It was inevitable as death and taxes, and this year figuring my income taxes nearly meant the death of me.
OK, maybe that's a little too extreme, but it was pretty tense there for a bit as the accounting software initially rejected my daughter as a dependent. That meant not only losing her deduction but also the college credit I was expecting -- bumping me up to owe $2,000 more than I thought I would. Ouch! It's been nearly 20 years of constant outpouring of cash, even more so now that she's in college. She's definitely a dependent, Mr. IRS.gov.
Luckily, whatever I did wrong was soon changed -- although the tax forms still say she was convicted of felony drug possession but I think that is an easy fix (unless she really was convicted of felony drug possession ... darn college kids!). I figured how much I will owe come April so I can plan on having the funds available. I'm not dumb enough to send it in now, though. Let 'em wait.
Yeah, I said "owe." I'm watching all the people around me getting their refunds like it is a big windfall, and I can't help but wonder what they think that refund is benefiting them. Isn't that your own money the government has had for months while you could have been earning interest? Aren't you actually losing money by getting a refund?
I opt for paying a little at the end of the year. Unfortunately, New York State felt my "little" was excessive and fined my $29 for owing too much, but still that's a small price to pay for having access to my own cash.
Anybody else have a fun, or not so fun, income tax story to tell?
