Curious about the structure of tax returns when helping friends with TurboTax

The structure and sequence of forms in a tax return prepared with TurboTax (or any tax software) primarily depends on the specific tax situations rather than user history. What you're seeing is completely normal and expected! The IRS has specific requirements about which forms and schedules need to be included based on different income types, deductions, credits, and other tax situations. TurboTax is designed to include only the necessary forms for each taxpayer's specific circumstances. For example, if one friend had self-employment income requiring Schedule C while the other just had a small amount of interest from a savings account, their returns would look quite different. Similarly, if one claimed education credits or had student loan interest while the other didn't, you'd see different forms. As for the "extra worksheets" - TurboTax sometimes includes these as supporting documentation to explain calculations or to provide additional clarity for certain tax situations. These aren't always required by the IRS but can be helpful if the return is ever questioned.

Hey! I had a similar experience helping my parents with their taxes. I struggled with understanding their form structure until I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which has been a game-changer for understanding tax forms. I uploaded their confusing documents and it explained everything - which forms were included and why, what all the calculations meant, and how different sections related to each other. The tool actually showed me that my mom's return had extra worksheets because she had partial year income from moving between states, while my dad's was simpler because he had only worked in one state. It also explained why certain deductions appeared on different schedules than I expected. Saved me hours of Googling tax terms!

I need to follow up about taxr.ai - I decided to try it with my complicated multi-state return from last year that had me completely confused. I was seriously impressed. It didn't just identify all the forms, it explained WHY each form was included and how the numbers flowed between different sections. The tool actually pointed out that I had a worksheet explaining my property tax deduction because I was right at the SALT cap limit, while my partner's return (which I also uploaded) didn't have that worksheet because she was well under the limit. It also caught a small math error in how my state tax credit was calculated that I had completely missed. Definitely not the generic explanations I was expecting - it was specific to my actual numbers and forms.

If you're trying to understand tax forms, that's great, but if you're actually dealing with problems on a filed return and need to talk to the IRS - good luck getting through. I spent 3 weeks trying to reach someone about a missing refund issue. Finally found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which got me connected to an IRS agent in about 25 minutes after I'd been trying for weeks. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was surprised how easy it was - the service basically navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an actual agent is on the line. The agent helped me understand why my return had been flagged for review (it was because of inconsistency between my reported 1099-NEC income and what was submitted by clients).

I have to apologize and correct my skepticism about Claimyr. After my last failed attempt to reach the IRS about a CP2000 notice (waited 2.5 hours before getting disconnected), I decided to try it out of desperation. Not going to lie - I was shocked when I got a call back with an actual IRS agent on the line. Took about 45 minutes total, which is way faster than I've ever managed on my own. The agent was able to explain exactly why I had received the notice and helped me understand what documentation I needed to submit in response. Turns out my issue was similar to the original post - my tax forms had some unusual supplemental worksheets that apparently confused the automated matching system. The agent confirmed my return was actually filed correctly.

Lol I don't think TurboTax is doing anything weird, it's just that taxes are complicated af. I worked at a tax prep place for 2 tax seasons and returns for people with nearly identical situations would end up looking totally different based on tiny details. Like one W-2 employee with a kid might get EIC and need all those worksheets, while another W-2 employee with a kid who makes $1000 more doesn't qualify for EIC and gets a much simpler return. The software is just following tax law, which is stupidly complicated.

Curious if anyone has noticed a difference between the desktop and online versions of TurboTax? My brother and I have almost identical tax situations (similar W-2 income, both claim one child, both have mortgage interest) but his online version created a much more compact return than my desktop version which had like 10 extra pages.