Tax Woes

So, for the record, the folks who say doing taxes are easy are not the same people who have five or six jobs in three or four states, some of which took out taxes, and most of which didn't. There are a lot of really good things about being a freelance, odd job type. Taxes are not one of them.

First of all, you need a table that's bigger than your whole apartment just to spread out all the forms. By the way, where did they come up with all those titles? 1099s, W-2s, C schedules or whatever they are. . . couldn't they at least name them something that relates to their purpose, like "Freelancer Form," "Normal People Form," "So Poor You're Trying to Count Your Toothpaste as a Write Off Form?" (Hey why not? Pleasant breath is essential for many jobs.)

Secondly, while everyone else is planning the trip to Hawaii they'll take as soon as they get their returns, you're filling out yet another 1099 and realizing that the rest of your pathetic savings will go to the government so they can afford to pay those people who come up with the bad names.

Anyway, my sanity saver has been http://www.taxact.com/. I won't say it makes taxes easy. But it helps. And it's cheap-- filing for federal is free and it's less than $15 to file for each state. Give it a try.