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One funny (for certain values of funny) thing about taking this tax course is that I get Official Instruction in how to handle stuff that's going to show up on my own return this year. Unemployment compensation? Yup. Tuition adjustments? Haven't hit that yet, but yup.
I already knew how to do interest and dividends and the stupid Capital Gains tax worksheet which I have to use every single year because my dad set up an annuity for me when I was a baby and I inherited its management when I was... I dunno, twenty-five? Out of college and in an unstable employment situation, anyway, which is why I cashed in the other investment he made and then had fun reporting a big capital loss on that year's taxes because those stocks were crazy volatile and I sold them on a downswing. I have also had personal experience with Schedule C because when I taught homeschool, the kids' parents hired me as a contractor rather than an employee, which meant I was effectively a small business selling teaching services and had to pay taxes on myself coming and going for two years in a row. Blargh. Schedule C can go jump in a lake.
I had someone at Not the IRS do my taxes last year, but I am unsure whether I'll do them on company software again this year. If that gets taken out of a paycheck, which is what happens to receptionist types (I mean, it's pre-tax rather than post-tax, but even so), then I think I would rather do them at home in pencil and paper as I'd always previously done. I am quite sure I could have figured out unemployment and tuition stuff on my own if I'd wanted to last year. I just got lazy and decided not to download a twenty-zillion page PDF with the relevant instructions. But I think tax preparers get some discount certificates and stuff, and in any case I would be doing my own taxes rather than getting a coworker to do them for me, so perhaps this year doing my taxes through the company would be free. And in that case, you damn well bet I'll let the software do all the writing for me.
I already knew how to do interest and dividends and the stupid Capital Gains tax worksheet which I have to use every single year because my dad set up an annuity for me when I was a baby and I inherited its management when I was... I dunno, twenty-five? Out of college and in an unstable employment situation, anyway, which is why I cashed in the other investment he made and then had fun reporting a big capital loss on that year's taxes because those stocks were crazy volatile and I sold them on a downswing. I have also had personal experience with Schedule C because when I taught homeschool, the kids' parents hired me as a contractor rather than an employee, which meant I was effectively a small business selling teaching services and had to pay taxes on myself coming and going for two years in a row. Blargh. Schedule C can go jump in a lake.
I had someone at Not the IRS do my taxes last year, but I am unsure whether I'll do them on company software again this year. If that gets taken out of a paycheck, which is what happens to receptionist types (I mean, it's pre-tax rather than post-tax, but even so), then I think I would rather do them at home in pencil and paper as I'd always previously done. I am quite sure I could have figured out unemployment and tuition stuff on my own if I'd wanted to last year. I just got lazy and decided not to download a twenty-zillion page PDF with the relevant instructions. But I think tax preparers get some discount certificates and stuff, and in any case I would be doing my own taxes rather than getting a coworker to do them for me, so perhaps this year doing my taxes through the company would be free. And in that case, you damn well bet I'll let the software do all the writing for me.