I fill out tax returns for my ladyfriend, my best friend (the one I ranted about in another thread), and me using pen and paper with the help of spreadsheets. My ladyfriend's was easy although it was not apparent right away because she donated her dying car to charity which would have required a special form. However, she ended up with the Standard Deduction but could not use one of the short forms because she had done a small rollover of an IRA into her 403b plan and had a tiny state income tax refund the year before when she had itemized.
My own taxes were pretty easy this time because for the first time in 25 years I had neither Schedule A nor Schedule D, so I was able to use 1040A. I still had that somewhat annoying dividends and LTCG worksheet but it is part of my spreadsheet. With no W-2 forms any more (yay!), all I had was the form and the payment voucher and the check.
My friend's tax return was more complicated (he pays me). He had lots of investment income (several 1099s) and wage income including 2 W-2s and a 1099-R with taxes withheld. He also had an odd Form 8949 because a dividend was from a company which had been sold to a foreign-based company so it fell under ADR as a LTCG.
All 3 of us filed our returns at the end of March and the beginning of April because we all owed except for my ladyfriend's state return where she once again has a tiny refund coming.
