This year is the first time I’m filing taxes with a real job, complete with W-2, credits, deductions, and all that jazz.  I’ve been avoiding it, like most of the country probably is, but my mom sat down with me to go over it step by step in TurboTax and though it was a bit tedious, thankfully my taxes are still very simple.  Ultimately it turned out great though, since I’m getting some tax returns!

Watching the amount for my federal and state tax returns go up and down depending on certain items I added in was kind of cool.  It’s like watching slot machine 7s fall into place.  I like how that effect almost turned doing my taxes into a game.  Certainly everything’s better as a game!  But then again, it turns out to be so much better that this isn’t a game, since the money I get back will be real and not some virtual currency.

It can get kind of stressful though, since I worry that I missed something that will really affect my return.  This early on it doesn’t really matter since I just qualify for a standard federal deduction amount, but later on when things are itemized, every bit counts…  For now I will just rejoice in the fact that filing my returns this year will be quite quick and painless.  Soon enough I’ll have my returns and I can revel in the pleasure of getting money back from Uncle Sam.