Why does doing the taxes have to be such a production? Why don’t we keep track of this stuff on a monthly basis so it won’t be so overwhelming in the new year?
Oh yeah, because it sucks, that’s why. Who wants to sit down halfway thru the year with a bunch of receipts when you could be doing something fun like eating burgers on the patio, gossiping about the neighbor’s new car (Did one of their grandmothers just die?) and swatting skeeters?
The dining room table is filled with piles of paper. W-2s, oh baby, that’s the easy part. Just paper clip those together and you’re off to a good start. Hmmmm….charitable contributions? What did I dump in that bag and leave on the porch for pickup? What was all that crap? The value of a sweater that I only valued for a couple of wears is valued at how much? One shoe with a clear intent to find the other to add to the bag would be worth what in the resale market? Can taking your family out to dinner count as charity? Why not?
We used to do our own taxes, then bought a tax program, then got a letter from the IRS that said we owed $9000.00 (forgot an important little piece of info). After the heart palpitations, sweating and general near death experience, we decided to pay someone to figure the whole mess out.
I don’t know how he does it. I don’t know why he does it. I just know that him doing it is the best money we spend every year and from the day he delivered the news that me and Big Daddy weren’t going to the Big House for hard time was the day I swore I would keep better records.
I crack myself up.