Just when you think you have overcome, that the sun will be bright every day, nope here comes the tax man, to throw marbles in your pathway and knock you down. We had some issues going in that Wife does not want discussed, but I think the main reason we got screwed was that Wife got a mean raise and we didn't account for that. Another thing that screwed us was that Boy is now on his own, so he is doing his taxes for himself, and thus, we cannot claim him.
We have always had issues with our taxes. When we first got married our father in law was doing them and it was good, but then we were audited over two years and we had to pay back a ton. After that, I heard that H&R Block has a guarantee that if we get audited, they take responsibility, up to about $6000 of overages. We have been using them for about ten years and all has been good. The returns are not as good, but at least I don't worry about getting audited again.
The technical problems started ten years ago when we bought our current house, and started renting our first house. All of a sudden, it was not a rental, it was a business, and we were supposed to keep track of stuff that depreciates and anything we provide. We suck at stuff like this, so eventually, I simply got tired of the shitty renters always with an excuse as to when the rent was going to be paid, or this or that. We went ahead and sold our first home, made a tidy profit, and tried to reign in our credit cards.
This was supposed to be an easy year to report our taxes, but of course, they were not. We kept worrying about one thing, but in reality, I now think it is because Wife did not change her exceptions so they took more now that she is making a decent salary. In reality, it wasn't all bad. Technically, we have to pay like $3100, meanwhile Boy, is supposed to be getting $1600. We kind of have an agreement that his money was going to come our way, so in reality, we are only coughing up $1500, but still.
I don't know that we can afford to keep going to H&R Block though. It used to be like $350 the first time we went in there. It has slowly crept up to this time it was $519. That is a huge amount for "peace of mind". We might just take care of our own taxes next year and save that cost. What I thought really sucked was that we asked how much it would be for Boy to go in there and get it done, and he said because he had something with school tuition and loans, that he would not be able to just use the 1040EZ, so instead of around $50, he might be looking more at $220 for his preparations. The tax preparer was a nice guy, he told us if we wanted to try and do Boy's taxes, he would give us his paperwork back. Wife said yes instantly, she had come up with the same amount he came up with, so she was on the right track, and if we can save +$200, I am all for it.
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