Thank you Uncle Sam!

As some of you know, I am studying Tax Accounting in school. From January through April we have the opportunity to volunteer in the VITA lab (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) to help people complete their taxes. And just because I want to solidify my nerd-dom, I will admit that I love it!!

In addition to all the strangers in the VITA lab, I got to taxes for 5 of my friends this year which was so much fun. Some of them even had slightly complicated taxes with taxable scholarships, capital gains, IRA contributions, student loan interest, child tax credits, home mortgage interest aka itemized deductions, etc. It all just gets me excited.

Ok I'm not THAT lame but I do enjoy it. To me taxes and forms are like a puzzle, a challenge, a new song to pass off on guitar hero - it's all good. I'm sure I'll sing a different song when I'm working tons of hours during busy season like Steve just finished. For now, I'll enjoy helping my friends get tax refunds.

This year Uncle Sam will return to me over $1200! (Although it is always nice to get money back, it actually means I have given the government an interest-free loan for the last year which is not good. It would be better to owe money but whatever...) In the end I'll only pay $261 of income tax (which actually all went to Massachusetts, none to the fed) which puts me in the 2% tax bracket. Love it!