Okay. I goofed two years ago when I overlooked a letter from my pension plan. How interesting and nice of my pension plan it was, I thought, that I got an increase in my take-home pay. Duh. Our taxman calculated that I owed the government some $6000 in taxes at the year’s end. I paid off the IRS, and surmised that I would come close to breaking even last year. Duh. At the year’s end I owed a mystifying $3800.
That was enough. I increased the withholding on my federal pension by $2700 annually. I had a year of FUN believing I was going to get a refund, or at least break even.
A couple of friends, who do their taxes on the computer, convinced me to try Turbo Tax. However, there was a glitch on Turbo Tax, and I could not get it to give me correct input numbers. I turned to TaxAct, which predicted, assuming I did my calculations correctly, that I would get a $970 refund. Wow.
What to do? Would I accept TaxAct’s findings, or try H&R Block’s online tax service, or just give it up? I gave up. I will be going to my taxman tomorrow. What will he say?
If he says I will get a small refund check I will feel happy, but I will wonder whether I should have trusted TaxAct, filed with them, and saved myself the taxman’s fee.
If he says that I will get a large refund, I will be very happy. I will likely swear my allegiance to him for years to come.
If he says that I will break even, I will be happy that I don’t have to pay Uncle Sam.
If he says that I OWE money, I will try another online tax service. I will finish this essay tomorrow after my tax appointment.
Finally
The Verdict: I owe $200 on my federal taxes. I will now do an online H&R Block filing. My taxman said he would be glad to look at those H&R Block papers, assuming they give me a refund, and let me know what’s happening. There, I feel better now.
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com
