Enough With the Questions!

Never let it be said that the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t have a sense of humor.  Sure, the Tax Code is an instrument of torture, but IRS also has a page on their web site featuring funny quotes about taxes.  Here are a few:

“Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf.” – Will Rogers

“People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women.” – unknown

“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Okay, so that last one is not so much funny as self-serving, but it beats the hell out of reading Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated Property.

This week’s column recounts Tax Prep Day in the Hanna household (April 14, of course).

Here’s a taste:

Enough with the questions!

You’ve heard that the old saying, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”  In my case, there’s an addendum: It’s pretty certain that taxes will cause my death.

Here’s my theory on doing taxes: once you get all the papers together–the W-2s, the receipts for office supplies, the car registration statement buried deep in your desk drawer–the rest is just math, so why pay someone to do it?  Besides, asking a third party to accept a mileage log with the ink still wet is awkward. . .

Download the rest of the column: