It’s THAT time of year, and we had our taxes prepared at our usual preparer’s office, with the same person we’ve been seeing for… 10?… years. We always enjoy seeing her, and she likes us because we always have all the paperwork we need AND we pay quarterly so it’s not a big bill.
Our self employment careers are one that is periodically audited, so since my husband started, we’ve had our taxes professionally done so if there IS an audit there shouldn’t be problems.
I was sure we were going to have to pay in, especially since I pulled a lot from my retirement to help with my parents’ roof, and those fees and penalties are HIGH. (The roof is another story, and if you wanted to donate to help my parents, that would be AMAZING. GOFUNDME found here. Our roofer’s life imploded and he isn’t able to do the work, but the roof is halfway done and half paid for with no way to fix it!!!)
BUT.
It turns out that my frantic estimating of the taxes needed resulted in me paying in WAY more than we needed, so we are getting back a refund. We paid in for state, but only ~$300. Plus the cost for having her do our paperwork.
Hooray, right?
Yeah, well, we had that number for less than 15 minutes before we decided where to spend it. My parents roof IS a priority but we have some fires in our own kitchen to put out, especially our credit card.
- Pay off our head gasket and tires which are the only things on our credit card.
- Pay off my smallest student loan.
No fun in that, but it will improve our finances going forward because it would remove the credit card payment AND the student loan payment from our monthly budget. More breathing room!
Of course I sat down and ran the numbers for a better budget once these two items are removed AND so that I more accurately pull taxes.
Anyway, I’m both relieved and bummed. Relieved because I know this is a GOOD decision going forward that will help us long term. It really is the best use for our money right now.
Bummed because my wish list of items is long, and they ain’t happening.
Curse you self control and adult thinking! *shakes fist*
