Taxing my Brain

Mom always said she didn't mind paying takes for the privilege of living in the great country of the U.S.A. For the most part, I agree with this statement.  However that never stopped me from understanding the Tax code and taking every advantage that our politicians have injected into that process

I've blogged before about the complexity of taxes and each year that it gets worse.  I will again file for an extension but that doesn't negate the effort it takes now to estimate the 2010 tax liability to avoid any penalty for under payment.  So out comes the file - with corrected 1099DIVs (received in late Feb), K1's, etc. etc.  I have already spent 16 hours just gathering the correct data, installing the software and walking through the data entry/interview process.  I suspect I will still spend 20 - 30 more hours to finalize (hopefully earlier than October).

I decided to start my own quotes.  So this one is a derivative of my investment advice - "Manage your Investments or they will Damage you".

"MANAGE YOUR TAXES or THEY WILL DAMAGE YOU".