I just finished filling out my tax forms.  It was a tedious mess, because I had sold some stock last year that was acquired in my employee stock purchase plan.  Because they were bought in small quantities over time, each purchase had to be entered manually.  This meant that I had to enter 57 stock lots.  The final printout that TurboTax produced with all the forms is about 3/4-inch thick (there’s a worksheet for each of the 57 stock lots). 

On the plus side, President Bush’s tax cuts made a difference.  Taking into account my basic income and taxes already paid and using the standard deduction showed me with a tax liability of about $50 as compared to the $250 that I paid last year.  However I was able to itemize deductions for interest paid on the house, property taxes, points paid on the mortgage, and charitable contributions.  Once that was taken into account TurboTax showed that I will receive a refund of $668.  This will be the first time in seven or eight years that I’ll be getting money back.

Even with the refund, though, I’m still not terribly happy about paying a five-figure amount to Uncle Sugar throughout the year.