pays to be anal retentive

I finally sat down this weekend to do my 2006 taxes. All I can say is "thank God" I own a home. Turbo Tax is a god send. Imported my information from last year's tax file and bam I was on my way.

Of course the panic first set in as I filled out the income and saw in real time that I was going to owe money (around $1k). Egads. And then relief when I realized that I had all sorts of deductions coming my way, mostly from my mortgage interest.

But the two big wins I felt were for the Federal excise tax on bundled phone services from Mar 2003 to July 2006, and sales tax deductions. And I was hell bent on itemizing. I have every receipt and bill since 1997, and so I was able to dig out my paper work and start adding up the $$.

For 2006, I reviewed every receipt in my possession and then calculated up the total sales tax. Grand total = $1600. Nice little deduction, and more than the standard. Sure it took more time, but I want my money, dammit. :)

And then for the phone credit. At first I went for the standard refund of $30, but then I thought. Why not dig out the old phone records and itemize for this too. Believe it or not, I have every single phone bill between March 2003 and July 2006. And so glad I did. It netted out to be $55 in refund over the $30 from the standard refund. I think that will pay for my filing fees. All for an extra 30 minutes of work.

Now that I know I'm getting money back, I'm all the more excited to get this puppy shipped off to the IRS. I've got a big vacation coming up in just a few months, and momma needs some new shoes. :)