Yup, it’s that time of year again. Luckily tax day is two days late this year since the 15th was on a Saturday.

I just submitted my taxes electronically. I probably should have done it sooner but I was confused. I have always taken a certain pride in doing my own taxes. Meanwhile my mom has managed to get a job at the local H&R Block and has become a tax instructor. This year I finally gave in and had her do them just to see if she could find anything I was missing.

Boy, did she.

The heart of what she did is she moved the bulk of my tuition expenses over to an expense of my computer consulting business. I went from owing money to getting refunds for both state and federal. At first I didn’t really understand what she did. Then I was a little uncomfortable with it. Slowly I realized that it was a perfectly justifiable way of looking at things. (I wonder how much of the complexity of tax preparation is learning how to look at things in a different way.)

Then came the big problem; getting the e-file web sites to duplicate what my mom had done. I finally got all the numbers to come out the same way as my mom’s and submitted my taxes. Now I just sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in.