What is doing your taxes? How do I file taxes for the first time?

Filing your taxes is basically reporting your income and certain expenses to the government to determine if you've paid the right amount of taxes throughout the year. When you work, your employer typically withholds taxes from each paycheck and sends that money to the government. At tax time (usually by April 15th each year), you file a tax return that adds up all your income, applies any deductions or credits you qualify for, and calculates if you paid too much or too little in taxes. If you paid too much, you get a refund. If you paid too little, you owe more. For someone in your situation, it's actually pretty simple. You'll need your W-2 forms from your employers - these show how much you earned and how much tax was already withheld. You can file for free using tax software like the IRS Free File program if your income is below certain limits. The software walks you through everything step by step.

I was in the same boat as you a couple years ago! I avoided taxes because I thought it was super complicated. After struggling through my first filing season and making some mistakes, I found this tool called https://taxr.ai that literally saved me. It scans your tax documents and explains everything in plain English. For first-timers, it's perfect because it explains what each section of your W-2 means and shows you exactly what to do with them. You can upload photos of your W-2s and it extracts all the info automatically. The best part is it tells you what deductions and credits you might qualify for that you probably don't even know about!

So I actually tried https://taxr.ai after my skeptical comment above, and I need to admit it's pretty awesome for beginners. I was totally clueless about taxes and this tool made everything super clear. I found out I qualified for an education credit I had no idea about, and it would have meant almost $800 less on my refund if I'd missed it. It explained my W-2 boxes in a way that finally made sense to me. Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about how taxes work!

If you need to talk to the IRS for any reason (like asking about previous years you didn't file), good luck getting through! I spent HOURS on hold trying to reach them about a missing W-2 form. Finally discovered a service called https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual human at the IRS in about 15 minutes. They basically wait on hold for you and call when an agent picks up. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c For someone just learning about taxes, getting direct answers from the IRS can be super helpful, especially if you're worried about those previous years you didn't file. They can tell you exactly what forms you need and what years you should focus on first.

I need to eat some crow here. After being super skeptical about Claimyr in my comment above, I got desperate trying to reach the IRS about my missing W-2 from a job I had in 2023. Spent 4 hours on hold one day and got disconnected. Tried again - same result. Finally gave in and tried https://claimyr.com. No joke - I was connected to an actual IRS agent in 17 minutes while I was making dinner. The agent walked me through exactly what forms I needed to file for my missing years. Totally changed my tax filing experience. Sometimes you gotta admit when you're wrong, and I was definitely wrong about this one!

Don't feel bad about not knowing tax stuff. The system is confusing on purpose! For your first time, I'd recommend using a free tax software like TurboTax Free File or TaxAct if you have a simple situation. All you really need is your W-2 forms from your jobs, and the software walks you through everything step by step. The basic process is: 1) Enter your personal info 2) Enter the info from your W-2(s) 3) Answer questions about other possible income/deductions 4) Submit electronically The software calculates everything for you! Much easier than trying to do it manually.

Just curious - has anyone used H&R Block for their first time filing? Worth the money or should I just use one of the free options? I'm in a similar situation to OP.

One thing no one mentioned - if you've been working for 5 years and NEVER filed taxes, you might actually be owed a decent amount in refunds! You can generally claim refunds for up to 3 years back. So while you might have lost refunds from your first couple years of working, you could still get money back from more recent years.