DYI Tax Downsides

 Woke up this morning at 4:20am with inability to get back to sleep.  I'm usually a sound sleeper so I wondered why as I lay awake.  

It was the conversation with A.C. last night over dinner.  I was talking about the character (or learned behavior) of audit reconciliation and that the "new Garen" can let go of things like a tax refund computed by the government that is different from my expectation and what I filed.  Both Ohio and Federal Tax Refunds were "slightly off". A.C. at age 92 said he still can't do that ..... and as my mentor and teacher it sunk in.... I can't really do that either.

Susan as an accomplished accountant has no problem with the concept of materiality and practical time allocation on reconciliation (when it is needed and when it is not).   She would not have given this marginal difference a second thought regardless of whether in our favor or not.

BUT... the complete training I received at Arthur Andersen/Andersen Consulting/Accenture in system test results and 10 column accounting totals kicked in again - this time at 4:20 am.  

After 4 hours of digging and finding letters from IRS and State of Ohio the difference could was reconciled.  The government calculation was correct!  A $49 difference was accounted for.  My mind could now be at peace.

The real culprit is the fact that I just continue to DYI my own taxes. Luckily those taxes are becoming easier to understand and input into Turbo Tax but with diminishing returns of accuracy as I age.