Monday, April 15, 2013

Taxes done. :D

The hit was close to what I expected.  An additional $700 in federal, and $180 in state -- all below the penalty levels, because, it turns out, my mental calculations were about right.

And then, of course, prepayment (self-employment) checks had to be sent out, too.  I added a bit more to the federal, just because the worksheet seemed to be too low for my comfort level.  I guess I'll find out this time next year.  ;)

Finally, ahead of the extended deadline (May 15th), I figured I'd do the Portland Arts Tax filing online, too.  I voted for the tax, and I love the idea of arts education being well-funded.

If you add it all up, the total amount I just sent out today was fairly big (by my percentile income group, that is), but because it was all planned from the start, none of it was a shock.  In fact, I'm thrilled it all worked out exactly as planned. :D

Now, if we were to go back 13 years ago when I quit my job and tried the self-employed bit the first time, everything was a shock and overwhelming.  One year after that first return, I started using software to do it all.  Now, it's just a matter of organizing all my stuff to make the filing process easy.

Speaking of organization, I got my Google Docs forms and spreadsheets better written so that I can add info on-the-fly and just pop the receipts into a folder -- I'm getting there, eventually (hopefully I don't die the day after I reach maximum efficiency.)

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