tax time!

[Martha27]

This is my first year filing by myself. I am not legally divorced or sperated from my ex but I know I can file as head of household b/c he has not lived with us for a year and not paid child support and the kids live with me fulltime (he has everyother wknd visits). I have alll my incomes and child care expenses for the year (looking at these numbers I wonder how the HELL I survived this year!!!) and I am ready to file...I think. I dont have student loan interest this year b/c I was unable to pay anything on them this year and they were in  defermant/forbarance for all of 2011. What other tax things are there?? I dont have a house, we rented an apt. this summer and are now staying with my folks for the winter while I am laid off.

I'm wondering if there are any other tax credits or forms I will need this year and hoping I can file for free online. Can anyone recommned one tax website over another? Or think of any tax credits I could be missing as a single mom?

any help would be much appreciated, I really need to get as much of a refund this year as possible

[rubelin]

I really like TaxAct.com - they have a free option but I usually do the one that's $15 for federal and state together. That one saves your data from the previous year and plugs it right into the new year's form.

This is the first year filing since the divorce and XH is griping that he owes a lot and is asking if he can claim both kids, even though the agreement was to each take one, to make his CS payments less. It's amazingly hard to not try and fix this for him since he'll pay me the hundred or so bucks that I'd owe without claiming one kid, but I'm not going to do it easily. My mantra is "not my problem, not my problem..." =P

[*MamaJen*]

You should be able to file for free online through the main IRS website - http://www.irs.gov/efile/. Make sure you claim the earned income tax credit, child credit, and child care reimbursement. It doesn't sound like you'll have any need to do anything but the standard deduction. Your refund should be really pretty this year -- wouldn't be surprised if you cleared $5,000.

[Martha27]

thanks for the suggestions. I ended up using the standard free turbo tax and really liked the way they explained everything and asked questions to figure out how I should file. I was able to file as head of household since I paid for everything to do with the kids in 2011 and the ex didnt live with us at all! I got the EIC, child care and child credit and yes...I got a sweeeeeettttt refund!! I think I earned it this year and it's going to be a great way for us to get a fresh start this year!!!! wooohooo taxes :)

[*MamaJen*]

Woohoo! Here's to tax return time giving you a fresh start.

[ZoeyZoo]

I have a love/hate relationship with Intuit (Turbotax) products. If you are used to doing the returns they can make it difficult to find what you're looking for and modify it.