I did my parent's tax return on tax cut online. & e-filed them. They are wary of online stuff but I didn't even ask them - LOL. I figure they will have no choice in a few years, but they didn't seem to mind. Like most of our older clients at work they were sold when they saw just how easy it was. We have only done e-file at work the last 2-3 years (mostly because California forced us to) and so I Was wary of trying it on my own, but knowing the process a little better I gave it a try.

The things I did not like about Tax Cut though was that it would not show me the tax forms until the very very end. You have to start the filing process first and I Was wary filing forms I hadn't even seen. Yikes!!!! I finally got to see and print the forms and double check everything. But I did not see any way to override amounts directly from the form, as you can on the downloadable version.

On the plus side, I did not need to override anything, it was a little easier to input. Usually those tax softwares drive me nuts because they are written for people who don't know anything about taxes, and make it very hard when you know things to jump around, skip the crap you don't want, override things, etc. Oh yeah, more of the same, but it was a little easier. I didn't have problems making adjustments on the state forms like I usually do. So the whole process was a lot quicker and easier than usual. Prepared and filed in just a couple of hours. Saved me a lot of time not having to print out filing copies and such. Hey, saved paper too!!!

Oh - but I am not sure I would recommend it to joe blow average. IT asked me a couple of things I knew but I didn't think most people would. SDI was impossible to input. I figured it out because I knew. I think anyone in CA might have lost up to a $635 deduction because they either put it in wrong or gave up and didn't realize it is a state tax deduction. That was a huge flaw. For me I put in the number but it made me put in the wages subject to the tax (not on the form and not on most W-2s) so knowing the tax rate I divided the tax by the rate to figure out the taxable wage. I knew it was some weird number I Would have to look otherwise because only the first $89k or so is taxable. Very bizarre and clunky. I tried to breeze past because who freaking cares, but it would not let me move on without entering a number. Plus the software should be able to know based on the other W-2 inputs what it was. But I guess this is where our professional software beats it by a mile - it has all the state stuff in there and linked to the federal return. HEre it didn't know the state's rules and info and this is the result.

My mom insisted she is going to send me a $50 check for the filing, I insisted no. She insisted yes. Gives me $50 for my savings since I definitely have the money for it.

My MIL want on our cruise last month and dh talked to her about it - I guess absolutely everything on the boat is free except for soda. & alcohol. LOL. Dh was telling me yesterday because I am the soda fiend. Maybe $500 for the trip is a bit much. Will give us some wiggle room if my bonus isn't what I thought it was, to pay off the car. We weren't really going to do any big excursions or anything and all the food on the boat will be free for us. Woohoo. I am relieved, even with the money, hopefully it won't cost too much. Though I am sure we will find many expenses.

The one thing is dh has suddenly turned into souvenir man. We never waste our money on souvenirs on vacations and such. & now he keeps saying, well we have to get the kids souvenirs. They are 1 & 3. I think they could care less!!! LOL. But that's me. He wouldn't spend more than a few bucks anyway but I just don't know where this mind shift came in. He would be the one telling me in years past that buying any kind of trinket or souvenir is such a waste. Now suddenly they are a necessity because we have kids. When they are a little older, sure, I see getting them a little treat after leaving them for a whole week. But at this age they will just be glad for mommy and daddy to be home, no treats expected.

Was just reading an article how CPAs can be a lot like social workers. I heavily disagreed when this topic came up before. At least most of the year I can lock myself up in my office and hardly talk to a soul - LOL. I would not have what it takes emotionally to deal as a nurse or a social worker or some of these professions. But this year was very interesting. I did meet with about 30 clients and I do really see where this comes into play. I had the sweetest clients come in last week, but the wife did cry the entire hour and tell me her life story of whoas. In past years I would have found it extremely ackward, but I guess with time I adjust. When I look back at it this year, yes, there was so much more discussed than money and finances, I Was a bit of a therapist. Lord help my clients. LOL. They seemed please, probably because I am a good listener. That kind of stuff bugs me because I don't have the answers. I can give them tax answers. But I can't tell them why it is so hard and why they deserve to deal with sick and dying parents, etc. But maybe it's good to not have the answers, clients seem to just want to talk, just someone to listen to. I also had an elderly client come in and we wrapped up his taxes pretty fast. I Was eyeing his tax return wondering why in the heck my boss charged him so much in years past. & then he sat and talked another hour. & then talked to the receptionists another hour before leaving. Just a lonely guy. & after spending hours with him to do a simple tax return you see why he is charged so much - for taking so much of our time. So it was interesting. I have a very elderly co-worker who pays all of the bills and helps look out for another very elderly lady. Her kids are like vultures waiting for they money (the not much that she has anyway). & she is always protecting her but the drama that whole thing produces, I hear her getting into many heated discussions with her family all the time. Now she is a social worker for that family in a HUGE sense. That's not really the stuff I intended to sign up for with this job. But it is there.

Oh yeah - on the cc - that is a Chase thing. The funniest thing. Dh's old credit card, that we never use because they were always freezing it for stupid reasons (I think it was Bank One before but obviously carried it's overzealous ways to Chase). They froze a $500 purchase on a card we use every day - for gas and groceries and EVERYTHING. So dh pulled out an old chase card he had not used in YEARS and ran through a $500 purchase.

Not a blink.

What the foo????? Gah! I was just telling dh that is why come hell or high water I close all my old cards. I have too much fear in cc theft and that is the kind of thing that could easily be overlooked. Frankly if I got a statement in the mail I would have figured it was junk with the piles of credit card offers. It just really bugs me. I pulled out an ancient statement from 2002 and I will see if I can pay it now while I am thinking about it. But yeah, I heard dh wrong the first time. The reason they froze the card was because we usually mostly have little purchases so a bigger purchase was a red flag. & so it goes why we hated this card before. BEcause every time you want to spend more than a couple of hundred dollars you have to call the credit company and beg for mercy. As you are trying to get out of the door - it is that much more annoying now that we have kids to juggle in the process.

& hell they didn't freeze the card the 2 times we purchased cars with them. Are they crazy? They didn't want to check on an $8k charge? Maybe they figure that the auto dealer is looking you over left and right and up and down and harder to fool them, I don't know. But what the foo is all I can say. Can you tell I am aggravated? LOL.