The tax lawyer just sent my completed tax returns. What with last spring’s teaching gig, the small but steady income The Copyeditor’s Desk has been generating, and the drawdowns I’ve been making from my IRA to pay my share of the Investment House mortgage (which of course are treated as regular income), my gross this year was pretty startling. And when GDU switched to biweekly pay, I cut the amount being withheld from my paychecks to mitigate the $220 cut in net monthly pay that change inflicted. I really was worried that I would owe a ton of money in April.
But nay! We’re asking for refunds of $4,734 from state and federal gummints!
Meanwhile, in 2008 I set aside $2,563 to cover that year’s taxes on freelance income. By golly: that’s a windfall (as I see it) of $7,297.
Of course, I’ll have to pay the lawyer, whose fees are not in the H&R Block range. On the other hand, H&R Block wouldn’t be extracting almost five grand from the state and the feds for me, either. My lawyer charges significantly less than my accountant used to charge, back when I was incorporated. Argh! That woman used to present me with a tax prep bill that was more than my taxes! And believe me, she never came up with a refund.
Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again…
🙂