re: #645 Afrocity

I have zero dependents and they still get me.

Then you should consider estimating taxes to bring the expected total to at least as much as you paid the previous year. If your total prepayment is at least what your taxes were the previous year (or maybe it’s 110 percent of the previous year - not sure), then you won’t owe penalties even if you’ve underpaid.

And it’s the interest and penalties that you really need to avoid.

Oh, and always, always use the long form tax returns. If you use the EZ, or even the 1040A, you could be missing credits and deductions that you didn’t even know you could take. (In college, I saved a bunch of my friends approx $25 each on the self-paid health insurance credit, which none of us knew about until I saw it on the 1040 form. At that stage of my life, $25 really mattered.)

It’s really not harder to do the full 1040, unless it upsets you to leave tons of lines blank. It will take you extra time if it turns out you are eligible for more stuff - but of course then it’s worth the extra effort.

Other than that, I’m afraid I can’t help you with lowering your actual tax bill… Either you’re eligible for stuff or you’re not.