{"id":92662,"date":"2026-04-29T23:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/?p=92662"},"modified":"2026-04-29T23:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:02:22","slug":"why-i-love-doing-our-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/why-i-love-doing-our-taxes.html","title":{"rendered":"Why I Love Doing Our Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-ob6jl3fmd_o\/VwsrKf89YCI\/AAAAAAAAI1M\/VJtTFHRYtqQmup-s6S5p4PVCO5esX4EmwCCo\/s350-Ic42\/ILoveTax350.jpg?w=993&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Why I love doing our taxes\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>I know, I know. You\u2019re probably thinking &#8211; Joe has gone too far this time. However, this isn\u2019t as uncommon as you\u2019d think. According to a Pew Research survey, about a third of Americans like or even love doing their taxes. Most of these people said they like doing taxes because they like getting a refund. That makes sense, money is always a good incentive. As for me, I haven\u2019t always enjoyed doing my taxes. It is an ever-changing process, but this year I finally learned to love doing my taxes. Let\u2019s see how I started out ambivalent about taxes and eventually embraced it.<\/p>\n<p>*Originally written in 2016. Updated 2022&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Early 20s Taxes<\/h2>\n<p>When I first started working, I didn\u2019t care much about taxes. My taxes were extremely simple back then. I had just one W-2 to go through and that was it. I even manually filled out the 1040 form myself a couple of times. Usually, I\u2019d get a few hundred dollars back because the tax withholding was a little high. It didn\u2019t take much time and I didn\u2019t have any strong feelings about doing taxes. Sure, I didn&#8217;t like taxes because it felt like I was paying too much. I didn\u2019t have any deductions and I was paying the full load. There wasn\u2019t much I could do in my early 20s, though.<\/p>\n<h2>Taxes in my 30s<\/h2>\n<p>By the time I was in my mid-30s,\u00a0our\u00a0taxes had become much more complicated. I was married and <a href=\"https:\/\/retireby40.org\/many-sources-income\/\">we had more income streams<\/a> and deductions. Just collecting all paperwork was\u00a0tedious. (I put Mrs. RB40 in charge of this. She\u2019s much better at organizing than I am.) Our yearly tax files were full of paperwork such as these:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mrs. RB40\u2019s W2<\/li>\n<li>Stock sales and dividend income<\/li>\n<li>Interest from banks<\/li>\n<li>P2P lending income<\/li>\n<li>Business income<\/li>\n<li>Rental properties income, expense, mortgage, property tax, and depreciation.<\/li>\n<li>The home mortgage interest deduction<\/li>\n<li>Property tax<\/li>\n<li>Local taxes &#8211; art tax, city tax, and transportation tax.<\/li>\n<li>Child care expenses<\/li>\n<li>RB40Jr&#8217;s 529 college saving plan<\/li>\n<li>Charitable donation receipts<\/li>\n<li>My i401k contribution<\/li>\n<li>Our Roth IRA contributions<\/li>\n<li>And more\u2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Things were getting more complicated every year and I dreaded doing taxes. Fortunately, tax software has come a long way and it was mostly just a matter of filling in the right numbers at the right spot. Doing taxes still took a lot of time because I wanted to make sure everything was filled out correctly. Mrs. RB40 would go over the forms after I printed them out, but I don\u2019t think she caught anything. Her eyes would glaze over and she\u2019d space out completely when confronted with tax forms. The tax forms are just too complicated for people to read now. It&#8217;s much easier to go through the tax software.<\/p>\n<h2>Taxes in my 40s<\/h2>\n<p>Recently, doing taxes got a bit more and less complicated for me. In 2021, we took the standard deduction because of the SALT cap. This simplified the deduction part of the taxes. <\/p>\n<p>However, taxes also got more complicated. These days, I have several K-1 forms to go through. They are full of mysterious numbers and letter codes. Also, at least a few usually arrive later than the tax filing deadline. That&#8217;s why I file for an extension every year now. That&#8217;s particularly helpful this year (2022). I was <a href=\"https:\/\/retireby40.org\/theres-no-place-like-home\/\">in Thailand for 3 months<\/a> and didn&#8217;t have time to do taxes. <\/p>\n<h2>Love Doing&nbsp;Taxes<\/h2>\n<p>Recently, I had an epiphany and decided to embrace doing my taxes. I finally realized the power of doing our own taxes. I could input different scenarios and see how this would impact our taxes. Taxes is one of the biggest expenses you\u2019ll have every year and there are tremendous advantages to understanding the tax codes. Here are just a few things I\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We didn\u2019t have to <a href=\"https:\/\/retireby40.org\/pay-no-tax-dividend-income\/\">pay any tax on our dividend income<\/a> in 2015.<\/li>\n<li>We could increase our dividend income by $30,000 and still won\u2019t have to pay any federal income tax on them.<\/li>\n<li>I could sell some of our stocks and buy it back the same day. This would trigger the long-term capital gain tax, but our rate would be 0%. This is because we\u2019re in the 15% tax bracket. Resetting the basis is a great way to lower taxes in the future.<\/li>\n<li>When Mrs. RB40 quits her job, we could <a href=\"https:\/\/retireby40.org\/pay-no-tax-roth-ira-conversion\/\">convert my traditional IRA to Roth IRA<\/a> and won\u2019t have to pay tax (up to about $36,000 per year.) This is fantastic because it means I won\u2019t have to pay tax on my tax-deferred account.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I would have never known there are so many ways to minimize taxes if I didn\u2019t do our taxes myself. Yes, a tax accountant is great, but they are extremely busy this time of the year. They can\u2019t spend a lot of time figuring out how to optimize your taxes. They have generic advice that applies to a lot of people, but our situation is not very common. Also, I enjoy trying different scenarios in the tax software to see how our taxes would change.<\/p>\n<p>*Update &#8211; The tax codes changed quite a bit since 2015, but this concept still applies. I could try inputting different numbers and see how they impact the taxes. The tax software is very helpful. <\/p>\n<h2>Taxes are due soon<\/h2>\n<p>So that\u2019s how I went from being ambivalent to disliking and then eventually loving doing our\u00a0taxes. 2015 was a particularly good year for us. I think we\u2019re paying about the same amount of taxes as when I was in my early 20s and single. That\u2019s pretty crazy because we are so much better off financially. Anyway, I think it is good to do your taxes because understanding the tax codes will help you minimize taxes in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, tax is due Monday, April 18th 2022 so you have one more weekend left. Or just file an extension like I did. Good luck!<\/p>\n<p>Image&nbsp;by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/aidanmorgan\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">John-Morgan<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"swp-hidden-panel-wrap\">\n<div class=\"swp_social_panel swp_horizontal_panel swp_flat_fresh  swp_default_full_color swp_other_full_color swp_individual_full_color scale-100 scale-full_width\" data-min-width=\"1100\" data-float-color=\"#ffffff\" data-float=\"bottom\" data-float-mobile=\"none\" data-transition=\"slide\" data-post-id=\"13727\">\n<div class=\"nc_tweetContainer swp_share_button swp_twitter\" data-network=\"twitter\"><a class=\"nc_tweet swp_share_link\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Why+I+love+doing+our+taxes.+See+how+I+went+from+disliking+to+loving+doing+our+taxes.+%23DIYtaxes&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fretireby40.org%2Fwhy-i-love-doing-our-taxes%2F&amp;via=retirebyforty\" data-link=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Why+I+love+doing+our+taxes.+See+how+I+went+from+disliking+to+loving+doing+our+taxes.+%23DIYtaxes&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fretireby40.org%2Fwhy-i-love-doing-our-taxes%2F&amp;via=retirebyforty\"><span class=\"iconFiller\"><span class=\"spaceManWilly\"><i class=\"sw swp_twitter_icon\"><\/i><span class=\"swp_share\">Tweet<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"swp_count\">24<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"nc_tweetContainer swp_share_button swp_pinterest\" data-network=\"pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" class=\"nc_tweet swp_share_link noPop\"><span class=\"swp_count swp_hide\"><span class=\"iconFiller\"><span class=\"spaceManWilly\"><i class=\"sw swp_pinterest_icon\"><\/i><span class=\"swp_share\">Pin<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"nc_tweetContainer swp_share_button swp_facebook\" data-network=\"facebook\"><span class=\"swp_count swp_hide\"><span class=\"iconFiller\"><span class=\"spaceManWilly\"><i class=\"sw swp_facebook_icon\"><\/i><span class=\"swp_share\">Share<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"nc_tweetContainer swp_share_button swp_flipboard\" data-network=\"flipboard\"><a class=\"nc_tweet swp_share_link\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;title=Why+I+Love+Doing+Our+Taxes&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fretireby40.org%2Fwhy-i-love-doing-our-taxes%2F\" data-link=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;title=Why+I+Love+Doing+Our+Taxes&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fretireby40.org%2Fwhy-i-love-doing-our-taxes%2F\"><span class=\"swp_count swp_hide\"><span class=\"iconFiller\"><span class=\"spaceManWilly\"><i class=\"sw swp_flipboard_icon\"><\/i><span class=\"swp_share\">Flip<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"nc_tweetContainer swp_share_button total_shares total_sharesalt\"><span class=\"swp_count \">24 <span class=\"swp_label\">Shares<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/retireby40.org\/why-i-love-doing-our-taxes\/\">Why I Love Doing Our Taxes<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/retireby40.org\">Retire by 40<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Retire By 40<\/p>\n<p id=\"kc_opp\"><small>Republished by  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogtrafficexchange.com\/\">Blog Post Promoter<\/a><\/small><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know, I know. You\u2019re probably thinking &#8211; Joe has gone too far this time. However, this isn\u2019t as uncommon as you\u2019d think. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92663,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[105],"class_list":["post-92662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-head-start","tag-strategy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ILoveTax350.jpg?fit=350%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3k0YU-o6y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92225,"url":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/are-you-making-business-taxes-more-complicated-than-they-need-to-be.html","url_meta":{"origin":92662,"position":0},"title":"Are you making business taxes more complicated than they need to be?","author":"admin","date":"April 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This content should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation. Nobody genuinely enjoys doing taxes, whether it\u2019s as an individual or on behalf of a business. But small business owners, especially, dread tax season. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;E-business &amp; E-marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"E-business &amp; E-marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/category\/ebusiness-emarketing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92263,"url":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/websites-marketing-and-avalara-avatax-partner-to-empower-entrepreneurs.html","url_meta":{"origin":92662,"position":1},"title":"Websites + Marketing and Avalara AvaTax partner to empower entrepreneurs","author":"admin","date":"April 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"NOTE: This information isn\u2019t intended to establish a relationship or advise you on taxes.\u00a0 It\u2019s always a good idea to consult a tax professional to learn more. If you were to poll small business owners on their biggest pain points, you\u2019d find that taxes consistently resurface as a major stressor.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;E-business &amp; E-marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"E-business &amp; E-marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/category\/ebusiness-emarketing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92513,"url":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/were-building-a-beach-cabin.html","url_meta":{"origin":92662,"position":2},"title":"We\u2019re building a beach cabin!","author":"admin","date":"April 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey everyone, we are building a beach cabin! \u2026In Thailand! Huh, what? Okay, let\u2019s start over. As many of you know, I was born in Thailand and immigrated to the US when I was young. I still have family ties here and I\u2019m in Thailand for 3 months to help\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;A Head Start&quot;","block_context":{"text":"A Head Start","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/category\/a-head-start"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Were-Building-A-Beach-Cabin-350.jpg?fit=350%2C525&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":92733,"url":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/is-spending-on-experience-overrated.html","url_meta":{"origin":92662,"position":3},"title":"Is Spending On Experience Overrated?","author":"admin","date":"April 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Whew! I finished our taxes and sent them in on time. Unfortunately, we owed the government over $3,000 because I didn\u2019t pay enough estimated taxes. I also contributed $5,000 to my i401k for 2021. That reduced our tax liability a bit. Unfortunately, these big payments reduced our cash savings to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;A Head Start&quot;","block_context":{"text":"A Head Start","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/category\/a-head-start"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Experience400.jpg?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":92807,"url":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/april-2022-fire-update.html","url_meta":{"origin":92662,"position":4},"title":"April 2022 FIRE Update","author":"admin","date":"April 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, everyone. Did you have a good month? I\u2019m back in Portland and it\u2019s great to be home. The weather was very uneven in April. We had a snow day in mid-April! It was the latest date snowfall ever recorded. The trees were full of flowers and held the snow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;A Head Start&quot;","block_context":{"text":"A Head Start","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/category\/a-head-start"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/April-22-Update-350.jpg?fit=350%2C525&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":92664,"url":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/woocommerce-wednesday-how-to-turn-your-woocommerce-store-into-an-international-powerhouse.html","url_meta":{"origin":92662,"position":5},"title":"WooCommerce Wednesday: How to turn your WooCommerce store into an international powerhouse","author":"admin","date":"April 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Today\u2019s ecommerce market has significantly expanded the customer base available to sellers. Businesses can now reach shoppers around the world almost as easily as those just down the road. In this post, we will look at how you can set up WooCommerce for international orders to grow your audience. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;E-business &amp; E-marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"E-business &amp; E-marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/category\/ebusiness-emarketing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/world-3258865_12801-300x210-1.jpg?fit=300%2C210&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92662"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102404,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92662\/revisions\/102404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}