Things I Wish My Parents Had Told Me #3

In honor of Tax Day, I wish my parents had told me:“Don’t do your own taxes.”

Having fancy stuff never mattered to my parents and they bought practically everything on sale. But it was important to my mom to stay home and raise the kids so she and my dad worked it out. My sister, my brother and I all got jobs as teenagers but my parents paid for our college. We didn’t get cars for our sixteenth birthdays but all three of us kids were given the opportunity to spend a year abroad when we were in high school. Bottom line: we learned very early the value of a dollar.

I don’t remember the first time I did my own taxes but I do know that I didn’t start paying someone else to do them until just a few years ago. Until that time, I always just wrote out my own 1040-EZ and left it at that. I never owed but I never got a return either. I thought that was fair—part of living in this country involves paying taxes, I get it. But a few years ago, Tax Day approached and it seemed like all my friends had accountants. I thought it was such an indulgence to pay someone money to do something that I could do for free. It’s like paying someone to do my housework—so decadent!

One year, I thought I’d give it a try, why not? I got a referral from a friend and paid an accountant a hundred dollars to do my taxes and when he told me I’d be getting a return, I felt like a thief. And the return wasn’t just a few bucks, but thousands of dollars. I had no idea you could deduct certain (not all) expenses. And tax laws change, which means you can get credits for certain things. When I told my dad about this, he replied, “yeah I know that! That’s why we’ve had the same accountant forever.” Uh, what? You guys know about this accountant thing? Thanks for nothing, Dad! It would have been nice to know that you guys use an accountant and maybe that is something that might have helped me all these years! He had to agree, actually, and sheepishly apologized. Then he said, “you shouldn’t be happy about getting a return, that is YOUR money and you should be getting more of it upfront, not loaning it to the government for free.” Um, OK. Baby steps. For now, I’m just happy to be getting legitimate returns and would highly recommend anyone who doesn’t have professional help, get it.