Tax Time @Solsticepublish

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Not Groundhog’s Day.  Not President’s day.  It is officially tax season.  I like to get my taxes done early so I know where I stand.  Many people like to do their own taxes, which I understand.  Years ago I used to do my own as well.  Now there are so many different deductions and so forth that I don’t trust myself to get it right on my own.  I tried going to those little cubicles set up in major stores and having them do my taxes.  It didn’t exactly comfort me that the person doing my taxes was only doing this for two months of the year.  The rest of the time they were gym instructors or what have you.  So I decided some time ago to go to an actual accountant.  It doesn’t cost much different than the cubicle guys and I have someone who does tax work 12 months of the year doing my taxes.  If nothing else it gives me piece of mind.  Since I have been going to the same person for so long, he does my son’s return at the same time for free.  I used to see nice returns.  Then we started owing on our taxes out of the blue.  That’s not fun.  You go over every deduction but the government still wants more.  What happened?  My income hasn’t changed that much.  A year ago we found out that my wife wasn’t having enough taken out of her checks.  I am from the school of thought that says, “It’s better to overpay than to have to come up with a lump of cash to pay later.”  My wife, on the other hand believes, “Why should I give the government an interest free loan for a year?”  Both are compelling arguments when you think about them.  Last year was a nightmare, however.  As soon as I was done at the accountant’s I called my wife and told her to increase the amount taken out of her checks.  She was not happy with me but did do it.  Somehow, only the federal deductions were increased and this year we received a small refund from the Federal Government but owe slightly more than that to the state.  Taxes are weird.  It didn’t help that my one daughter turned 17 and we lost a credit for her.  How is that fair?  It’s not like she turned 17 and I kicked her out of the house.  She is as much of an expense as ever.  How come I magically lose a deduction for her?  To all you parents who thought you beat the system by having a child born before the end of the year (e.g. December) and had an extra year of deductions, it’s not true.  You just lose the deduction a year sooner to make up for it.  Uncle Sam gets you one way or another.  Overall I lucked out.  It could have been a lot worse.  Still my wife and I disagree over the time to pay our taxes.  It’s a tough question.   I just hate writing the government a check.