income taxes

[Jessiewessie99]

Originally Posted by Liesje

I use the TurboTax online for my Fed and State and then use my City's own e-file (not all cities have income tax, and for some reason the TurboTax edition really screws up my city). It takes me about 20 minutes to go through all the questions and plug in the numbers and it's not hard. We each have one job, some student loans, a house, a few dollars in dividends from our credit union, vehicle registration, medical expenses if they were high during the year (this year I'm not reporting any), and this year I made one donation worth reporting and that's it.

I think thats what my dad uses for my sister when he helped her do her taxes. Both my sister and I are in college, work part time, and got financial aid(We got grants, not student loans, but my sister is going for her Masters, she gets her Bachelor's this year, and is thinking of taking out loans.)

[Liesje]

I don't think you'll have to do anything with the grants. We report qualified interest on student loans. The grants/scholarships only effect the total tuition you pay, not as income.

[Jessiewessie99]

Thats what my dad told me. My friend told me that I might have to claim my financial aid as her mother had too once, she also told me I didn't have to do my taxes. Not sure why though.

[Liesje]

Well the term "financial aid" includes loans like those obtained from the Dept of Ed via the FAFSA, so yes you do report the interest you pay. I don't remember the rest but I'm pretty sure the scholarships and grants were just subtracted from tuition and not reported any other way, certainly not as taxable income. I'll find out again next year since my husband is starting school AGAIN this month!