Ok, so I broke down and took my taxes to a tax preparer today. It really wasn’t that painful. I worked with a woman who was upfront about what she was doing, asked good questions, knew her software, and was open to learning from me, too. By the way, the 1040 instruction manual uses a great example about deducting sidewalk improvements as a “tax” along with your property taxes.
I still think it is sad that the forms and calculation-balancing process is so complicated. I also think it is just WRONG that so much legislation happened in the 11th hour and couldn’t be reflected on forms and instructions in a timely manner. While I appreciate the legislation working in my favor, such late changes push people to pay preparers rather than do their taxes themselves. We should all be able to do the process ourselves! But, at least I can deduct the cost of tax preparation next year…….And, my stress in having to do all of the math has been significantly reduced.
Now, if only I could just get rid of this head cold…….
1 comment:
Agreed!
While there is nothing wrong with having someone "do" you taxes, the process needs to be simplified so that people who don't have complicated tax issues (such as my parents who deal with the farm, my dad's business, a side business, and my mom's job - that's work for an accountant). And the form situation was ridiculous.
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