The filing of the taxes

The question for me this year, really, was: to go to the accountant or not to go to the accountant. Taxes are one of those things that intimidate me. Now, out of the things in life that intimidate me, there are those that I've attempted and in some cases have to do regularly despite said intimidation (like the mowing of the lawn, which I hate), and those I have not attempted (like the filing of the taxes). No amount of attempted persuasion has convinced me that the filing of the taxes is something I would be able to figure out. The numbers, the legal significance of making sure you don't omit anything, the blasted forms. The fact of the matter is I would rather pay someone to do it for me.

My justification for getting an accountant last year (in addition to my general intimidation of taxes) was that I had some unusual things--like relocation--that I wasn't sure how to handle. Although, for the record, I wouldn't even know how to handle wages or AGI. The overall experience of having an accountant was pretty great...she took care of everything and got me an amazing refund. So I immediately thought of her again this year. But what ultimately caused me to venture off into the unknown world of self-preparing (translation: turbo tax) was that I had absolutely nothing unusual this year. And it has to be said, I felt silly. The other kicker was that I knew, with my full salary this year as opposed to the half year I worked in 2008, that I would most likely owe money. And if I was already going to be paying additional taxes, I didn't want to also be paying an accountant.

Enter turbo tax. I take back everything I ever said about taxes being intimidating. Granted, without turbo tax they totally would be, but it makes things so user-friendly and (dare I say it?) easy, that I couldn't even believe my luck. I did owe money, although once I itemized, I ended up on the plus side--barely. All in all though, I'm so pleased. One less intimidating thing in my life. Now I just have to wait for intuit to come up with a software program that mows the lawn for me.