I'm Done

After procrastinating for way too long, I finished up my damn taxes today.  This was the first year I've ever had to itemize and it took me considerably longer to file than in previous years, but I learned a lot.  There are a lot of deductions and paperwork involved with purchasing a home, though it was much less painful than the nightmare of getting a loan. 

Filling out schedule D for capital gains and losses is a little confusing, particularly when I had some securities that I've held for a long time that was not easy to determine the cost basis for.  I'm very happy that I had TurboTax to do most of the work for me.  Being able to download 1099s directly from financial intuitions is a fantastic feature and saved a lot of data entry.

I saved a mountain of receipts, bills and miscellaneous documents for medical expenses last year, foolishly thinking that I could claim that as a deduction.  It was all for naught as I learned that medical expenses have to amount to more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income which turns out to be more than the maximum out of pocket expenses covered by my insurance provider.  So now I guess I've got a whole lot of shredding to do. 

I was happy to learn that in Washington I'm eligible to deduct part of my vehicle registration.  Sadly, after a little more research I learned that I can only deduct the RTA tax portion which amounts to $5.  Hardly worth the time it took to find that out.   

All in all, I'm relieved to be done though.  And I just received an email that my return has been accepted by the IRS already - according to the time stamps on the emails 12 minutes after e-filing.  And the confirmation email tells me I can expect my refund on 4/22, so the party is at my place next Friday! 

Finally, I couldn't have made it through this without the help of Faith No More.  The gentle serenade of these minstrels soothed my jangled nerves and kept me sane and relaxed throughout the process.  Yes, I've still on my Faith No More bender that I believe is going on 2 weeks now.  Here is a delightful sample for your enjoyment.