)
Example – How to Prepare Your Income Tax Return by Yourself
Example – How to Determine Whether You Can Claim American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit
How to Figure Out and Report Deductible Moving Expense
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8. State returns
If you moved to a different state after graduation or earned income from more than one state, you may have to file multiple state tax returns for income you earned in different states. You can find your state wage and income tax withholding on Box 15, 16 and 17 of your W-2 forms. You can also check each state’s tax return instruction to see if you need to file state income return with the state where you earned income.
9. Tax preparation software
If you decide to prepare your own tax return, it is better for you to prepare your return with tax preparation software to save your time and avoid possible mistakes, especially if you need to claim credits, moving expense deduction, or file multi-state tax returns mentioned above. You can check IRS’s website to see if you can use any of the free software listed there for your federal and state returns. Or you can purchase a tax preparation software to prepare your returns. There are a lot of tax preparation software on market for you to choose. You can search reviews for tax preparation software and pick one with high reputation and low cost, or one that you think is best for your need.
Related Article(s)
Example – How to Prepare Your Income Tax Return by Yourself
Example – How to Determine Whether You Can Claim American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit
How to Figure Out and Report Deductible Moving Expense
Please share this post with your friends.
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