Here, in the United States, just thinking about April 15th is enough to give you the heebie-jeebies. Of course, I’m talking about the deadline for filing our federal income taxes.
I am the type of person who doesn’t mind sailing in to one of the tax preparation firms, nailing my butt to the chair, and letting somebody–anybody–other than me, put everything together. With one press of the electronic filing button, they dispatch with the inevitable.
I can pretty much guarantee that if my grandfather was still alive, he would be filling out the forms for me.
So, this year? My husband decided it was time we started doing our own taxes. We sat down at the kitchen table with rafts of paper, forms, receipts, coffee, and a calculator and let it rip.
Seven hours later (my attention span had evaporated six hours prior), we had changed from reasonable adults into rabid raccoons looking for any available leg to bite. We argued, we disagreed, we added, subtracted, divided, made snide remarks to one another over who was more fit to file… oh, it was a party.
One of our sticking points was whether or not to itemize our medical expenses.
Like many of you, dear reader, I have a chronic health condition that can sometimes cause money to disappear like a thin branch through a wood-chipper.
At the end of the seventh hour, we determined we were $300.00 short on our expenses and itemizing our medical expenses was not an available option.
For others, however, there are certain tax breaks you should be taking advantage of, especially if you’re living with a disability or chronic illness. Steve Pomerantz has an excellent podcast about deductions you should be aware of in 2017. This is an excellent article and well worth reading.
I’m just glad my husband and I survived doing our own taxes. Next year? No way, no how.
