Taxes

You know the weather has been bad when it gets to 20 and it feels like a heat wave. And now, instead of frozen solid snow and ice, we have snow/freezing rain and semi-melting snow blowing across the road :)

Fortunately I don't have any major commitments this weekend. This morning I had a short handbell rehearsal since we canceled on Monday night due to weather. After stopping off at PetSmart to pick up some more cat food (and it was cat adoption day - it is SO hard to see all those beautiful, wonderful cats without homes), I headed home and that's where we've stayed all day. Fortunately it was a good day to be at home and plenty of things to do, including starting on the dreaded income taxes.

I always do my taxes as early as possible because I always get a refund, and even though I've tried to adjust my withholding over the years so I don't get such a big refund, it is still enough where I want to get it as soon as possible. I spent the past 3 hours gathering information and entering stuff into TaxCut online. The past few years I've come to love the online tax sites - nothing to install, accessible anywhere, and very nice and easy to use now. A few things I've learned over the years....

1. Unless you REALLY have highly complex tax situations, using a tax professional is probably not worth what you pay for it. Most tax software handles all the common normal cases that probably apply to like 90% of the country. And even if you do have a few irregular things, if you're willing to use google you can usually figure it out. I used an H&R Block person last year because I thought one of my situations would be complicated. Turned out, all she really did was the same thing I would have done, and she didn't know any more than I did (and actually, really she knew less about my specific situation because I was familiar with it and she wasn't). I have used both TaxCut and TurboTax online and both are, IMHO, equally good, and inexpensive.
   
2. For the charitable donation line items, make sure you remember to add up mileage for things you did for charitable organizations. I usually forget this one. Things I usually forget are things like the volunteering I do for Engineers Week every year, Destination Imagination, Youth retreats, and my handbell directing. At $.14/mile, it is worth taking a few minutes to think about.
3. Don't forget those little donations you make - for example, every time I buy stuff at the pet store, there is an option to donate $1 to the local animal shelters. Also, it's easy to forget those donations you make at work that are automatically deducted from your paystub.