My taxes are done, and this is all due to someone I now think of as my tax hero.
I've done my taxes myself since I was 16, and I just continued doing them once John and I got married. He makes a show of checking them over once I've completed them and it is good to have more than one pair of eyes on them since I am quite capable of making mistakes, but neither of us is a tax wizard.
They've gotten a little more complex as the years have gone by, and buying the house in MD made them almost too complicated. I've soldiered on over the last three years, doing our Federal, DE (where John worked), NJ (which remained our primary residence), and checking tax law in MD to see what we were responsible for. I started the process for the 2021 tax year in February and after a week or so I threw up my hands in despair, and said, "I have no idea what I'm doing!" We had sold Ryan's house in CO and since our names were on the deed, we realized some of the capital gains, and we had NJ and DE as usual. John was in charge of everything I considered "retirement stuff" and he had sold some stock options and became vested in some RSUs. He didn't fully understand the tax implications and neither did I, but when the H&R Block tax software said we owed half a gazillion dollars in federal taxes, I knew it was time to seek help.
I called a couple of friends who happened to recommend the same CPA, and he looked like he was rated highly. I called for an appointment in February and thankfully, he had a few openings. We went last Sunday afternoon with last year's tax returns and all the stuff I thought we might need. We sat with him for about 90 minutes, and he completed our Federal, NJ, DE, and CO returns. It was so efficient and almost painless that I wanted to hug him. We still owe about a quarter of a gazillion dollars, and his fees were an arm and a leg, but I would gladly have paid him more. He is e-filing everything, payments will come directly out of our bank account on April 18th, and he even got us a $68 return from DE. (Take that Delaware!) There was no fuss or shame, and I've finally learned what so many of you have realized long ago. It was worthwhile to consult a professional, and I think I've slept better since Sunday now that I'm no longer worried about taxes. John said that now that I had seen how to do it, maybe I could go back to doing our taxes next year. I just replied, "HA!" Next year we'll have the sale of the MD house to deal with, along with more RSUs, Medicare, and maybe Social security for me, so I fully intend to go back to my tax hero. It was the best thing I've done in a long time!
