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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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They oughtta just not have taxes.
Well, okay, not really. But that's how my husband and I felt, at least, after we got home from filing ours. I am all for taxes. We need taxes to pay for things like roads, schools, police, fire department, parks, social programs, and what have you. I get it.
But, look. We were at our tax preparer for over two hours. We thought we would just take our stuff in and they'd punch it up, we'd go out for dinner afterwards, and go home. That's not what happened.
Instead, we showed up so we could wait a good twenty minutes for our turn. Then we sat while she punched in our many W2's, unemployment documents, and other various items we brought in. Then, when it looked like we were going to have to owe over a thousand bucks and my husband freaked out, we sat and discussed a way to change that.
All of this was happening while our two year old child was running around the office, sometimes screaming, sometimes fighting with another baby that was in the office, and sometimes climbing under tables and into shelving where human bodies were never meant to be.
After finally figuring out where we went wrong and everyone calmed down, we were looking at a decent tax refund. Then, we saw our tax preparer's fee, and we were less happy. Yikes.
Why is it like this? Why? I go to work, they take taxes out of my paycheck, and then, at the end of the year, we file a bunch of papers to make sure we have been paying the right amount of tax on the money we were getting. And it's such a headache! It's so very stressful, and we pay a tax preparer to take off some of that stress. But they charge so much! That adds stress. You would think that in 2012 the government would have found a way to streamline this. Seriously.
At any rate, we're getting some sort of a refund. We're going to pay some bills and maybe get a couple of things for the kids. I suppose I should count my blessings.
Oh, and next year, I'm doing my own taxes. Paying a preparer is for the birds!
I don't know how much you make (and I would never ask!) but if you make up to a certain amount, the irs website can link you to companies that you can free-file on. I have not paid a tax preparer for three or four years now. There are a few qualifying questions, but it is super-duper easy! And they are good companies, like H&R Block, etc. Something to think about. I am glad you are getting a little pocket money. I had to pay Missouri this year, but the Feds are being good to me.I know about all of the free/cheap tax stuff. We had a lot of documents and a lot of things we didn't understand and felt better paying someone else. Glad you're getting something, mygr8crew!I think I'm going to do ours this year after several years of having them done by an accountant. We had lots of reasons for having them done, but I think by looking at last year's that I'll be able to take care of it myself. I hate the fee to have someone do it, and it doesn't seem that very much changes for us right now from year to year.The co. I work for uses a CPA to do their taxes (I have to draw up the numbers that go to him). He's told me that the amounts in the tax withholding tables are "suggested" amounts, and that you're always able to have more tax money withheld so that you don't owe taxes come April 15. Also so that you aren't getting a huge refund (nice as that seems to be, it means you let the gov. have your money interest free all year). What you're trying to do is have just the "right" amount of taxes withheld, which I only learn by trial and error. As for what the CPA charges, my co. looks at it as money well spent to have him keep up with the annual rule changes, and to keep them on the straight and narrow (and his fee is deductible for a corporation). Tax prep fees are deductible on your return next yr. if you itemize. As for me, I got sick of paying to have my taxes prepared (insult to injury when I had to pay them AND the IRS), so I do them myself unless there are too many weird things I don't understand. Bottomline: tax prep is no fun, and tax payment is even worse.We own our own businesses, so an accountant is a must for us. I still do a ton of work before taking our paperwork & spreadsheets to our accountant. He is not cheap, but he does answer my questions when I call him throughout the year. I look at his fee as both an insurance policy and as the cost of doing business.I only have one word. Turbotax. Husband has been doing our personal and businesses taxes this way for years.I do understand having them done. When I lived in Kansas and worked in Missouri and had to file two states, I had to have someone prepare them. But I had a guy that only charged $55 for all three. It was such a good deal. I just didn't get them eFiled, they were done on paper. Now, it is so much easier to eFile and it costs.
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