Do your own taxes free on-line

By Ariel Nash

Tax season is here once again, and many Americans are scrambling to get their taxes filed before it’s April 15 and too late to file without a penalty.

Surprisingly, many adults never learned how to file their own taxes. They end up going to a tax preparer like H&R Block and pay for help getting the job done.

Teens tend to follow in their parents’ footsteps and have someone else file their taxes for them.

But I learned that filing taxes isn’t as hard as many think. For teens, it’s easier than for most adults who have deductions or are filing jointly. Not only is it easy for us because we file as single dependents (meaning our parents claim us on their taxes), but technology has made it even simpler.

All you have to do is to grab your W2 forms and go onto the e-filing services on the IRS Web site

E-filing services are free and easy to use. I myself used the free tax forms offered.

Free and easy on-line filing

At first I was a little nervous about signing in to do my federal taxes. My first roadblock was figuring out which tax form to use. I figured I had to use the 1040, but I didn’t realize that there were many types of 1040’s.

My mom couldn’t really tell me which one to use because she never did her own taxes. I was the first in my family to file my taxes by myself.

I looked at the forms from last year and saw that the 1040 EZ form is what dependent teens should use. Don’t get confused by the lines asking for information about your spouse. Pretend like it’s not even there. The more you read it the more confused you will get.

Here are the steps I took:

• I got started filling out the basic information about myself. I had two jobs last year so I added my “taxable wages” together from my W-2 forms.

• I ignored what I paid in Social Security and Medicare – those go to help retired people, so I won’t get them back.

• To figure out if I get a refund or owe the government money, I had to fill out lines 1-5 on the income tax portion of the form.

• For Line Five, because I’m claimed in my parent’s taxes, I entered $5,350 and subtracted that from my adjusted gross income.

• After I got Line Six figured out, I went to my W2s and saw how much tax the federal government took away from my earnings last year. Then I entered that on the form.

• For Line 11, I hit the information tab at the bottom of the on-line form. That took me to a page that showed me how much tax I was supposed to pay for the year. I entered that number on the form.

• Subtracting Line 11 – the tax owed — from Line 10 – the tax paid — gave me some good news: I’m entitled to a $238 refund.

• After that I entered direct deposit information for my bank account so I can get the refund faster.

• Next I went to the tab that says “e-file your tax forms.” I hit the button and followed the directions.

Best help ever

Whenever I got stumped on something on the form, I pressed the information button on the bottom of the form. A new window opened into an Adobe formatted information book for each line on the form. It was the best help ever.

After I was done with the form, I had to copy information from my W2s onto on-line forms. The whole process only took me 25 minutes and, best of all, it was free.

I am confident in my ability to do it again next year when I am in college away from my family.

Sense of power and responsibility

Filling my own taxes has given me a new sense of power and responsibility. I feel like an adult. I feel like I could teach my parents something they didn’t learn at my age.

Doing your own taxes can also teach you what certain terms mean, helping prepare you for more complicated taxes in the future when family, housing, and schooling come into play.

Filling taxes may seem like the most complicated thing in the world, but, like an application, after you get used to it, it’s as easy as pie.