As of April 15th, our taxes were done, by none other than me!! This was a tedious task; however, I was determined to get it completed. I’d say it took about a regular work day to get it all done. Keep in mind this was my first time. Where I went wrong was not having all of my documents together. Oh and most importantly, I waited until the last minute. By the way this is so not me. I also encountered some other bumps along the way too.
Last year, I started doing our (hubby and I) taxes via Turbotax. I literally got scared, panicked, and thought to myself, “Oh no! I don’t want to do something wrong”! What did I end up doing? I went to a local tax preparer. Nope, not H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt like I have in the past. Their prices are so astronomical! They won’t get any more of my money. With the money I was paying them, I could’ve bought a pair of “bloody shoes” as rapper Cardi B says.
A few of my friends do their own taxes. They’ve actually been doing it for years. I just figured it was too complicated and I couldn’t do it. The reality was, all I was doing was gathering the documents for the tax preparer to plug into the computer. It’s really simple. Now I’m encouraging others to do the same.
Do y’all remember filing taxes via mail? Not that I’ve done it, but I’m slightly old enough to remember my mama using it. That’s another sign of the times.
Tips For Filing Taxes:
- Start early
- Make a checklist & collect all of your documents
- Keep the documents in a safe place and somewhere you can remember
- Refer to the previous tax return
- Don’t get discouraged
I plan to follow them next year as well. LOL