Please help my mom figure out if our tax form will be a 1040a or not.

Paying for College
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<p>I asked her if it will be but she isn’t sure.</p>

<p>I asked her if we “itemize deductions” because I saw that that was a factor in whether or not we get a 1040a or not.</p>

<p>She told me that we got a 1040a last year but some things have changed since then.</p>

<p>She said since last year we’ve taken out a loan on our house which was previously paid off and took out a loan for a pet’s surgery.</p>

<p>Does this change anything? Does it even have anything to do with what I asked her?</p>

<p>I’m clueless. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Interest expense on home financing is one of the keys to itemizing deductions. Now that your mom has a loan on the house, she may have enough interest expense to itemize.</p>

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<p>Itemizing is a choice though. You can choose to not itemize. It would be important to figure out if the financial aid benefit would exceed the possible tax savings you are forgoing by not itemizing.</p>

<p>I don’t think you can deduct the loan for the pet’s surgery.</p>

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<p>I thought the loan for the surgery was taken out on the house.</p>

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<p>I was not sure as he said they took out a loan on the house and a loan for the pet surgery. If the pet surgery was part of the house loan then it would be deductible.</p>

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<p>They are two separate loans. Sorry for the confusion.</p>

<p>Okay, so you say it’s a choice?
I’m still a little confused though.</p>

<p>So we will get to pick whether we fill out a 1040 or a 1040a based on whether we want to itemize the interest expense or not?</p>

<p>So whatever tax papers we are waiting for in the mail will have the information on them that we will need to decide which is better for us? Then we file the form we choose?</p>

<p>Sorry if these are stupid questions, lol. I’m just a kid.</p>

<p>Either way my mom will pay nothing so I don’t think she’s too concerned. But if we fill out the 1040 I’ll have to pay $2,000.</p>

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<p>It is a choice as far as itemizing. There are some things, such as stock sales, that mean you cannot file a 1040a or 1040ez - then it is not a choice. We have a mortgage but do not itemize because it would make us ineligible for a 1040A. For us the amount of tax itemizing would save us is far less than the amount of extra financial aid my kids get by qualifying for the automatic 0 EFC. I had to force my husband to accept paying the extra in taxes the first year as, being a retired accountant, his instinct is to maximize the tax savings.</p>

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<p>Bill,</p>

<p>If you go to Turbo Tax, you can work up the taxes and see the difference (and even if you can file a 1040a) before they ask you to pay for the software and file.</p>

<p>But there are very specific rules for filing 1040as.</p>

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<p>Could you please clarify what you are talking about? What will you be paying $2000 for, and what will your mom be paying nothing for?</p>