By: Revanche

Just a little (link) love: tax deadlines edition

April 2, 2014

LinkLive

We’ve been extra busy the past few weekends with work and not-work; it’s only going to get worse as I’m staring down the barrel of April 15th. I’m going to have to file for an extension again and it gives me hives that that hasn’t been settled yet.

After spending hours sorting through our paperwork, though, it’s finally time to admit that this is no longer even a little bit fun, and it’s time to hire a professional. The moment that decision was made, it felt like a metric ton of stress was lifted off my shoulders – though a bit prematurely since I’ve not yet actually hired said professional or turned everything over yet.

:: How many of y’all still file your own taxes?  If not, when did you turn to outside help? If you’re sitting pretty, enjoy some light reading!

MONEY

Funny About Money avoids a huge service fee

Evan (My Journey to Millions) just charted his dividend income and growth. I just did this too!

“…what I heard over and over again was people saying if someone gave them credit, they must have determined they could afford it. It was as if they had no responsibility to determine what they could afford.”
Vanguard on why so many Americans go bankrupt

CAREER

Joan C. Williams at the Washington Post on Women, work and the art of gender judo

Why faculty work so much

Slate interview Ira Glass in On Air and On Error

NEAT THINGS

MutantSupermodel made this fantastic Bat-tutu a while ago and I love that she’s got an Etsy shop now.

AMAZING leopard seal photos, Nat Geo photographer

Have you met Hessel & Hannes yet? They are the CUTEST chocolate lab and cat pair.

[VIDEO] A lovely serenade through pregnancy (Tom Fletcher of McFly), hattip @grlredballoon

[VIDEO]  Wolf loves belly rubs, who knew? Amazing.

Not quite a wolf but of the related Pay Attention to ME variety

I love what happened when Pat Rothfuss played a game with his son

16 Responses to “Just a little (link) love: tax deadlines edition”

  1. moom says:

    I still do our taxes, it’s not that hard because I have spreadsheets set up which I just enter things into throughout the year and it is almost ready at tax time with a few tweaks for changes in the forms. I just use Excel. I have looked at a couple of the question based softwares including the ATO (our IRS) own software and hated them. So, I am dreading them eliminating paper forms. I would be happy if they just replaced the paper form with an online form you fill in with all the right numbers. I don’t know why they don’t do that.

    • Revanche says:

      Remind me, do you solely file as Australians, now? I think I’m keeping good enough track of things through the year but by the time tax time comes around, there’s always something I wish I’d done differently. It would be nice to just fill in the forms directly as you would the paper forms.

  2. We do ours using TurboTax – really, it’s a holdover from when Peanut was self-employed and I had three Schedule C’s in addition to a regular W2 (basically, really complicated taxes). I don’t mind paying for the service and I’ve always received great customer service.
    Little Miss Moneybags recently posted…Retirement for the UnemployedMy Profile

    • Revanche says:

      I know I’ve used TurboTax in the past, I just don’t remember whether I liked it. Good to know that they have good customer service.

  3. diane says:

    I have used a tax attorney for years. I find it efficient in my situation. I simply don’t want to spend my time on government paperwork. When I factor in the fear I would have of making an error, it’s a no-brainer. Plus, I have no desire to enter into a personal relationship with the IRS. My goal is to remain a mere number in their massive database. The man I use is quite reasonable regarding fees, especially when I factor in how much I would dislike doing this myself. I have long felt that time is the greatest asset I have and I don’t want to spend any of it in an IRS audit. Besides, I doubt that they let you read financial blogs in IRS prison. As you can see, I also lack the confidence to do my own taxes!

    • Revanche says:

      Haha I wonder if IRS prison is the same as normal prison….
      I’ve absolutely made mistakes in the past and have gone back and filed amendments for those mistakes. It’s been annoying but I’d chalked it up to a learning experience.

  4. Evan says:

    Did you share your dividend income?! Thanks for the mention
    Evan recently posted…April 2014 Net Worth UpdateMy Profile

  5. Karen says:

    I still file my own but occasionally pay someone.

    Awww, the Siberian just wants to play with kitty…who seems to be encased in a force field lol

    • Revanche says:

      I sure hope paying someone will be a reasonable rate – though I can assure you that deep in the mire of figuring it all out, I’m not sure how high I’d have been willing to go 🙂

      I love it when dogs are so silly-scared of engaging with the cats.

  6. […] spend half a day picking up in preparation for people to come clean. It totally baffles me.  But Moom inspired me to sort all the just-about filed paperwork so it’s not a file folder chock full of confusion; […]

  7. spiffi says:

    I file my own – I have been using H&R Block software for the last few years, but this year I needed a new form, and found out that their program DOES NOT offer it!
    So now I’m using TurboTax, which is just as easy to use, but at least it has the forms I need!

    • Revanche says:

      Wow – I’m surprised there’s any form they don’t offer! I mean, I assumed it’d just be locked up behind a paywall for an upgrade. Good to know that you’re doing alright with TurboTax!

  8. james pelton says:

    I still do our taxes, I have spreadsheets set up, which I just enter things into throughout the year. I just use Excel. is that ok?
    james pelton recently posted…Hello world!My Profile

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