NERVOUS

Taxes. What a tease.

I have chronicled my tax experiences here before (2007 part A and part B; I didn't chronicle it last year because a story about me writing a big fat check to the government is not worth reading).

So we got our W2 forms here at work yesterday. I will of course send all my stuff to Star's mom to assemble for me (we've got a deal going), but just to get some kind of expectation if I will be on the giving or receiving end of the check this year, I logged onto Turbo Tax. I am still missing a w2 from the job I had for half of 2008, as well as forms from the bank with information about my savings bonds I cashed in 2008, and wasn't sure where to enter the hefty sales tax I paid on the new car (or if the government even cares about my new car at all).

Which is precisely why, when the little Turbo Tax calculator thing at the top told me I'd be receiving hundreds of dollars back from Uncle Sam, my heart both sang and sank. It SANG because I just knew that pesky government had been taking more than its share from my paycheck. Those withholding amounts seemed high so I was hoping I'd get a significant portion back. However, immediately after that fleeting moment of joy, my heart SANK because I knew that number isn't accurate seeing as how I had not yet entered a lot of information. And according to my sister, the savings bonds will really tear into that figure. Curses! I should never have done this to myself. That number is only going to shrink.

If you use an online tax program, for you own sake don't look at the number until you are ready to submit. It'll just break your heart.