Not So Taxing

Yesterday, I filed my income taxes. This is the second year I have done it myself. I used to give my papers to my accountant and he would fill them out for me. Back in the 1980's, you called the accountant and he came to your house. He plugged in his adding machine and spread out all of the tax forms. I made coffee and cake. He stayed for a few hours as he added and subtracted the figures. We sat at the table in suspense, waiting for the grand totals. My taxes were always straightforward, but for some reason I felt that the accountant was doing a miracle when I got a small refund. After years of at home visits, I began to give the papers to the accountant and he would call me a few weeks later with the figures. After the year 2000, I noticed that the forms looked like they were done through a computer program. When these programs became available to the public, I still had the mindset that I was not knowledgeable enough to do my own taxes. Last year, I broke down and tried to do them myself. It took about 1/2 hour. The program asked me question after question and baby stepped me through the process. Within 3 weeks a refund was directly deposited into my account. A precedent was now set. I would no longer pay hundreds of dollars for something I could do myself.