My Secret Obsession

I guess now it won't be so secret...

I was doing research on the first time homebuyer's tax credit for us and for my little sister. I started reading IRS publications trying to make sure we did everything we needed to, included the right paperwork, and knew what to expect. Then I found myself reading other IRS publications and studying tax forms. I was understanding WAY more than I should, so I read some more. Pouring over IRS publications quickly melts away 3 or 4 hours. I took copious notes on the important points for me. Then I decided I wanted to do our taxes myself. We had them done by a CPA last year because we had some weird stuff, and I had a couple of questions, and I was going to send them back to her again this year...until I became obsessed with reading tax publications.

In the end, I used TurboTax to do our taxes. I have used HRBlock in the past and refuse to ever go there again. Two years ago, we received a coupon in the mail to have our taxes done by a tax professional for $50. Great...I had questions anyway. I took all our stuff in and met with someone. Then the office lost my coupon and wanted to charge me $300. The corporate office said they had never heard of such a coupon being given out. Grrrr...It all worked out, and our coupon was found, but I will never go there again. I feel TurboTax was more comprehensive, and they did all the mathmatical calculations for me anyway. Never would I have dreamed that I would become slightly obsessed with learning about taxes.