First Time Taxpayers: Your Guide to Filing Your Taxes

You have a job, you’re making your own money, then January rolls around and bam! His employer sends him a W-2 form and suddenly he finds himself thrown into the world of taxes. So what are you supposed to do now? Read on and we’ll explain it all for you.

First of all, there may be nothing you need to do. If you are single and earn below $12,950, you may not even need to file a return. if you are married joint submissionthe filing threshold is twice that amount, $25,900.

But, just because you don’t have to file a tax return doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If federal income taxes were withheld from your paycheck, you may be due a federal income tax refund. And you may be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that provides refunds to low- and moderate-income taxpayers who meet certain requirements. There are some other situations that would require you to file a tax return, such as Free-lancers. To find out if you should file a return, you can use the IRS tax return tool.

To file your tax return, you need to collect certain information. Some of this is easy: your name, address, and social security number. You will need all forms provided to you by your employers and any institutions that have paid you interest or dividends. Most are called W-2 and 1099 forms. If you have other types of income, such as real estate or trusts, gather documentation of how much you received during the year. That could include year-end statements or earnings bank statements.

If you had income from self-employment, and in today’s gig economy many first-time filers do, you’ll also need to list any business deductions you had to ensure you maximize your refund. potential. For example, if you drove for a ride-sharing company, you can claim car mileage, and if you wore a uniform, you can deduct the cost of purchasing and cleaning your uniforms. The good news is that there are tools like QuickBooks on your own that helps you keep track of your business income, expenses, and mileage all year long into the future. You can then easily export your information to your Self Employed TurboTax tax return.

Once you’ve got everything together, it’s time to file. In Turbotax, just like with the IRS, if you meet certain criteria, can be submitted for free. If your only income is from a W-2, filing is literally instant. With the Turbotax mobile app, all you have to do is take a picture of your W-2 and Turbotax takes it from there. What could be simpler?