Taxes

I'm sure most people would be happier paying fewer taxes. Well in general, you'll not find me supporting this mantra. While I'm not a proponent of over taxation, I do understand the importance of paying taxes. Taxes fund important things like highways and the postal service. In addition, imagine what the National Debt would be if we eliminated taxes completely!

However, this month I find myself wishing that we, as Americans, had fewer taxes. I say this, not because I feel myself overburdened, but because this year I found myself preparing tax forms for some of my clients. I must say, I hate tax forms. Seriously.

In the past I have worked hard to limit my interaction with tax forms. Now, on my current hiatus from the real corporate world I find myself face-to-face with things I've never even heard of!

Forget W2s and W4s. In the last week I've found myself tackling K1s, 1099s, 1096s and a million things in between. I think here it's important to understand two things about me: 1. I'm smart but 2. I am NOT a tax accountant. I'm not even an accountant. I'm a financial analyst. If you need a budget, I'm your girl. If you need a profitability analysis I've got you covered. If you need basic bookkeeping or accounting process I can manage. If you need tax advice, I've got nothing.

But here I am all the same. My clients need my 'expertise' and so I find myself facing down the learning curve of tax forms. Actually, I've been facing down that learning curve all week. And today, I find myself at the top. :) I have conquered the tax forms and I now realize that in reality, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had worked it up to be. Mind you I've not really taxes in general, which is why on Saturday I'll be meeting with my H&R Block specialist to complete my own personal taxes. But I do feel accomplished, and proud that I've at least learned how to issue all of the tax forms that small business owners need to be in compliance with the IRS.

At the end of this informative journey I am happy to have learned what I have learned. But as I said at the beginning of this post; if Americans had fewer tax forms, I wouldn't complain.