Paying Uncle Sam

The weekend was a wash out. It was spitting snow, cloudy, and cold, cold. I wasn't jazzed about freezing inside Frostbite especially since I hadn't put the door back in yet. It was also very windy which, on top of making it feel even colder, threatened more damage to the roof and lift poles in the now empty camper. I opted to wait until next weekend.

Hoping it would put me in a better mood, I decided to do my taxes so I could start spending my refund before I get it. Last year I got about $1300 back and this on top of short selling a rental house I owned and the bank writing off nearly $30k to make up the price difference. I paid my accountant, "Ms. Lynne" at H & R Block nearly $400 to do this for me.

I've always been one to do my taxes with Turbo Tax and last year would have been no different except that, after entering my circumstances with the rental house, the program itself suggested that I go to a tax professional as it could no longer help me. Worried that an additional 30K untaxed added to my income would sink me, I had a couple of appointments with Ms. Lynne and she still managed to get me a nice refund.

Despite Ms. Lynne's success last year, I'm still a cheapskate so I was in front of Turbo Tax again on Saturday Morn. After a good bit of cussing and a couple of mini-strokes I had our taxes completed and I was to get a $545 refund.

In additional to being a cheapskate, I am also sort of greedy. I truly hate finances and have very little interest in learning wise ways of managing my money. I have grown accustomed to having tax returns in the 1K plus range. Cleverly I thought, I wonder if Ms. Lynne could do better? I convinced myself that she could and I made an appointment that afternoon to see her.

Long story short, Ms Lynne was as pleasant as ever and took her time with us. When all was said and done, she has secured a tax refund for us of $640 dollars.

Her fee was $199.

@#$%!

We didn't have $199. No problem, they can just take it out of the return money when it comes in.

For an extra 30 bucks.

!#$@#

A thought which never occurred to me until that moment was wondering if the fee was based on the time speant on the tax return. I glanced at my watch and realized with a shudder that we had been there an hour and a half. In less than a day, our tax return had gone from the 1 to 2K in my head, to $545 with turbo tax, to $399 after the accountant fees.

Lesson learned: Just use Turbo Tax and accept what it gives you, jeez.