but there’s no deduction if you’re self-employed and watch your own child? Technically, this is a business loss for me (though I don’t mind, obviously) because if I wasn’t watching my son, I would be freelancing during that time and earning more money.

Is there any way to "pay" yourself for childcare if you’re self-employed?
Edited – but I am "out" money – my entire salary from working full-time before I decided to stay home.
Okay – so if I never earned the money in the first place, I never paid taxes on it, therefore there’s nothing to "deduct" from my taxes. Still smells slightly unfair to me (in the sense that it penalizes SAH parents) but I understand.

For 5 years I’ve tried to have a good relationship with my in-laws. Things never get better with them though. My father-in-law sexually harassed me, and even upon my husband’s request to quit touching me inappropriately, he kept on doing it until I broke the new to his wife (my MIL). Besides these incidents that left me forever traumatized, FIL is demeaning and offensive to my husband regularly. My mother-in-law didn’t approve of my union with my husband and made that very clear from the moment we decided to move in together. I made efforts by doing them favors, visiting them (without my husband), buying them gifts, assisting them in their business…etc. We were going to purchase our first home, had saved for a down payment plus my parents were gonna match up everything we saved. My husband works for his parents but receives only 30% of his weekly pay in check form, the rest is in cash because my in-laws don’t want to pay taxes I guess. My husband works almost 90 hours a week. When we finally found the perfect house, MIL decided to go M.I.A. only to announce by the end of the day that she wasn’t gonna give us his full paycheck that the mortgage broker was requesting. Result: obviously we didn’t get approved for the loan. I haven’t spoken to my in-laws ever since. Last week my husband had a terrible toothache and had to go to the dentist and have a wisdom tooth removed, it was a long process. He’s very responsible and never misses work. His pay came with a deduction for the day he went to surgery! I thought that not only because these are his parents but also because he busts his butt there 90 hours a week, he can’t take a paid day for medical purposes?

I have no future plans of ever holding a caring and loving relationship with my in-laws. My husband agrees with me because he has witnessed all that has been done(The story has many more unfortunate incidents, too long). What do you think?
Thank you all for your advice! We are a young couple, married for almost 4 years, and we have been making financial progress despite this huge problem. We’re learning the "tricks of the trade" slowly as my family lives in another country and his family isn’t helpful. Thanks again!

to tell you the truth, i just dont know what i would be considered so here are a few of my beleifs and you tell me.first of all,on welfare.there is work out there if you would just get off your ass and go look,,stop living off the people. what should the governments role be in our lives,fight our wars, build our roads,run our country(under authority of the people) and stay out of our personal lives,do not tell me how to raise my kids our whether or not to wear a saftey belt our helment,i fill one should but the government should not have the right to tell to to.i beleive the people should own all resourses such as gas elect. water gasoline so on and so on instead of a few who get rich off the rest of us. raising kids is the affair of the parents not the government taxes should be a flat rate,,x% for every one no deductions or add ons.if a cop stops me for speeding,give me a ticket and leave me be,such things as were i am coming from and were i am going is none of his business

Hi, help me please
Morgan and Maggie are married and have two dependent children. They also fully support Mary’s mother who lives with them and has no income. Their 2006 tax and other related information is as follows:
Total salaries 0,000
Bank account interest income 3,500
Municipal bond interest income 1,500
Value of employer provided medical insurance 3,500
Value of premiums for ,000 of group term life insurance provided by employer 0
Dividend income from ABC stock ,000
Loan from Morgan’s parents ,000
Gift from Morgan’s parents ,000
Gain from the sale of qualified small business stock held more than 5 years ,000
Total itemized deduction ,000
compute Morgan and Maggie’s taxable income

It states on their site:

We have received IRS notification that your refund in the amount of… will be deposited with MetaBank on Friday, 2/5/2010. As soon as we receive your refund, we will make all authorized deductions and deposit the balance of the refund to your account. Please allow 1-2 business days for your bank to post the deposit to your account.

but on the IRS WMR it states:

Your tax refund is scheduled to be direct deposited on February 3, 2010. If your refund is not credited to your account by February 8, 2010, check with your bank to find out if it has been received. Please wait until February 8, 2010 before you contact us again because we are unable to take any action until then.

Well today is the 3rd. Should i get it today or do i have to wait?
Yes, i will let you know. My money is going onto the turbo tax card not my bank so hopefully it will be sooner than later. My parents got theirs dd on the 1st just like irs said but couldnt use it till 2nd.
Ok it is 7:24 pm here in wyoming and the status is still the same.
UPDATE:
i checked the WMR again and now it says:
Your tax refund was direct deposited on February 3, 2010. If your refund is not credited to your account by February 8, 2010, check with your bank to find out if it has been received. Please wait until February 8, 2010 before you contact us again because we are unable to take any action until then.

Meta bank still says the same. i hope i get it tomorrow the 4th.

My parents will file for a 1040A this year and one of the questions goes like this:

If your parents have filed or will file a 1040, were they eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ (question 84)?
Select Yes if your parents filed or will file a 1040 but were eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ.

In general, your parents are eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ if they:

Make less than 0,000 per year,
Do not itemize deductions,
Do not receive income from their own business or farm,
Do not receive self-employment income or alimony,
Are not required to file Schedule D for capital gains.

Your parents are not eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ if they:

Make 0,000 or more per year,
Itemize deductions,
Receive income from their own business or farm,
Receive self-employment income or alimony,
Are required to file Schedule D for capital gains.
If your parents filed or will file a 1040 to claim Hope or Lifetime Learning credits, and they would have otherwise been eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ, you should answer "Yes" to this question.

Select No if your parents filed or will file a 1040 and were not eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ.

Select Don’t know if your parents filed or will file a 1040 and do not know if they were eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ.

So if my parents are filing for the 1040A and not the 1040 do I put yes or I don’t know?

I’m 22 and a full time student (16 credits). I pay for my own tuition, books, and other misc. school expenses. I also pay a relatively small monthly "boarding fee" to live at home. My parents are dropping me from their insurance this month. I teach music lessons to get through school and have made close to 10K while taking 16 credits. Can they feasibly claim me as a dependent and keep taking tax reducing "education credits" for me? It doesn’t seem to be adding up. I don’t qualify for medicaid and will have to go without insurance. I also pay my own car bill and car insurance.
It seems to me that this year I should be filing as an independent? It is my concern that because I have made 10K, that should they make me file as a dependent I will need to pay more in taxes than if I filed as an independent? I’ve kept good business logs and think with proper deductions I’d pay a lot less as an independent.
Thanks so far everyone. As far as food and clothes go…that is all me. I usually cook for everyone when I am around. Most of what I eat at the house is breakfast, and even with that if we are out of something I go buy it. I didn’t think I had to make an issue out of it until this. Market value for the room is definitely fair game for them (I pay 200 a month for a room in a 4 bedroom house)…but how many people do you know that would move into a house with 3 other people and live in close quarters? I’ve rarely seen that when I was looking for places, and even then it was an elderly person looking to give board to a yardsman. I’d think it would be a conflict of interest with a teenage daughter in the house? I’ll check out that sheet.

Hello, I have a question about taxes. I am 24, just out of college, living with my parents, and currently self-employed. This will be my first year filing independently, and I was wondering if I will be able to get any money back. I only made a little over ,000 (in taxable income) for 2008. I was technically not enrolled in college during 2008, but I was finishing my Sr. Project and writing my Sr. Paper. The ,000 was made through my own business, so no taxes were taken from that amount. I have many different expenses and deductions that I can write off, and I was wondering if I get money back even though I have not paid any taxes. I gave at least ,000 to charity, I can write off ,500 in interest on my student loans, and I have business expenses that I can also write off. So, again I really have no idea how taxes work, but my write-offs and deductions exceed my income more than twice. So, I was just wondering how that works- like does it just makes my taxable income {content}, do I get money back, or what?

Thanks for your help!

my wifes parents are claiming bankruptcy (business closed) and are leaving their house. we would like to buy a housethey could stay in, near to us (within 5 miles). Some lenders require more (down payment/higher rate) because this is an "investment property" but i have been told that they are family and this could be my second home (lower down/lower rate). my attorney states that we should have a lease, and would pay taxes on a fair market rent, but we dont plan on charging them. Will I have to pay taxes on a non-existent income? can I still get the tax deductions for mortgage interest and city taxes I pay? can they homestead the property? I’m lost. any knowledgeable direction is greatly appreciated. Basically, can I buy a second home for myself and let my in-laws stay for free? Will I have claim this as income producing (even though it’s not)? Are tax advantages better one way or another?

I’m just getting into the business world so I don’t know much about taxes or filing out w-4 forms properly. I’m 19, full time student at the university of colorado and i’m home for the summer working as an intern. I receive hourly pay of .45 with a monthly stipend. My parents are still fully supporting me and I work just to get a little extra money. I got my first pay check today and my father pointed out that I must have filled out my w-4 form incorrectly because I was being taxed federal income taxes, SS, federal medicare, CA income taxes, and CA Vol. Disability. (and well thats a pretty big lump of money if you’re not making much) I figured out that I won’t get any of that money back until I file my tax returns for 07 correct? But when I correct the w-4 what should I put down???