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Curing the Filing Headache
Jared Nielsen
Filing taxes can be a real
pain, especially if you have
never filed before. Here are
a few tips and suggestions to
help when you file your taxes
this year.
First, you want to make
sure that it is necessary that
you file. You can get this
and other information from
this IRS page: www.irs.gov/
individuals. Remember
that if you have had
taxes withheld from your
paychecks, it is probably a
good idea to file since you
are likely to get a refund.
Because state tax rules vary
by state, you will need to
go to your home states
department of revenue
website to get filing details.
The easiest way to file your
taxes is to use an online tax
program. The good news
is that both TurboTax and
TaxACT have options for
federal filing that does not
cost anything if you meet
certain requirements, which
are easily met by most
college students. These
programs often have state
options as well, but the
availability and cost of these
varies by state. The “Free File
Home” link on the IRS page
described above gives a list
of online programs that offer
Free State filing for almost
every state.
From the first time I saw
a 1040 form, I dreaded
ever having to file taxes.
Electronic tax filing
New Wellness Coordinator for Tobacco
Montreat Staff
programs, however, make
the whole tax-filing process
much simpler. They tell
what information you need
to enter and then make all
the calculations and sort
everything out for you.
When finished you can print
out a copy of your completed
1040 and mail it in to the
IRS. The programs usually
give step-by-step information
on how to do this.
For filing federal taxes I
recommend using TaxACT
(www.taxact.com). This free
program makes filing taxes as
easy as possible. Be careful,
though: they will often try
to get you to buy extra stuff.
Just click “No thanks,” and
never give out your credit
Free Campus
Margaret Hurt is the new
Wellness Coordinator for
Montreat’s Tobacco Free
Campus grant. The grant
Seeds
Andrea Thompson
We talk a lot about com
munity here at Montreat.
The Residence Energy
Challenge (REC) will be
an excellent opportunity
for this. It mirrors the
Water Conservation Dorm
Competition that took
place during the fall 2008
semester. The principles
are the same; you try to
save as much energy as
you can! The REC oegins
8:00 am on February 15th
(this upcoming Mond^).
There will be a kick-off
event featuring an acoustic
band, games, and food. In
all fairness to the varying
number of residents in
each dorm, every dorm
will be competing against
itself. A dorms current
electricity use wijl be
is funded through the NC
Health and Wellness Trust
Fund and helps to encourage
our students and staff to
enjoy a tobacco free campus,
better understand the impact
of tobacco use, and to access
resources such as the free
Quitline to end tobacco use.
Hurt will work closely with
the Tobacco Free Campus
Action Team in the planning
and implementation of
activities and initiatives.
She has an extensive
variety of work in non-profit
compared to its history
of electric use over the
last two years. Then we
compare results between
the dorms, and the dorm
that saved the most energy
wins. There will be a grand
prize for the winning
dorm and other prizes for
individuals. Weeldy movie
showings will take place
in Belk as well as several
convocation credit op
portunities. Posters and tip
cards will be distributed to
give you good ideas.
Here’s one tip from
Michael Bloch at www.
greenlivingtips.com: “Re
duce electricity bills by as
much as 10% simply by
unplu^ing appliances or
switching devices off at the
power point they are con
nected to when not in use.
settings, as well as in grant
writing and administration.
Professionally, she has
held several positions
in development, event
management and program
development. Hurt is a
graduate of UNC-Chapel
Hill, where she received a
degree in Communications
“I am looking forward to
this opportunity to become
involved in the college’s life,
to learn more about grant
administration, and how our
state supports heart health
Standby, also known as
phantom power loads, are
responsible for an incred
ible amount of electricity
consumption nationally.
Practically every electronic
device that you plug into
a socket continues to
consume electricity after
you’ve switched the device
off. Examples include
phone charges, notebook
power adaptors, micro-
wave ovens, game con
soles, CD pWers, video
players, and DVD play
ers. ’
An easy way to turn
off these electronics is to
have them hooked up to a
power cord with a switch
to easily flip electricity on
and off. The goal of the
competition is not just
card info.
Once on TaxACT’s main
site you can click “Start
free return,” where you will
be prompted to register.
From this point you will
be directed to a welcome
screen, where helpful video
tutorials guide you through
the entire process of filing
your federal taxes. Basically
you will need to enter in a
lot of information, which
TaxACT (or other program)
will prompt for. Before
sitting down to do your
taxes make sure you have
the necessary information:
your social security number,
home address, and W-2
forms, which are sent to you
by your employer. It is also
good to have records of any
and healthy lifestyles,” said
Hurt, “I hope to be part
of raising awareness and
positive changes amongst our
college community. ”
Hurt is “diligent and
personable, talented and
engaging. Her heart for the
health of our community
and experience are great
assets to Montreat College,”
said Keri Boer.
Hurt is married to Maury
Hurt, and is the mother
of three children, ages 8, 6
and 3 years. She enjoys the
monw savings. Its purpose
is to foster and develop
lasting habits of respon
sible energy use. After
a period of 60 days, the
REC ends on April 16th
at 8:00 am and celebra
tions begin!
SEEDs has taken on the
task of raising $1000 for
the Green Campus Task
Force as they implement
a comprehensive recycling
program this spring. Dur
ing the REC there will be
a Penny Drive between the
dorms. Day students will
also have a chance to com
pete. Meanwhile, several
recycling bins are already
in place around campus.
It’s hard to see the benefits
of recycling. Who knows
where it goes? Asheville
money used for tuition or
education costs, as this might
help increase your refund.
There are many “how
to” websites with tax filing
instructions you can visit if
you are having problems.
Just Google search “tax filing
how” and that will bring up
a plethora of relevant results.
Filing taxes will take
a bit of time, but these
tips should help improve
your experience. Finally, if
you are still having a hard
time, please don’t hesitate
to contact me via e-mail
and I will be glad to help.
My address is nielsenja@
montreat.edu. Good luck
and Godspeed with your
2010 tax filing!
outdoors and exercising,
spending time with her
family, and making a positive
difference in her community.
Come by and meet Mrs.
Hunt, share ideas you may
have. You may reach her in
the library 2nd floor office,
or at mhurt@montreat.edu.
has its own recycling
facility named Curbies.
They are willing to take
plastic (#1-7 as noted on
the bottom of the item),
f lass. bottles, paper of all
inds, aluminum cans,
steel/tin cans, and empty
aerosol cans. It’s easy to
recycle here at Montreat
because we can mix all
these recyclables together
in one bin. It uses 90-97%
less energy and reduces
air pollution by 95% to
recycle an aluminum can
than to create a new one.
That sounds like a good
reason for recycling to
me! If you have questions
about recycling email me
at thompsonae@montreat.
edu.
February 11, 2010 | Page 5~