Income Taxes

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by tw
Many instead pay $125 to have someone else do their taxes. I just discovered that I know one of those 'tax experts'. She is still in high school! Usually the computer makes it easy. But the more complicated returns, and especially amended returns, require hand written forms.

Last year (1999), I moved from Missouri to Maryland. I decided to do my own taxes, which meant that I had to do my federal taxes (easy) and state tax forms for Maryland AND Missouri. (And let me tell you all something, NEVER EVER move during the middle of the year, unless you file your taxes on a fiscal year system. They make it incredibly hard to make out your taxes. F**k state's rights...)

In short, it wound up taking me about 4-8 hours plus to do my taxes. Things were so confusing. :-(

This year, I moved from Maryland to Pennsylvania. On top of that, when I first moved here, I was working in New Jersey. On top of that, I had student loan interest to claim for this year. After the debacle and hell I went through last year, I walked up the street to H&R Block and gladly paid my $126 for them to do my taxes. I will admit that I was concerned about the experience of my tax rep. On top of that, they had to send my state returns over to their main office in Southampton to have them done. But realistically, as much as we do get screwed on our taxes, it is even harder to figure out that we're actually being screwed. I consider myself a rather intelligent individual...and I must admit that trying to understand the US (and various states') income tax systems is rather difficult. Therefore, I can totally understand why people go to H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt.

If ignorance is bliss, I'm rather blissful...

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