I <3 Taxes (Especially Refunds!)

I am actually really looking forward to doing my taxes this year.  I've gotten a little more excited with every tax document that has arrived in the mail.  Part of the excitement is knowing I will get a decent sized refund, but that is only part of my gaiety.  This is the first year I will be itemizing my deductions!  I must be a weirdo but I've been looking forward to this for a while.  I now feel like my efforts to reduce my tax bill actually count.  In years past, no matter what I small donations I tracked or small business losses I incurred, it never affected my bottom line.  Last year my itemized deductions added up to around $6,000 so naturally I took the standard deduction for joint filers of $10,000 instead.  This year we bought our first house so I have interest and origination points to deduct and education expenses for my wife's college classes.  In all I should have around $1,000 to juice up my emergency fund.

I have a couple of 1099s, three W-2s, a 1098, and even a 1098-T.  Each form arriving in the mail has been like getting a small piece of a birthday present I can't wait to unwrap.  Sadly I am missing one W-2 from my wife's former employer or I would have already filed.   Then the wait will begin for the great day when the IRS makes me whole again.  Next year I may adjust my withholding so I won't be getting so much of a refund, but it would ruin most of the fun of tax season!  In all seriousness if my refund does creep much over the $1,000 mark I will update my W-4s and keep more of each paycheck.  I'm sure I could find the same enjoyment watching my savings balance grow each month instead.

Yesterday evening Don't Mess with Taxes posted the Tax Carnival #29: State of the Tax Union.  I tuned into the State of the Union last night, and I must say that the blog posts from the carnival have a lot more useful information to share than any speeches given last night.   Aspire 2 Wealth's contribution to the carnival was my post $1,200 Out of Thin Air about the proposed economic stimulus package the President rallied behind last night.  Check out the article to get my take on the issue.