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I just researched the current TurboTax system requirements and found a Windows 11 Mini PC on Amazon for $140, which appears to easily satisfy those requirements. Perhaps this could be a plan B alternative, albeit a distasteful one 😄

Your W-2 box 1 wages reports your total taxable income.  The IRS has also announced that they will not be changing the W-2 form for 2025, so your OT will not be reported on your W-2 at all.  That means you will report all your taxable income, then you will have to self-report the overtime amount.  We don't know what those questions will look like in Turbotax.  But Turbotax will never see your pay stub.    The part that is tax-free is only the half-time for working 40 hours or more, not your base pay, and only up to $12,500 per year, and only if your income is less than $150,000.     Meaning that, if you work 60 hours at $20 per hour base pay ($30/hr OT), the tax-free portion would be 20 hours x $10.        

@Opus 17 wrote:   To deduct property taxes, you must be a legal owner      I previously thought that too, but the Courts have repeatedly ruled that property tax can also be deducted for an equitable owner.  [EDIT:  While I was looking up citations, Hi Palms beat me to it. LOL.]     As with mortgage interest, we have held that taxpayers who do not have legal title to property may nevertheless deduct property taxes paid with respect to the property if they establish equitable ownership of the property. See Trans v. Commissioner, supra; Uslu v. Commissioner, supra. Because we have found petitioners to be the equitable and beneficial owners of the residence property, we accordingly find petitioners are entitled to the claimed Schedule A deductions for real estate taxes on the residence property.   https://www.taxnotes.com/research/federal/court-documents/court-opinions-and-orders/beneficial-owners-of-property-allowed-to-deduct-interest-and-real/1pntx?highlight=Njenge     As in the case of mortgage interest, we have held that taxpayers who do not hold legal title to property but who establish they are equitable owners of the property are entitled to deduct property taxes paid by them with respect to the property. See Trans v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-233 [1999 RIA TC Memo ¶99,233]; Uslu v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-551 [1997 RIA TC Memo ¶97,551]; Conroy v. Commissioner, supra.   https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Endnotes/TC_Memo_2000-360.pdf

@Hi Palms wrote: There is no rule allowing a beneficial owner to deduct the taxes.       Tax court cases have permitted the deduction when taxpayers have proved they are equitable owners of the property on which they have paid property taxes imposed by local goverments. The problem is that the treasury regulations specifically say that equitable owners may deduct mortgage interest, but taxes can only be deducted by persons with an "interest" that incudes "fee-ownership and co-ownership."  §1-163.1 and §1-164.4.  If the Tax Courts have extended the equitable ownership rule, they are going outside the regulation (which they are allowed to do -- but on the other hand, Tax Court rulings do not create binding precedent on other Tax Court judges.)    And if such cases go before the court it means that auditors are (at least sometimes) denying the deduction, which forces the taxpayer to take it to court.     However, I agree there is at least a good argument for deducting the tax in spite of the regulation.   I would like to read at least one of the cases if you have a citation available. 

There is no rule allowing a beneficial owner to deduct the taxes.       Tax court cases have permitted the deduction when taxpayers have proved they are equitable owners of the property on which they have paid property taxes imposed by local goverments.

Dave @deductible Duck is committed to making the software a good replacement for the Intuit walkaway.   There were a few rough spots in getting it running, but a few email exchanges with Dave set it right. All looks good now.   I have not been able to get too deep into it as my first donation (my motorcycle to T2T) put me over the "free" limit, but it looks a lot like the Intuit product.   So far I think I will be happy with the product, and know I will be happy with the customer service.

No tax on Overtime. We don't know yet how it works in Turbo Tax. See https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-reform Scroll down to Reduced taxes on overtime. It says….. Like the new tax provision for tips, the new provision for overtime introduces a deduction for qualified overtime income up to $12,500 for tax years 2025 through 2028 and phases out for income above $150,000. While this deduction can lower your taxable income, it is not a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your taxes and the actual tax savings will depend on your tax rate. See IRS Schedule 1-A part III No Tax on Overtime for how it shows on your tax return. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s1a--dft.pdf  

The link does not take you to a login screen. I was told by Intuit support that you have to purchase the current year before you are able to access previous years. This is very inconvenient, as I should be able to access 2024 and 2023 forms without purchasing 2025  

@pk ,   Yes, I’m aware that she will also be considered dual-status. However, since she doesn’t have any income at all, and we will be filing as MFS for the first part of the year and as NR for the second part, I was wondering whether she would need to file at all. My understanding is that I would file as MFS and NR, while she wouldn’t need to file a return. Could you please confirm if that’s correct?   I thought you was there more recently. I heard people talking about this crazy inflation time in Brazil: my father in law said it was common, at least where he lived, to buy dollars when receiving the salary so the money would not lose its value throughout the month.    Best regards, Felipe

If you e-file from desktop, Intuit are collecting your data anyway.   Per the EULA:   In addition, if you elect to use online options such as federal or state efile services, data will be collected and used in accordance with the Intuit Global Privacy Statement. You hereby give Intuit permission to combine any of this identifiable and non-identifiable information with that of other users of the Software and/or other Intuit services. For example, this means that Intuit may use your and other users’ data to improve the Software in future releases or design promotions and provide ways for you to compare your tax situation with other users, including through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning models and training.

"Using TT online doesn't make sense for me - talk about a security risk."   Right!!  Not only can they hack your return, but they will get all your family's (if you file with others) info as well.  Seems like a target for hackers.  As such, I'm no fan of the "cloud" BS.  Seems like every 6 months or so I get an email from some service saying that they're sorry but there has been a security breach on their servers and my info "might have been compromised."

To deduct the mortgage interest you must be a legal owner, or a beneficial owner, AND you must actually pay the interest.  If you are on the deed, we don't have to define "beneficial owner," but if you don't actually make the mortgage payments, you can't deduct the interest.  That would include giving money to your daughter, who then pays the mortgage, but if audited, it would be easier to prove if you paid the lender directly.    To deduct property taxes, you must be a legal owner AND you must actually pay the taxes.  There is no rule allowing a beneficial owner to deduct the taxes.    

Since a waiver request requires timely action on your part which you already took or will shortly take, use the "a" lines to document the amounts. "Include dates and amounts in your explanation statement." -- IRS   @kizeim