MMcD

OP....

You are becoming unnecessarily stressed.

Tax-filing can certainly be daunting - particularly when you've never done it before in this country and are unfamiliar. with IRS requirements and procedure.

Fortunately you have 11 months to get up to speed.

Rather than continue to stress I'd suggest you download both IRS Form 1040, and IRS Instructions for Form 1040 - from the IRS website:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
NOTE: Form 1040 changes (slightly) each year. This is NOT the actual form that you will be completing and filing in '24 for your 2023 taxes - but it's certainly close enough to be helpful in enabling you to grasp and better understand what's relevant. (The IRS won't publish the 2023 Form until around November of this year.)

The other thing I suggest is that you go to Turbo Tax web site, create an account, and then familiarise yourself with how its QandA format works. This will cost you nothing and you will never actually file this 2022 "dummy" Return.
https://myturbotax.intuit.com/sign-up

Hopefully the above will zap your fears.

Hopefully

S Folinsky

As per my CPA, the stimulus and disaster payments were NOT taxable. At first there was a question, so in an abundance of caution, those 1099’s were issued while awaiting a policy decision from IRS and then FTB.

On the tax refund as income, that depends upon whether or not one took the standard deduction. Many people who had been itemizing state taxes and mortgage interest (e.g. New York and California) lost those deductions under the Trump “tax cuts” and were shunted over to the standard deduction regime.

Helen1234

many thanks for your advices. I do not have these situations at the moment, but good to know them now. But, I think now I can ignore uber, cvs and delta coupons, credits and earning points but mainly focus on the tax form from government, medical insurance account and financial instituitions, right?

Helen1234

many thanks. I will create one account. Just feel suprise How everyone can know all the details. I think 99% will come from the tax forms by mail or email. But just remember to report the interests below 10 dollar for US interests account, right?

Helen1234

So, it is standard decution. can ignore the state tax refund as income for federal tax, right?

Rete

Yes! Right! Correct! Definitely!

Helen, you can stop asking about these because they are not reportable as income.

As for medical insurance account, the only time that would come into play on your tax reporting is if you are doing the long form 1040 for the IRS and have enough expenditures over and above the allotted amount to be used to be a deductible instead of using the standard deduction.

My Advice: Retain a tax accountant to do your first year of federal and state taxes.

porkedpie

+1 to this advice. When they send through the draft to check, ask all your questions. You will then either be equipped to file your own the following year or sufficiently convinced that hiring a professional (or using TuboTax/HR Block etc.) is worth the money.

Helen1234

gotcha, many thanks. Sorry for lots of questions

Steerpike

You are right in that they are not taxable, but - the more important factor is, if you didn't get the stimulus payment (and were otherwise eligible for it), you will get an adjustment through the tax return and get it indirectly as a credit. So it's good to know whether you got it or not. I was in that situation for reasons I no longer remember (was eligible, didn't get it by 'check in the mail', got it through tax return). However - if we are talking about filing in 2023 for 2022 tax year, I don't think there were any stimulus payments in 2022 were there? I can't keep track! Same concept applies to healthcare premium subsidy if you get insurance through the 'exchanges' - which I did last couple of years. The final subsidy is determined based on your actual income, but the premium subsidy is initially based on your projected income. So there's a 'true up' that occurs when you file - all calculated by TT, as long as you enter the data from the appropriate form (1095-A ?).

I was one such lucky individual - lost my ability to itemize and forced to the standard deduction - and never even realized that this meant the state refund was no longer an issue until you mentioned it! I thought it was simply 'income' and had to be reported, but now you mention it, the state tax paid was an itemized deduction so makes sense. I've used an accountant for the past 10 years due to complications of multi-state living and owning a business; but this year (2023 for tax year 2022), finally, my life is simple enough that I was able to get by with Turbo Tax. I still dutifully assembled all the info and entered it into TT, not realizing it made no difference!

Helen1234

So, state refund is not an income to claim if it is standard deduction, right?

durham_lad

Correct.

if you file and itemize deductions that includes State taxes you paid but you don’t know exactly how much State tax you will be due to pay since you don’t file until after filing a State return. You report the State estimated taxes you have paid through withholdings and any additional estimated payments. The following year when you file a Federal return you may or may not get a refund of the excess State taxes you paid.