It’s tax season everybody! I’m sure most people out there (especially my freelancing husband) don’t get as excited about doing their taxes as I do, but what can I say? I love the possibility of getting some money back! Though this year I have a feeling I won’t be getting much of a tax refund. I’m certainly not complaining, but because I’ve made my highest income to date this year, but didn’t put as much into my RRSPs as I would have liked, I just can’t see me getting much — if anything — back.
Then again, I’d much rather be in this position than be back where I was the year before. I still can’t believe that in 2013 I made almost as little as I did in 2010, which was my lowest income year as a gainfully employed post-grad (and my first year as a gainfully employed post-grad). It sure is crazy to see what can change in just 12 months.
Nonetheless, even if I just break even after filing my taxes, I still relish in the fact that getting them done signifies the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. Just like when I look back on my life and financial goals each year, doing my taxes is a way for me to reflect on how far I’ve come while at the same time gaining further motivation to keep on growing my income and net worth.
On the other side of the coin, as I write this post I can see a mountain of crumpled receipts and a daunting looking excel spreadsheet my husband has yet to tackle. Being a freelancer, tax time to him means one big headache. He literally has to set aside a whole day just to go through everything so it’s organized enough to hand over to his tax accountant. While I look forward to tax season, he groans whenever I mention it. And then panics when I remind him that the deadline to get it all done is almost here. Just an FYI in case any of you fellow Canadians aren’t sure what those deadlines are, here you go: If you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in 2014 (other than a business whose expenditures are primarily in connection with a tax shelter), the deadline to file your 2014 income tax and benefit return is midnight on June 15, 2015. However, if you have a balance owing for 2014, you still have to pay it on or before April 30, 2015.
It actually wasn’t until last year that I used an accountant to do my taxes for the first time. And when I did use one, I ended up getting reassessed and thus forced to fork over more money to the government (needless to say I will not be using that accountant ever again). Before that, I’ve always done my myself using some online program. I’ve used both U-File and TurboTax and they are pretty much the same in price and ease of use. Since my taxes are generally pretty straight forward, doing them myself just made sense. The only reason I switched it up last year was because it was the first year I was legally married. My HB was going to be using an accountant anyway, so it just made sense to use the same accountant so we could file our taxes together.
This year, I don’t really know what I’m going to do. My HB is using a different accountant which I’m really happy about, but I really miss doing it all myself and finding out right away how much I’ll be getting back. Plus, it only takes me a few hours from start to finish. Filing together using an accountant, if last year is any indication of how it usually goes down, is not a quick process. Again, most of it comes down to my husband’s complicated taxes, but still. I know there are quite a few benefits to filing to together instead of separately, but I think I might actually plug in all my details into one of those programs just to see what kind of number I could expect for a rebate.
Which leads me to tiny promo for a future post. H&R Block has approached me to review their new H&R Block Online Tax Software. From what I’ve already gathered it’s like U-File and TurboTax with the biggest difference being that it’s completely free. Yeah, I had to read through their whole guide a few times to make sure it was free free. Apparently it is! I’m gonna try it out and write all about my experience using it in two weeks so make sure to look out for that.
How do you feel about tax season? Do you love it like a freak like me, or does it make you want to curl up into a ball and cry like my HB?
(Image: Steve DePolo)
The post Tax Season: Why I Love It and My Husband Hates It appeared first on Mo' Money Mo' Houses by Jessica Moorhouse