Taxes and Travel

Yesterday, I finished my federal and state taxes. It is a relief that it's over.  

I dread tax season every year. I agonize and procrastinate. I dilly and I dally. 

Ever since I became an alleged grown up person forced to deal with stuff like taxes, I've done my own taxes. The hard way with forms and sheets of paper to do calculations on. I refused to spend money to get help when I can do basic math.

A few years ago, I began using a free service through the IRS which was a fillable form online that I could e-file my federal taxes through. It wasn't much better that working with forms and sheets of paper to do math on. 

For state taxes, I was still using paper forms, finding no comparable free service for state taxes.  

For the past few years, my ability to do basic math is not what it once was or I was just being ground up in the gears of the unnecessary complexities of the tax code. For the past two years, I've gotten notices from the IRS that I did something wrong and I owed them more money than I thought. 

Adding to that, my wife Andrea was let go from her job which was bad news but on the plus side, she got a nice severance package. Which on the down side, bumped up our income bracket to a level i wasn't quite comfortable with. 

I just knew we were going to get killed on taxes this year.

I decided to get help.

So I turned to Turbotax. 

It started off free of charge. 

By the time I got done, it cost me nearly $140. But I have to admit, it was money I think well spent. A lot of the guesswork and agonizing was taken out of the equation.  I've received confirmation that the IRS has received and accepted my tax return. And I have a refund coming. 

I hate to say it but I think Andrea's severance may have jacked our income up enough to qualify for Trump's tax cut.  

Oh man, I think I'm going to be sick.   
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OK, the title of today's post is Taxes and Travel. The "travel" part is not about me but about my daughter Randie who is flying to Louisiana (by way of Texas) to see her girlfriend. 

I've been a bit stressed out about that. 

Randie has done her fair share of travelling. She's been to New York City twice and just two weeks ago, she was in Nashville. But such excursions were with other people.  

This is her first solo trip without the support of other people along for the ride. 

It's also her first trip on an airplane.  

She's also going to be in Louisiana where I am to understand, there are gators. 

I'm feeling a little stressed about all of this.  

Well, at least the taxes are done.