I'm too lazy to create another April 15th advisory post, so here's last year's with some minor modifications.
Yes my friends, it is true that everyone's 1040s are due to the IRS by the end of this week, April 15th. I suggest filing before the end of Friday, April 14th. You know how government workers are (Like Ryan.) I doubt the s.o.bs will be working this Saturday.
If you haven't done so already, I'm sure your mothers have filed your income tax return to the Federal Government. After she is done forging your name and paying your apartment's rent, thank her dearly. Concerning income levels such as ours, it is a shame to make you mothers perform this petty task. Of course if you want to pay me to file your return, that is a different story.
I just wanted to give a heads up to those men that wait until this last minute with the philosophy that if you do wait until those last 60 seconds to complete the job, than the job will only take 60 seconds to complete. I honor you, Godspeed.
Most of us are college students or have just recently graduated from a post secondary school, so I suggest that you find Form 1099 mailed to you from whomever your school loans originated. There will be an amount listed of the student loan interest paid by you. Make sure to include this as an "above the line" deduction in the 1040. There are no phase outs associated with this expense (Ryan, this is a huge benefit.)
If you are still currently in school, list the tuition expenses you've experienced in 2004. If these are greater than grants and scholarships received, than a deduction will be allowed for the difference. (Ryan, A deduction does not lower one's taxes dollar for dollar, it lowers your Taxable Income, which is used to calculate your Tax . Assuming a 30% Tax Rate, a $1 deduction will result in $0.30 reduction in taxes for the year.) For people like you and myself, this is the best advice I can give. Go to www.irs.gov for any other questions you might have.
2 comments:
TURBO TAX TO THE RESCUE!
i got by this year using turbo tax. i now have a personal accountant.
hey stephen, would the fair tax put you out of business?
No, I don't think it would. We've had a couple of big accounting firm speakers talk about the fair tax. Because of the thousands of jurisdictions and the billions of goods sold, the fair tax is actually very complicated. So, accountants will still be greatly needed. Even if I'm not needed for taxes, I'm able to do other things. Also, the current federal income tax is not likely to be done away with. Too many politicians use the IRC for pandering to constituents. Throughout the Code, there are rediculously specific exemptions and applications benefitting or punishing certain groups of people. Congressmen like Jack Kingston have less talking points without the Federal Income tax.
Also, the void of a Federal Income Tax system would only spur State and local governments to expand their current income tax systems or institute new ones.
Neil Boortz has overemphasized the simplicity of the fair tax. I've listened to people try to explain to Boortz about the complexities of it, but he screams his way out of the arguement. Listening to Boortz would make anyone beleive in the fair tax. The only ultimate fair tax solution is to scrap the Federal Tax system altogether, which I am all for.
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