Income tax preperation is bad , but ADD and tax paperwork is a freakin nightmare. Anybody else out there barely able to see the computer due to stacks of unsorted bank statements, recipts and stupid @#@$# tax forms! Capt Kylos

You got it, mate. I finally filed 3 years worth of tax returns together in one heroic burst and only because I would not have gotten my refunds for the oldest one otherwise. It's nice to be getting a bunch of money all at once. But all of it is going to pay of a tenth of my credit card balances. AAAAAHhh.

And yet I had no problem doing my girlfriend's taxes on time every year. Sounds familiar?

I thought this was a good time of year to drag this post out and see if any of you had or will have as much fun as I did prepairing taxes for the April 15th deadline. Capt Kylos:D

I feel like I've had salt rubbed in an infected wound. Last year was the first time I'd been really late with my taxes. I put a burst on early this year but haven't touched it since and I need to clean it up and get it out of my hair.

I'm grateful to be too cheap to put anything I can't pay for on my cards though. Paying those interest fees would be a nightmare for me as I'm sure it is for anyone.

I have one good habit that works out well for me with taxes. I have large legal sized envelopes that get marked with the date I start putting things in them. I turn it upside down and then put statements and receipts in them face down until the envelope is full. Then at least it's chronologically ordered. This isn't a huge advantage but it makes me feel like I've done something useful. :P

This year I've made up a simple spread sheet so I can enter the data as I go along instead of having to resort to heroism sometime later when I'm under so much pressure the adrenalin kicks in and I make it all go away in a burst of activity. Hopefully next year I'll just have to print it out and I'll be done! Tell me I'm not dreaming!! heheh

It sucks the life out of me to do those binges. I hate myself for having to do them.

I hate tax season. I hate deadlines. I need to learn to ask for help in the tasks I'm weak in. This may be one of them. I've caught myself offering this wisdom to others and not taking it myself often enough. Ding! Times up! I'm phoning now.

I can make room to do things for others that I can't hope to get going on myself too. Self care is a tough nut to crack.
Cheers! Ian.

I am very thankful my roommate works for H&R Block, tax preparers.
He gets to do some free ones as a bonus to his work.
So he does mine for free and sends it right off, he knows all the tax codes
and always looks to see what I can save.
Like I said, I'm very thankful!!

For several years in a row now, we've gone to H&R Block. This is the best thing to do in my case, to have a scheduled (read: structured) appointment, bring the stack, and just hand it to the preparer. It's worth paying a little to have a preparer do it. As for the stack, this year, I designated a drawer in a new organizer shelf that my husband bought to help me with having a known spot to place important items in. As soon as I get home, I check the mail, and put everything in its designated drawer or box. So every tax related form that arrived went straight to the drawer, and this is the first year in several years that I didn't have to look up a tax related bank statement online after misplacing the original sent to me. We just had our taxes done earlier this week in fact, so we're all done. Tax time causes stress in plenty of people, but oh yes, for we ADDers, it especially clashes with all the ADD type problems like disorganization, procrastination, distraction, etc!!

I save no receipts, bank statements, I just make up an estimate on everything and do it online, 2 hours took me. I'm not even going to bother with saving stuff. I just keep changing things till I like the way my refund looks.

T-Bass

I just thought I would drag this out one more time before April 15th. Tic Tic Tic. Capt Kylos:)

Two words:
TURBO TAX!
The tax prep for my business goes to my accountant, which I still need to pick up, it then flows through to my personal income which I do w/Turbo Tax. Last year I was going to have him do the personal as well cause I always have a ton of deductions and weird investment stuff but when he handed me an 18 + pager of forms to fill out with my personal financial info, I figured that had to take longer than filling in the same info into the software. (It recalls all your accounts and stuff from last year, so you hardly have to think. It can even tap in to your brokerage accounts online and download all that stuff , and it will walk you through filing on line.
So, with the exception of a number I need to plug in from my company taxes it took me a couple of hours this weekend. I was thrilled.