I should probably finally pay a professional

[Terry O]

Eric,

Don't delete the thread!! As everyone has expressed our sincere THANKS to all you - -let someone help you. We are all professionals, and we all will look over a friend's computations & let them know if there were any errors.

I agree that you pick someone who is possibly in Maine - - -send them a pm - - if friends can't help friends - - then there is no point in having friends!

I am in NY - - but would be more than happy to lend my 30+ years of tax help to you.

[Terry D EA]

Be careful with the education credits. Read Pub 970. Do not adjust the amounts billed/payed for by scholarship amounts that have no restrictions as to their use. If that scholarship falls under one of the other cateories, then the adjustment applies.

[Catherine]

What I have my clients do is put their pdf's on the secure file portal on my web site. You can also use DropBox, or email password-protected files.

Pick someone (anyone, or limit to those of us who have posted on this thread) from the forum near you -- or pick several and use "eeny meeny miney moe" if you don't want to "pick" -- and any of us would be very glad to help you. I'll also give access to a folder on my file portal to you and anyone you pick (if you "eeny meeny" someone else) and want to use that method to send doc's back and forth securely.

[Terry D EA]

I need to adjust my response above and include that in order to qualify for the reduction exclusion, the scholarship amounts must have been included as taxable income.

[joanmcq]

I have a website portal too. Even my local clients are starting to send docs through it. Just pick someone Eric! And this year, even a review should work.

[Eric]

Haha, you guys are relentless. I'll finish my return, save it as a PDF, and then scan my documents (there isn't much, really) and ask one of you to take a look.

[Jack from Ohio]

I am not paranoid about the security of e-mail. The process to capture a person's e-mail is long, highly technical and requires know specific information about the computer/router trying to be intercepted.

On the other hand, how many human beings handle or have access to a letter in the postal service. Very simple for someone just to grab it and have all your information.

In the real world, which is safer?

Too many people believe what is seen on TV and in the movies.

[Eric]

Speaking of computer security, don't forget to update Windows tomorrow. IE is getting 50+ security vulnerabilities patched. 5 of them are critical, allowing remote code execution. Microsoft even suggested using another browser until this Patch Tuesday.

It's important to have the security updates installed after they're released, because that's when they are reverse engineered and used to exploit unpatched systems.

[mcb39]

AVG on my XP machine captured two trojan viruses when I first turned it on this AM. Hadn't booted it for about five days.

[SCL]

As most of you probably understand, I don't know anything about taxes.

I've used ATX software in the past, and now use TurboTax Home & Business (gasp) for my fairly simple return with a Sch C for the little bit of freelance work I do every year.

This is our first year with kids in daycare, and my wife is taking classes toward her master's degree, but still, I can't help but feel like the refund amount is just way too much.

Should I talk to someone about whether it really is far off, or should I just give in and let a professional take care of it?

YES YES YES...you need to establish a local relationship with a tax preparer who knows what he is doing...

and not necessarily a $600+? cpa...although there is eventually a trade off with what you pay and what you get.

you will save WAY MORE in time, effort, and money than trying to do it yourself on the cheap.

your comment: "my fairly simple return" indicates you haven't come to terms with the reality of your tax preparation needs.

you do not have a simple tax return.

would you say "my fairly simple"...

attorney representation, medical procedure, or computer programming, etc?