Tax Time

In about half an hour, we're heading over to the Turner home to file our 2010 taxes. Now I can't say we enjoy doing our taxes, but honestly, we don't really dread it either.

As long as we've been together, we've always received money back. So it isn't fun to meticulously go through all these documents, but the refund always seems worth it. I mean what else can you do, at home, with a glass of wine for an hour that will wind up with a deposit into my bank account?

Past years we've gone through every single little thing together. Ross will sit at the computer with TurboTax and I'll have a file folder of all our documents. It's like a baseball line up. Ross: On deck, the 1098. Me: Got the 1098. Who is in the hole?

Our little deduction



And then we brainstorm. Can we claim this deduction? How much mileage did we drive that we can deduct? How much were those clothes we donated to Goodwill worth? Do fancy peep-toe-pumps for a special meeting count as a work uniform and therefore a deduction? Can we claim Lexi as a dependent or at least, as a home security system?

(Note: A volunteer I knew from Girl Scouts works for the IRS. He once got a tax filing turned into him where the guy claimed his dog as a security system and to the penny deducted food, vet bills, everything. IRS guy thought this was so clever and funny, that he let the deduction stand.)

Taxes have traditionally been an exercise in good communication for us so I can't say I dread it. I'm just crossing my fingers that this year's tax filing will go as smoothly as past ones and will continue our refund streak.