Saturday, January 29, 2011

Gold Star for me!

I have had a super-productive two days...and today I did my taxes!

I got a discount on TurboTax through Bank of America, so it was about $20 to e-file my federal return. They can do the state for you too, but state taxes are typically pretty easy. So for $37, I'll re-input my info into Illinois' interface myself, thank you.

I've been collecting forms since they started being released two weeks ago. I don't mind doing my taxes but I had a near-breakdown last year from trying to hunt down missing forms, not having logins work for online accounts I rarely use, etc. So I learned from my mistakes and started early. You do it too--go right now and download two of your tax forms so they're ready when you actually feel like doing your taxes!

Even with all my prep, once I got started I realized I was missing two things: my student loan interest form (which I was able to look up) and the amount of property tax I paid. This was my first full year paying property taxes, and the deduction was pretty big. On the one hand..yay! Look at all the money I get back!! On the other...it's not like its a present from the government. That's my money, and I let them hold onto it for a year. I'm a better money manager than the government, and can make interest if I have that money!

That means I need to adjust my W-4 from my primary job (School), as I doubt the other two (Store and Tutoring) had a big impact. So I know WHERE to find it, but not really WHAT to do. Do I just change it by the amount I was refunded this year? I'll have to look into it, but I'm still proud of getting my taxes done before the end of January*.

*Even if they can't get filed til after Feb. 14 because I itemized deductions. Oh well.

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