Sunday, March 15, 2009

A Load Off My Mind

Well, it is done. Today I completed my tax return. Wow, what a relief! This year was a lot different for me in that I had a different income source than I was used to having. Given the change, I was a little hesitant to complete the tax return on my own. However, I am not one to pay for something that I can do on my own for free - stubborn, I know.

After gathering together all of the documents that I needed to complete my return, I set to work. As I start to fill in the 1040 form in my booklet, out comes a trial Turbo Tax disc. This trial would allow me to complete both my federal and state tax return at no cost. If I liked the product, I could opt to buy it and file my tax returns via e-file or print the documents and mail them in. Well, I figured that I would at least get a good estimate of my tax refund by using the program and then decide if it was worth it to purchase it or turn around and complete the returns manually.

After about an hour, I found that my refund was going to be about $1,000.00 more than I would have gotten had I done it myself. That sold me on Turbo Tax!

Gone was my anxiety over making a mistake on my tax return. Gone was the looming specter of an unfinished project. I had not only completed my tax return but I had e-filed both the state and the federal returns with the option to have the refunds direct-deposited into my checking account. It will be really nice to get that refund sooner than I would otherwise have gotten.

I definitely feel like I can rest a whole lot easier now that the taxes are done - even though I am waiting for the refund.

No comments: