On March 13th I wrote about the possibility of filing your U.S. Federal Tax Return electronically for free. We are happy to report that the friend we helped through that process received her federal and state refunds via direct deposit within a week of filing! We were all very pleased with the process and the results. However, Chuck and I hadn’t gotten around to finishing our own returns. So that was today’s project. We ran into a software glitch, but the customer service gentleman at Intuit’s Turbo Tax was able to clear things up quickly. Soon we had electronically filed both our federal and Massachusetts returns. Now we just have to wait for the confirmation process.
I truly don’t mind paying taxes. I understand and appreciate the need to fund all kinds of programs and services locally and nationally. What I absolutely detest is how incredibly complicated the process is. I’ve been using some version of Turbo Tax since the late 1980s and except for one quirky and unusual state tax situation, have never had a problem. (Knock wood, fingers crossed!) But without a reliable software program, we might not be able to file taxes on our own without professional assistance.
The other thing that drives me crazy is the feeling that taxes aren’t being calculated and paid on a level playing field. Oddly enough, the topic of “Taxes” is the only issue that Chuck and I cannot discuss calmly. We actually have declared it off limits!!! We are both O.K. about paying our fair share of taxes, so filing is no problem. But when we get into how taxes are calculated, well, let’s just say it’s not pretty! In fact, I need to stop before I inadvertently violate our house rule!
If you’ve filed, congratulations! If you haven’t, I wish you well!
Saturday, April 7, 2007
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1 comment:
I've never heard anyone say they were OK with filing taxes--how refreshing! And I do agree with you about the process. It is ridiculous that we are mandated to do something and then the gov't makes it so hard to do it. My dad is in finance, so he did my taxes for years. But now they're complicated, so we pay someone to do it for us. I don't mind because just getting the paperwork together for her stresses us out, so I can only imagine what filing on our own would do!
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