Win $100! What do you wish you'd known the 1st time you filed taxes?

[Raph]

This sweepstakes has ended

Thank you so much to everyone that participated! It was so great to hear about all of your experiences.  A winner was randomly selected and has been contacted to claim their prize.

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Hello community members!

For first-time visitors, welcome to the TurboTax + Mint Community. For returning members, welcome back! We’re so glad to "see" you again!

As we gain life experience, our perspective on finances and taxes changes. We spend a lot of our young adult life trying to get this thing called taxes right. Sometimes life throws us curveballs, and finances can get a little hectic. Eventually, we realize it’s not the end of the world. As we learn more about managing finances, it gets easier to handle the challenges.

Now that you’re a tax filing "pro," what is something that you wish you would have known the first time you filed your taxes? For this month's sweepstakes, we are going to focus on tips that you wish you knew before starting your tax journey.

Sharing your opinions with our community could earn you a gift card to help you achieve your financial goals. To enter simply reply to this thread with your most helpful tax filing tips. On March 16th, 2022, a winner will be selected from this thread at random.

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We will be hosting the What You Wish You Knew About Taxes 2022 Sweepstakes to give you, and others, the opportunity to share your tips. One lucky winner will be chosen at random to receive a $100 gift card.

• WHAT: Sweepstakes for a $100 gift card
• WHEN: Entries will be accepted from March 1st, 2022 through March 16th, 2022 at 12:00pm Pacific Time
• HOW: Enter by adding a comment to this post telling us what you wish you knew about taxes when you first filed. If you are the winner, we will send you a private message. The winner will be selected at random on March 16th, 2022.

Refer to the attached document for the complete rules.

[ekondo96701]

I wish I knew how to better allocate my estimated taxes for investors who don't always have the same amount of stock sales each year.  Having recently spoken to a TurboTax Expert, I now know that I can use the "Annualizing my Tax" feature to better allocate my estimated taxes.

[SuperSpinEnt]

i wish I would have known how easy it is to use turbo tax software! It would have made everything so much easier with your easy to follow guides and 24 hr live support I would have been so much better than using my "other" tax service we wont name any names but i will from now on always use turbo tax software!

[sfalk1984]

One thing that I wish I had known before filing my taxes for 2021 was that I should have rolled over the small 401k disbursement from my previous employer into another plan.  It wasn't until I received my 1099R form and applied it to my tax profile that I got hit with taxes and an early withdrawal for not rolling it over.  I am assuming that there is nothing I can do to reverse this.  It just sucks because it was just $70.

[susy2072]

I wish I had known all of the different deductibles that you should be keeping track of throughout the year. 

[DebbiM]

Does anyone know if tTurbotax is installed on a separate computer (the program allows 5),  do they each get a separate account?  I want my kids to use the program and I don't want to have to help them with their taxes.

[sparkalley]

I have been using turbotax for over 20 years.  This is the first year I used the online version.  Very impressed will use that program in future year taxes.

[DebbiM]

The main thing that I wish I knew the first time I started filing taxes was that if you work in more than 1 state during the year both states will require you to file a state tax return and take their share of your money.  I was pretty much living paycheck to paycheck while going to school and didn't know I would be hit with a double tax bill at the end of it all.  Live and learn.

[RedKitty2]

Exactly what forms your employer supposed to give you to file your yearly taxes along with explanation from certified cpa what exactly why employer was holding back $204.00 week for taxes when your checks were set amount of $550 weekly that sure seeme to be that employer is committing tax payer theft of his employee every week for 31 years alot money if added up. Leaving a man to support his family on $346.00 after taxes took out weakly. 

[Lordjr64]

I have heard of TurboTax for many of years but I have never thought about using them now that I have will not go back to any H&R Block or any other tax refund in place I wish I would’ve known everything honestly lol this is my second year filing tax Completely blew H&R Block out the water I now get all my family and friends going to turboTax thanks!!!!!!!!

[Jamesjr2802]

Man I learned so much about taxes I ain't know anything and I'm 23 @Raph 

@Lordjr64 @DebbiM @RedKitty2 

[Cq5]

I wish I had know how to be organized all year long with receipts and files so that taxes was easier at the end of the year.  
and also wish I knew all the ways to save on taxes!!

[Kwalker1085]

I wish I known all the extra tax deductables I could file with my taxes, like child care and health care. I also wish I would have known how cheap it is to go with TurboTax. Going to a other company Cost me hundreds of dollars and TurboTax is so reasonable priced plus you can pay a little extra to get the audit protection. Man oh man do I wish I would have known that the first time i did my taxes.. I use it everytime now.. 

[JScare]

Ah the first time taxes is extremely unnerving but TURBOTAx does it right. They basic format it so you just enter your details and its VOILa like really,  that's it, just keep all your paperwork together for next year etc. 

[1234Ja]

I wish I had known I could file electronically for free.

[chloejro]

I wish that I had known how simple this process really was. I’m 22 years old, taxes always intimidated me but turbo tax really does make everything so much easier to understand!

[pressbutton]

that turbotax is the easiest way to file.

[Cynthia10]

I wish I would have hired someone (at a good price and necessary qualifications) or used one of TurboTaxes Experts! 

[OUO]

I wish I know earlier that there is a free version of Turbotax!

[Santovalenzuela]

Es bueno pruebenlos 👀

[Southerngrl4u]

I wish I would have known how to properly fill out my w-4 and how to correctly itemize my deductions correctly so that I could have benefited the most when it came to filing my taxes, but now with Turbo tax I have peace of mind and I am a lot more confident!

[Chy_TB]

What I wish I knew about taxes when I first filed... more about college deductions/credits, taking advantage of 529 plans, AOTC, etc. 

[Gary9036]

Wished I had known that you need to pay taxes on dividends you earned on taxable investments

[mkkh2]

I wish TurboTax was available when I started doing taxes. I found out about areas for deductions and credits that I didn't even know existed just by following the step-by-step instructions of TurboTax.

[Laderrickiss]

I wish I knew how easy and quick it was filing with turbo 

[Kjfrye20]

I wish I knew more how the financial institutions worked in processing the return and then the refund monies and then where the refund monies would go. I wish we had a choice of where the refund money to go if we didn't have a bank who then the current product credit karma which is proven nothing to be but a fraudster and I can't get a hold of nobody in person over TurboTax or credit karma to fix it

[meehly]

I wish I had done the tax myself instead of using my parents' cheap tax professional. I didn't make sure at the time, basically low income and I could of add rent as a deduction. These cheap tax professional don't sit down with you to find possible deductions. They just take your W-2 and any documents you give them, and that's it. there's no discussion.

[Dchamp69]

I wish I knew you could add gas expenses for work, and claim all educational expenses. How Turbo Tax is fast and easy to use to file jointly!

[wendy1214]

I wish I had know that college textbooks were a deductible education expense

[pnored]

I wish I had known how easy using Turbotax is! 

[KouklaNB]

I wish I would have known about the Fidelity discount before filing my prior years taxes. It's always great to save $ $. TurboTax always saves me money, by finding the most deductions. Thank you TurboTax. It's the best!

[Seansargent77]

How much money that I could make without going into a expensive tax bracket..

[saledigital]

Good 

[Vvhimzical]

I wish I knew to keep track of the many deductibles I have as well as receipts for everything.

[Buck64]

I wish I knew my tax payer I'd number it want let me e-file without it

[robo660]

To anyone who is worried about there refund like I have been by getting the (we are sorry but your refund is delayed beyond normal time frame ) I can shine a lil light on ya situation now finally !! I have a refund date set to hit my bank account on the 16th of March hope this eases some of ya'llz worries a lil bit ...also I wish I had known how freaking easy it was to file my taxes myself through turbo tax !! Thank you turbo tax for being there through it all I really appreciate it more than. You know sincerely yours Robert Miller

[Bre0304]

I wish I would of known to keep all my records together before filing, having to stop and go look for something got frustrating. Thanks to TT, you all make it easy

Brianna Miller

[ruselman29]

First off this was my first year using Turbo Tax and I wish that I would have been using Turbo Tax all along opposed to spending $700 to file my return with services like H&R block and Liberty Tax. The whole process was pretty easy But aside from that I wish that I would have known more about the process of filing taxes as a whole. For whatever reason it wasn't taught in school and it really should have been because I started filing at 16 with my husband and neither one of us knew anything about anything. 

[wamesd]

I wish I had known about saving all of my receipts through the year, as many of them would have been deductions on my tax return!!!

[lowmana87]

I wish I had known to not let my parents claim me as a dependent when I began working while still In highschool and providing for myself! Whoops!

[Demarius Taylor]

I wish I would have known how to get a advance refund and knew how to talk to a representative and see how much I would have got back for my taxes and paid all that money for the assistance and thought I was gonna get more on my refund but the state had took most of my money but I know next year what to do but I already paid for the whole year so might as well use it **bleep** I wish I would have known at first but I made a mistake for this is my first time filing taxes but I'll know the 2nd go round believe that imma do my research promise you that

[Peg45244]

I wish I had known some "simple" things like:

1) I would need to have my bank account details handy for requesting direct deposit;
2) I would need my (and my husband's) driver's license near by (first time my husband wasn't home when I was ready to file)

3) Last years tax returns for referencing.

🙂

@Raph 

[hjg3]

I wish I had known that making small charitable donations will not do anything for my tax refunds when I am donating such a small amount.

[NickinArizona2]

I was getting rejected when I e-filed my Fed return with IND-031-04.  Saying I had an error in my pin or my (turbotax provided) AGI.  This was my first e-file so the pin was "new" not from and previous year.  Even though I checked the "Joint" return option turbotax would still have me enter my AGI and then my spouses AGI which seems strange.  Thinking my 2020 return was adjusted somehow I went online to the IRS and found my 2020 return (filled in Oct 2021) was still in process, so wouldn't be available to match.  The solution was to enter ZERO on both the AGI query boxes, and now I've been accepted.

[RickScott]

I wish I knew I can deduct tax preparation.

[melonhed]

That you shouldn't loan the government your money all year interest free. A refund is nice but breaking pretty close to even is ideal.

[Daviddeadpool1]

I filed my taxes for absolutely no money at all!!! Thank you so much!! 💓 

[DawnColantuono]

I wish I had known how easy it was to file with turbo tax

[chersarkozi]

I tried to download TT2021 onto a laptop where I have downloaded previous years.  I'm having a problem with space and needs to be cleared out.  SO I thought I could put it on another laptop, which is not allowing me to.  What can I do?

[Queen Woods1515]

Wish I had known all about the donations part and the sales tax.... 

[TheInsane1990]

I wish I knew how to do the taxes myself using a program as easy as TurboTax! the first time for me was sitting down with My sister in law doing it all by paper  😮‍💨