Have you started your taxes?

5 March 2015

I don’t know where the year has gone so far, but it hit me this morning as I was making coffee that I’d better get started on my taxes! My niece and nephew will be visiting from Australia from April 2 to 12 and I leave for the NAPO conference on April 14, so I really need to file my taxes this month.

It’s not that I haven’t done anything at all: I bought TurboTax last month, so that was a baby step in the right direction. I’ve kept all my tax-related documents together as they’ve come in. And all my bookkeeping for 2014 is completed. But I haven’t started entering any data into TurboTax yet.

Why do I delay starting this particular task? I think, as in most procrastination, it boils down to fear. I’m afraid it’s going to be hard or that I’ll hit a glitch. I’m afraid I’ll discover that I owe money. I’m a little afraid that since I upgraded my operating system to Yosemite I’ll have some sort of technological problem (my least favorite kind of problem).

I’ve discovered over the years that delaying starting your taxes because of fear does me no good at all. Back in the first few years of this century I filed extensions. I’m here to tell you that only extends the misery. I know it will feel great to get the taxes filed, whether or not I owe money. (I’ve been diligent about estimated taxes, so don’t think I will.)

So right here and now I vow to spend at least an hour getting started on taxes on Saturday. (I know that getting past the barrier of getting started is a huge step. Once I’m started, I’ll be much more inclined to continue.) I also vow to make taxes my focus on Sunday. This is the last weekend until the very end of the month where I don’t have to work, so I need to make it count.

I’ll also reward myself for my hard work on Sunday. I think that reward might take the form of binge watching Downton Abbey while knitting on Sunday evening.

If you haven’t started your taxes yet, I encourage you to take a baby step in that direction this week. There may be more than a month before the April 15 deadline, but it will be here before you know it!

Photo by Ken Teegardin of SeniorLiving.org via Flickr.

Tagged with: procrastination, taxes