Tax Day

For years and years and years, I did my own taxes. There were a couple of times that I made mistakes, and received letters from the IRS about that, but we were able to correct that with no problem.

Well, some few years ago, I submitted my taxes. I had just inherited some investments, and thought I did the taxes as they should have been done.  It was a year in which the IRS was supposed to be developing a more customer friendly image.  So, although I totally miscalculated the way the taxes were supposed to be calculated, I received a nice letter from the IRS that said I had made a math error, they recalculated my taxes, and to my benefit, changed my refund.

But this scared me. I do not want to be in trouble with the IRS. So, the next year, I brought my taxes to a professional tax preparer.  And, that year, they told me about some tax credits that I would not have known about.  And saved me a lot of money.  And, when I was audited because I used those tax credits, the IRS agreed with my return so I had no problem.

I have used this service for years now.  It is Sue Johnson Business Services http://prep.1040.com/taxdepot/default.aspx?custom1040page=6625.  Ken and I used them years ago.  And when I was renting my house I used them as I needed the professional tax preparer to help me with that business venture.  Most recently, I have used them consistently because I want to be sure I file my taxes correctly. Last year, they gave me a gift certificate for being a loyal customer, for several years in a row.

As I was driving to Phoenix, a week and a half ago, I was listening to the radio, and heard a story about income taxes. And realized that I had not even thought about filing my taxes.  I collect all the tax information forms I receive, and this year, forgot about them. So, I made an appointment to get my taxes done. The appointment was for today.

Sue Johnson's office is south of town, and not far from the prison.  I was gone from work about an hour, and had the tax return completed. It is so nice to have someone else deal with this headache, and I just give them the paperwork, and sign off on the forms.   Yeah!