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Turbo Tax is VERY deceptive. The outside package that I purchased reads Federal and State Returns. But then to even begin state it is requiring a $45 additional fee.  Taxes are high enough then Turbo Tax steals more. I paid for the program. All I want to do is get what I paid for. All I want to do is process my state then I will mail it on my own. This is what I have done in the past. This year they trick you. SO FRUSTRATED with Turbo Tax!

Off-campus housing is a monthly lease, so the $6,630 is the total rent payments made in 2024. That money comes out of parents bank account and 529 distribution went directly back to that bank account.   Fall term started on August 26th. I had read the dependent rules as "5 months", so didn't think he qualified since he was not a student at the beginning of August. He did live with parents from January until leaving for his college in mid-August and he did not provide more than 1/2 of support.   Thanks for the guidance thus far.  

Yes, you can use TurboTax to weigh the differences as an estimate by setting up accounts for each scenario in TurboTax Desktop. This version will allow you to create practice returns and you are not trying to file them. You can keep changing the scenario with changes in your income.   Check the interest amount if you cashed in the bonds and then add that interest to the rest of your income on a married filing jointly status and in the other account use the single status to see the differences   2025 Filing jointly or separately (using 2024 software): There is also a 'What-if Worksheet' you can use in TurboTax Desktop. Select 'Open Form' and type 'what', then click the 'What-if Worksheet. Use the Married Filing Joint versus Married Filing Separate checkbox to see these results however the tax would be higher using this.  This is a quick view in worse case scenario.   Also TurboTax Online can be created for each scenario. You can use a different user name for each online account.    The tax brackets in 2024 will give a good indicator of your tax situation based on income and filing status. We could assume they will go up by 2030 however working with what we know is the place to start. Also you can see the tax rates for 2025 in the link below. State and Local Sales Tax Rates, 2025 We are sorry for your loss.   [Edited: 04/08/2025 | 7:05 AM PST]

Update: Called the same number everyone else did.  Took about 10 tries to get the automated machine to answer and put me in the queue.  Waited on hold about 10 minutes until a live person answered.  He asked me a few questions (SSN, name, address, phone number, amount owed, verify a few lines on my NJ1040, bank account info) and after another 5-10 minutes said that my return was approved.  He said to check the website in a few days for a date when the refund will hit my bank account.    

Where is it asking for your children's AGI?     Are you referring to the screen that asks if they made more than $5050?   If they are full-time students it does not matter.  Make sure you said in MY INFO that they were students in 2024.  We have seen some users who miss an important screen in My Info titled "Less Common Situations" on which you need to click that they were a student.

Thanks for the reply,  I did call in about this issue, and we discovered a bug that prevented me from removing it that entry. I ended up, redoing my return to get around the bug and just deleting my original. Thanks.

What inflation allowance of $400 are you talking about?   If you are HOH, your 2024 standard deduction is $21,900 and if you are 65 or older, add $1950 to that amount, so $23, 580.     It will be on line 12 of your Form 1040.     If you had $85 withheld from the retirement account distribution you are getting it all back.

In order to get back more than you paid in, you need to qualify for a refundable tax credit.  In order to qualify for a refundable tax credit, you need to have earned income.  None of the income you listed would be considered earned income so it would not qualify for any of the refundable credits.   This means, you would get back the amount you paid in which is the $85 but you would not get any more than that back. 

If your student is half time or more, room & board (R&B) are qualified expenses for a 529 distribution (but not the tuition credit or tax free scholarship). So, forget the 1099-Q.   The 1099-Q is  only an informational document. The numbers on it are not required to be entered onto your (or your student's) tax return. The interview is complicated and it's easy to make mistakes. Avoid it if you can and you can.    "I seemed to have missed this credit in 2023 when I paid tuition out of pocket and didn't use any 529 funds at all, but I am not going to amend that years return regardless." The credit is worth $2500 to most people.  A minimum of $1955 based on your 2024 numbers. You should probably amend.    There is a tax “loop hole” available to claim an education credit, for the parents of students on scholarship. The student reports all his scholarship, up to the amount needed to claim the American Opportunity Credit (AOC), as income on his return. That way, the parents  (or himself, if he is not a dependent) can claim the tuition credit on their return. They can do this because that much tuition was no longer paid by "tax free" scholarship.  You cannot do this  if the conditions of the grant are that it be used to pay for qualified expenses. Using your numbers: Student has $3475 in box 5 of the 1098-T and $5238 in box 1. At first glance he has only $1763 for the  American opportunity credit. But if he reports $2237 (4000 -1763) as income on his return, the parents can claim $4000 of qualified expenses on their return. Books and computers are also qualifying expenses for the AOC. So, extending the example, the student had another $200 in expenses for those course materials, paid out of pocket. He would only need to report $2037 of taxable scholarship income, instead of $2237. The IRS actually encourages use of this technique. From the form 1040 instructions: “You may be able to increase an education credit if the student chooses to include all or part of a Pell grant or certain other scholarships or fellowships in income. For more information, see Pub. 970, the instructions for Form 1040 and IRS.gov/EdCredit".  PUB 970 even has examples of how to do the “loop hole”.   If that is his only income, he will pay no tax. Technically, he doesn't even need to file.    

You can indicate the year in the follow-up question therefore you still select code P and ignore that its states "taxable in 2022".   Click on the "Search" on the top right and type “1099-R”  Click on “Jump to 1099-R” Enter the Form 1099-R with code P and J On the "Which year on Form 1099-R" screen say that this is a 2024 Form 1099-R. On the "Your 1099-R Entries" screen and add the second Form 1099-R and repeat above steps. Click "Continue" after all 1099-R are entered. Continue until "Did you use your IRA to pay for any of these expenses?" screen and enter the amount of earnings from box 2a under "Corrective distributions made before the due date of the return".  

If you are using standard deduction your car registration has no effect on your tax due or refund anyway.   And car registration fees can only be entered for certain states.   It is not likely to be important.