Tax Time – I Did My Taxes Already and Some Saving Links

I Did My Taxes!

As I have long advocated in personal circles as well as on this site – I overwithhold my taxes. As a result – I file my taxes ASAP once I have all of my documents in hand… I’ll admit over the holiday break I download the software ahead of time and prep as many things as I can.

You can see my stance on over withholding here:The Case For Over Withholding on Your Taxes

Some small reflections on this year:

1. No surprise to me but given I have kids – the “working parent” credit helped out our family to boost my return. I have touched base with several co-workers and this appears to be the case for them as well.
2. The withholding tables were fairly accurate – my refund was consistent with last year on relatively equal income.
3. Our continued deferral of 401k, HSA accounts, and the childcare credit for dependents has continued to push down our effective tax rate below the rate we had before we had kids… this was true before the “trump tax cut” but it continues to go down. I’ll take it!
4. I thought with all of the changes I might have some extra hoops to jump through…. the only thing that made me say “wow” was that we typically well surpass the itemized deduction easily but it was much closer than I thought this year! We definitely donate to charitable causes but our family will be having a discussion on “bunching” these deductions this year…….

Here are some of my current links I can pass on for savings for Turbo Tax!

Save up to $20 off on TurboTax! Limited time only. Ends 2/18.

Save up to $20 on TurboTax Online. Get your maximum refund, guaranteed. Ends 2/18.

What’s New for Tax Year 2018 For Turbo Tax:
 
TurboTax Live Expanded:
A user may now do their taxes with a CPA or EA when choosing the TurboTax Live version of any of our products (Basic, Deluxe, Premier, Self-Employed).
 
“TurboTax Free Edition” replaces “TurboTax Federal Free Edition”.