tax help pls and avoid turbo tax like plague

[historian]

Turbo tax is utterly useless. I have had to call them 3 times, each time with at least an hours wait and nothing was resolved. In any case, does anyone know how to solve this? My daughter is going to college in chicago which is her place of residence. She was offered an internship from a chicago based company to work as an intern in LA and NY. Now i cant find anywhere which will define what constitutes being a resident, which makes a big difference in the returns. while she worked in Manhattan she had to put down her address in yonkers which is nyc as far as i can see. So after i put in all the info as i understand it, my cal refund is over a 1000 and ny about 200. Ive switched resident non resident part resident resident of mars and the numbers change every time but i dont know which is the correct one to file!!! Anyone who can help will have my eternal gratitude. Thanks

[BlooInBloo]

1. Doesn't the IRS site still have like a brazillion free file services listed?

I've always just went to one of them.

[historian]

2. yes they do

but its mostly chinese to me. File this form if or if not then this one unless that one mentions this then file the other one and so on. thanks for the reply anyway.

[terip64]

3. As far as I understand it even if she is in college your house is her permanent

residence, if you still claim her as a dependent. I went through this with my middle daughter who hasn't lived here in a couple of years, but who I still am supporting. (or was as of September) I called the IRS last year and this is what they told me. It is complicated when they earn money in different states but if you go to the individual state income tax site there is probably a one page return that she has to file (aka you) for the state that she worked and earned money in. Good luck and I would call the IRS number and talk to someone there so you can feel confident about how you handle this.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

4. My daughter was in the same situation several years ago

If you claim her as a dependant on your income tax, then her state of residence is wherever you live. For the other states she received W2 forms from you download a nonresident form from that state's income tax website. For example my daughter was supported by me (because of all the tuition payments mainly!) and she lived in New Jersey the spring term of the year working at Rutgers, the fall of the same year working in Virginia (while she attended George Washington for her masters), and the summer of that year working here at home in Ohio. She was an Ohio resident since I claimed her on my income tax, so I did non resident forms for her for Virginia and New Jersey. Actually when you are a nonresident she got all her money back from those two states (on the state forms) and the forms were fairly easy to decipher. I filed her regular income tax forms as an Ohio resident. It was a pretty complicated matter to figure all that out that year and I am glad that now she just lives in Virginia and works in DC. I am hoping that will be a little easier, at least we have New Jersey out of the mix.
Edit to add, I don't think you will be able to use the free IRS filings as they are generally only for the basic filers. I could be wrong on that however. You could try pluggin in her W2 forms from all the states and see what they come up with thought. I did my daughters by hand.

[carlyhippy]

5. I would call the IRS and ask them

this might be a year that you should take the paperwork to an accountant or tax preparer, sometimes it's the easiest way.

[Beer Snob-50]

6. i assume you are also a resident of il?

if that is the case than she is a resident of that state also. i just perused the il dept of revenue site and they had the example of a il resident who went to college in another state. she was still a resdient of il. it is not always clear what defines residency. my son lives with us in ma but goes to college in vt. he is a resident of ma and if he had a job in vt it would be as a non-resident. however, if he moved in with friends during the semester breaks, got a vt drivers license, and kept his ma license and lived with us in the summer than he would be a part time resident.

clear as mud!!

[screembloodymurder]

7. I've been using TurboTax for years, but this may be the last time.

After almost completing my taxes, I start the program and it won't open. Apparently the last update destroyed the signature file. Now I'm instructed to delete the program and reinstall. This will take an hour with all the updates and if I lose my return, I lose hours of work.

[drbtg1]

8. I see another problem for you.

You stated, "yonkers which is nyc as far as i can see". Actually, no. Yonkers is not part of New York City, but rather a city unto itself. However, both NYC AND Yonkers have their own city income tax filed on the NY state income tax form.