That time of year again... TAXES!

I usually enjoy doing my taxes. Each February I eagerly await those W2’s and other tax papers so I can begin the process of preparing our taxes. It’s never been easy, but I like working with numbers. This year began the same...waiting for all the pertinent information to arrive. I typically use Turbo Tax, but this year things weren’t going right. I put in the numbers and what I owed kept going up-even after I put in deductions. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what to do. So like a good procrastinator (which I turn into when I don’t know what to do), I didn’t do anything. My friend asked me to help her with her taxes since she knows how much I love to do them, but I didn’t have the heart to help her. So she went to the free tax help at the library. She told me later that she was getting quite a sum returned. Then I knew I had to do something. So I went and got all the forms and instructions. Read through it all and had it finished, but wanted to make sure I did everything correctly so I showed up to get help at the library too. Going into it I owed about four hundred dollars. There were two women helping with taxes. I was second on the list so I got in first. Three others came and went with the other lady while I was being helped. The woman was very nice and helpful, and she decided to e-file for me instead of having me fill out new forms. I’m very thankful for her help-I wanted to make sure it was right. But when I walked out of there, I owed almost six hundred dollars. Still better than the almost one thousand that turbo tax said I owed. I knew I was going to owe but it was a bit disconcerting to walk out owing more than I expected. Better now than next year with interest! All said and done, they’re finished and the payments are in the mail-one more thing off my to-do list. Let’s hope next years taxes are better!