Wow, I am a home owner, paying college loans (had about 1300 in interest last year), no kids, but am getting about $5700 for federal and 1000 for state My wife was in school last year so we do have some tuition credits included in that.

 

I dunno off-hand, to be honest. I previously used the same accountant I have been for years since I started working in high school (same as the one my parents used) but then decided to try another company last year and they came up with roughly the same.

I guess it's potentially dangerous to have blind faith, but when they're CGAs making very minimal amounts from me to file it and I haven't requested anything shady then I have to think they're filing by the book.

I believe I benefit from some of my earnings being commission-based, seeing additional write-offs as a result for my vehicle, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. I didn't try to claim any home technology or anything though, as I'm not running a business.

 

I can't see a single new college grad with no house or kids beating the standard deduction.. Not with an EIC, loan interest, partial work year, et al. I imagine it would have to come from a lot of donations.. which is money lost in essense. Or maybe a ton of business expenses.

 

Who are you referring to?

 

I like getting nothing back. Screw the man and his no interest loan.

 

If you are getting that much back, your withholdings are hosed too.

 

Anyone in genertal, but specifically the OP. He states "It found me $4k in refunds that I never would have found." That to me, assumes that he itemized more than $5350 in deductions.. otherwise turbo tax would tell him to take the standard deduction of $5350 and call it a day.

So, what I meant is, I don't see a recent college grad with no house, no kids, etc being able to itemize more than $5350 in deductions. I'd like to know more about his story.

 

Right right, I gotcha now.

 

Exactly right. We owe the Feds like $120. We will get about $110 from the state. Hard to play it more perfectly than that.


Oh, and I'm not filing JACK until about 10 April. They can wait a few months for the rest of my moola.

 

I only worked for half the year (started the job in June), so my gross was much smaller than it really should be. I was just psyched this morning. Next year won't be nearly as good I'm sure. I also qualified for the Hope Tax credit for my tuition, so that was cool.