Whew, I think I'll consider hiring someone again next year! That was brutal. AS's federal could be filed for free, but all the others would cost money, so I did them myself.
The worst part is having to cross-reference different forms and pages; I felt like my eyes were bugging out of my sockets by the end.
Luckily for AS's I had TaxAct's state refund amount, so when I got her manual state return to match that amount, I felt comfortable I'd done it right.
For me and NT, I used a free-file option on IRS where you fill in the forms, they do some of the math (but you need to know which forms to file), and you e-file on the IRS site itself. I tried and was rejected three times. Each time it said there was a data error on the education credit schedule. I quadruple checked my math as well as the instructions and the info I entered about the 1099-T, and couldn't figure out what was wrong. It says you can just print out and mail, so I think I'll do that. Hopefully it's just something weird like a character you can't use, or the name of the institution not looking exactly like on the 1099.
When I did the taxes more carefully, I found that AS's refund was about $1000 more than I thought, and NT and I owed about $400 more than I thought. Still, we came out $600 more ahead, so about $4600.
This is good, because I had already put $4000 in my head toward education debt, so when our computer crashed on Friday, I said we'd have to find another way to pay for it if it needed repairs or replacement. I was determined to put at least $4000 of tax money toward debt! So now there's an extra $600 we can use to repair or replace the laptop. (I'll find out soon; AS went to the Apple store half an hour ago. I brought my work laptop home so I'd still be able to get online this weekend.) Before we found out the refund was going to be more, AS accepted a $275 freelance assignment thinking she could use that to help pay for the laptop. So we'll have $875 to put toward it.
As for student loans, I don't know if any of this will happen in February, but in the next couple of months I should be able to put the following to student loan debt:
$1100 payment (the one already sent that hasn't showed up yet)
$1600 AS freelance money
$375 money saved by doing my own taxes
$400 CC bonus rewards (from 4 separate cards)
$4000 from tax refunds
That's $7475. The loan I want to get rid of is up to $19K with accumulated interest, so when all of the above hits, I should be able to get it down to about $11,525. I could pay the rest of it off with the regular extra debt repayment in the budget for the year! Of course, I still need to cashflow NT's summer and fall tuition, so I'd need to find more money for that if I hope to pay tuition AND pay off this loan. But it feels so close! A few more random windfalls between now and Dec. 2013, and this could be doable.
Still no word on AS's freelance check that never came, nor on the payment I sent to Direct Loan that should transfer to Sallie Mae. I did hear that they cut a check and sent it to some other federal govt. department who would then transfer it to Sallie Mae, so that's why it could take 4 to 6 weeks. It's already been 3 weeks, so hopefully not much longer!
The house is so quiet; AA had her first sleepover last night and a playdate all day today! She should be back in an hour. I wish I could have used the time to relax, but I knew this would be my best chance to get the taxes done; toddlers are incredibly and persistently distracting.
Taxes almost done!
February 23rd, 2013 at 09:48 pm
February 23rd, 2013 at 09:51 pm 1361656295
February 23rd, 2013 at 10:54 pm 1361660093
February 24th, 2013 at 12:40 am 1361666428
February 24th, 2013 at 07:38 am 1361691485
February 24th, 2013 at 10:53 pm 1361746402
Jerry