Tax Returns
 

So I'll need to complete our first tax return next year. Alot of people here use turbo tax.

We currently only have one income, are renting, I get medical through the company

....how difficult it is to complete?

Thanks
Dave

Re: Tax Returns
 

Sounds like you can use 1040EZ or 1040NR-EZ, depending on your status. It will take about 5 minutes.

Do you have any investments?

Re: Tax Returns
 

Do you have a full year? If so, with no deductions (mortgage interest, student loans, substantial medical expenses, etc.), and no foreign income, such as UK rental income, it is pretty straight forward.

If you have a split year and UK income, it'll be messy - probably too messy for TurboTax or other standard tax software.

Re: Tax Returns
 

I use Taxact, and it's free for simple non-itemized returns. Might be worth trying.

https://www.taxact.com/

Re: Tax Returns
 

it will be a split year. We have rent from the UK but its covers the mortgage and insurance, there is nothing left over UK wise!

Re: Tax Returns
 

That's not how tax works, you cannot just net everything off and say "there is nothing to report". You will need to include gross revenue from the rental, then list the permitted deductions - mortgage interest, depreciation (on the building, not the land, over 40 years for a foreign property - depreciation is mandatory), insurance, management fees, repairs and maintenance, depreciation on appliances (over 5 years). The result of all these deductions may well be a tax loss, at least part of which you might be able to deduct from your income thereby reducing your tax bill.

The above things alone, never mind the "split year", mean that I would strongly recommend that you go to a tax accountant because there are too many ways to make an error with that many moving parts.

Re: Tax Returns
 

thanks Pulaski, I'll start looking around

Re: Tax Returns
 

:goodpost:

Re: Tax Returns
 

Your company should supply you with an accountant considering your the reason you moved state side??? unless it was one of those forced deals ;)

Re: Tax Returns
 

I would also recommend this for the first year, and I would also take note exactly of what he does, particularly with the UK rental, then try and mimic it with TaxAct or TurboTax. (TaxAct has a free version available but the free version is aimed at simple returns).

Then next year when you have a full year in the US you can decide again whether or not to hire someone or do it yourself.

Re: Tax Returns
 

This isn't a bad idea, but you will need to obtain, or be able to recreate, the depreciation schedules so you can calculate the numbers for future years. .... The building depreciation will be a constant unless/until you have future capital expenditures, but the replacement of appliances or their continued usage beyond the five years of their depreciation, will lead to frequent changes of the appliance depreciation figure.