Your return got more complicated. Let’s prepare it right.
Individual tax preparation for New Hampshire taxpayers, from a single W-2 to a year with a new home, a new baby, or income you did not have before.
Chris Brown, Enrolled Agent
You work with me directly, start to finish.
How we prepare your individual return
Individual tax preparation is the yearly work of filing your personal return accurately and claiming every credit and deduction you qualify for. We prepare returns for wages, self-employment, retirement and Social Security income, investments, and homeownership, then review each one by hand before it is filed, so nothing you earned quietly slips through.
Most personal returns look simple until the year something changes. A first house, a new baby, a marriage, or a mix of income you did not have before, and suddenly there are credits and rules that were not on last year’s return. That is the year worth having a person prepare it.
Chris Brown, Enrolled Agent
You work with me directly, start to finish.
Whether you searched for a personal tax preparer near you or a CPA for your personal taxes, what most people actually want is the same: someone who prepares the return correctly, knows your return, and is the same person to call when a question comes up. NH Tax Advisors is led by Chris Brown, a federally licensed Enrolled Agent (licensed by the IRS), and preparing individual returns is the work we do all year.
The year your life changes is the year the return gets harder
The years a personal return goes wrong are almost never the quiet ones. It is the year you had a baby, bought your first house, got married or divorced, or your income changed shape, because that is when new credits, new deductions, and new rules all land on the same return at once. Tax software will file whatever you type into it, but it does not know to ask whether you now qualify for a credit you have never claimed, or whether itemizing finally beats the standard deduction this year. So the return gets filed, it looks fine, and the money you were entitled to never shows up. We prepare the return by asking first: what changed this year, and what does that open up.
- Every credit and deduction you qualify for, checked against what actually changed this year
- Prepared and reviewed by hand, so nothing rides on a software default
- Last year’s return checked against this one before we file, so a missed credit does not repeat
- A clear price agreed before we start, and never a percentage of your refund
- Wages, 1099 and gig income, retirement and Social Security, HSA, and investment income on one return
- The standard deduction run against itemizing every year, so you take the larger one
“Very professional, and went above and beyond to help us. We will definitely be using Chris in the future moving forward.”
How we prepare your return
- Start with what changed. Before we touch a form, we ask what is different this year, a new dependent, a home, a marriage, income you did not have before, because that is where the missed credits hide.
- Build and cross-check it. We enter every document, run the standard deduction against itemizing, and test the credits you now qualify for, so the return reflects your real situation and not a default.
- Review and file. We read the finished return line by line, explain what moved your result from last year, and file it. If a question comes up after April, you are talking to the person who prepared it.
Standard deduction or itemizing: the homeowner’s break-even
Most people take the standard deduction, and for most people that is the larger number. Buying a home is what often flips it. A mortgage adds interest, and in New Hampshire the state and local taxes you paid (capped) are the other main itemized cost. The question each year is whether those, plus charitable gifts and any deductible medical expenses, clear the standard deduction. It is worth running both ways, because the year of the home purchase is often the first year itemizing wins.
A homeowner’s first year, itemizing versus the standard deduction
Say a married couple bought their first home this year. Here is roughly how their two deduction paths compare:
| Itemized deduction | Amount |
|---|---|
| Mortgage interest | $24,000 |
| State and local taxes | $10,000 |
| Charitable gifts | $4,000 |
| Total itemized | $38,000 |
| Standard deduction (married filing jointly) | $31,500 |
Before the house, this couple took the standard deduction without thinking about it. This year their itemized total ($38,000) clears the standard deduction ($31,500), so itemizing deducts about $6,500 more, and that gap tends to grow with the mortgage. The point is that the answer changed the year their life did, and the only way to catch it is to run both.
Let’s run your return both ways and take the larger deduction.
If something big changed this year and you are not sure what it opens up on your return, tell us what happened and we will tell you what it changes.
The credits a growing family leaves on the table
A credit is worth more than a deduction. A deduction lowers the income you are taxed on; a credit comes straight off the tax itself, dollar for dollar. The family-stage credits, the Child Tax Credit when you have kids and the education credits when they reach college, are some of the largest on a personal return, and they hinge on a single form or a single question that is easy to skip. When a child starts college, the miss is almost always the 1098-T, and which of the two education credits actually wins.
Two education credits, and the one a family leaves unclaimed
Say your oldest just started college and you paid tuition this year. Two credits could apply, and you take one per student:
| American Opportunity Credit | Lifetime Learning Credit | |
|---|---|---|
| Worth up to | $2,500 per student | $2,000 per return |
| Refundable portion | Up to $1,000 | None |
| Best for | First four years of undergrad, at least half-time | Grad school, part-time, a single class |
Both credits phase out at higher incomes. The way a family loses this is quiet: the 1098-T never gets entered, the software settles on the smaller credit, or everyone assumes the student claims it when the parent should. A $2,500 credit is worth far more than a $2,500 deduction, so we check which credit wins and whose return it belongs on.
Let’s make sure the right credit goes on the right person’s return.
If your income now includes self-employment or 1099 work, that return has its own moving parts, and we cover them on our self-employed tax page; if you run a business, small business tax preparation is where that starts. If a return you already filed came out wrong, an amended return can still fix it. And you do not have to be local to work with us, though many of our clients are, from Bedford to Manchester and across New Hampshire. Most of this happens by secure portal, phone, and video.
A few things people ask when their return gets more complicated:
Frequently asked questions
Who can I claim as a dependent?
A dependent is either a qualifying child or a qualifying relative, and each has its own test. A qualifying child is generally your child, stepchild, sibling, or their descendant, under 19 (or under 24 if a full-time student), who lived with you more than half the year and did not pay for more than half of their own support. A qualifying relative can be a parent or other relative you supported whose own income stays under a set limit. We walk through both tests with you, because who you can claim drives your filing status and several credits.
Should we file married filing jointly or married filing separately?
For most married couples, filing jointly produces the lower total tax and keeps credits that separate filing shuts off. Filing separately wins in specific cases: when one spouse has large medical bills measured against their own lower income, when you want your tax liability kept separate from a spouse’s, or when a separate income figure lowers an income-driven student loan payment. We run it both ways when it is close, because the right answer comes out of running your actual numbers.
What is head of household status, and do I qualify?
Head of household is a better status than single: a larger standard deduction and lower rates. To qualify you generally must be unmarried (or considered unmarried) at year end, have paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home, and have a qualifying person, usually a child or dependent, living with you more than half the year. It is one of the most commonly missed statuses after a divorce or separation, so we confirm it whenever your household changed.
Do I owe tax when I sell my home?
Often not. If the home was your main residence for at least two of the last five years, you can generally exclude up to $250,000 of gain if you are single, or up to $500,000 if you are married filing jointly. Gain above that, or on a home that did not meet the test, is taxable. We figure your real gain from what you paid plus improvements, which is usually far less than the gap between your purchase price and your sale price.
Should I take the standard deduction or itemize?
You take whichever is larger. Since the standard deduction roughly doubled, it is the bigger number for most people. Itemizing wins when your deductible costs add up to more: mortgage interest, the state and local taxes you paid up to the cap, medical expenses above a percentage of your income, and charitable gifts. The year you buy a home is often when it flips. We total your itemized deductions every year and take the larger figure, so you never lose out by defaulting.
How do the education credits work?
Two credits help with college costs, and you take one per student per year. The American Opportunity Credit is worth up to $2,500 per student for the first four years of undergrad, and up to $1,000 of it comes back even if you owe no tax. The Lifetime Learning Credit is worth up to $2,000 per return and covers grad school and part-time classes. Both phase out at higher incomes. The credit hinges on the 1098-T from the school, which is easy to leave out, so we make sure it is entered and the larger credit goes to the right person.
Want the IRS’s own words on any of this? These are the pages worth knowing.
Where to learn more
- IRS: Credits and Deductions for IndividualsThe IRS’s own index of the credits and deductions an individual return can claim, from family credits to education and homeownership.
- IRS: Should I Itemize? (Topic 501)How the IRS frames the standard-deduction-versus-itemizing choice, and what still counts as an itemized deduction.
- IRS: Education Credits (AOTC and LLC)The IRS comparison of the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits, including who can claim them and the income limits.
What clients say
Real reviews from real Southern NH clients
“I truly cannot say enough good things about my experience with Chris & Maria at NH Tax Advisors! I came to them with a rather daunting & messy self-employed tax situation, needing resolution for some previous years' filings.”
“We had an unexpected situation this tax season when our original accountant suddenly became ill and had to retire. My husband and I were scrambling to find someone new, especially so close to the deadline.”
“I had a great experience working with Chris Brown. He was incredibly easy to work with and always very reachable. He would respond within minutes or at most a few hours whenever I had a question.”
Talk to your tax professional today
Call to talk through your tax situation with a licensed tax pro who’ll remember you next year.