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Our Bill Pickle

real life with (very) real debt

Should you do your own taxes? Three things to consider

February 18, 2021

Should you do your taxes yourself or take them to a professional?  Here are some things to consider when it comes to doing your own taxes.

I’m a big fan of doing your own taxes but that wasn’t always the case.

For several years, the idea felt daunting. The way I saw it, the existence of professional tax prep services suggested it was not a job for a novice, especially one with so little experience taking care of “adult” business.

So, for years, I gathered my documents and handed them over to someone else to deal with.

And for years, it worked out just fine.

But over time, I started to question my assumption about filing taxes. As I got older, I started to wonder: is it really that difficult a process?

I decided to find out. We picked up Turbo Tax at the grocery store and I set to work preparing our tax returns.

I’ve been doing our taxes myself ever since.

But what about you? Should you be doing your taxes yourself or taking them to a professional?

Here are some things to consider when it comes to making decisions about doing your own taxes.

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Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: filing your taxes, income tax, simple tax, tax refund, tax season, tax software

Exactly what we did with our tax refund this year

April 7, 2020

How we spent our tax refund this year (instead of paying back debt)

How should we spend our tax refund this year? It’s a question I find myself asking every spring as I finish keying in our slips and receipts and prepare to netfile.

It’s nerdy, but I really enjoy doing our taxes. I started doing ours three years ago and while there was a small learning curve, I’m glad I took the time to work through it. I still have to look things up sometimes, but for the most part, I feel pretty confident filing our taxes on my own.

But let’s be honest: my favourite part of doing my taxes is spending the refund.

Here’s how we spent our 2019 refund.

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Posted by Tara 10 Comments
Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged: debt-free journey, EQ Bank, financial goals, homeownership, income tax, personal spending allowance, simple tax, tax refund, tax season

Four great reasons to start preparing for tax season now

February 20, 2020

Four reasons to start preparing for tax season right now

Preparing for tax season is always top of mind for me by the time February arrives.

It may sound nerdy, but I love tax season. It’s not just because we have always received refunds, either (although I can’t lie: that’s a big plus).

Tax preparation, to me, is all about organization. And heaven knows I love a good organization task.

Are you thinking about your taxes yet? If not — might I suggest that you should be?

When it comes to filing your taxes, I really do believe being prepared is important. Here are some benefits I see to starting to prepare for tax season now.

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Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged: income tax, tax refund, tax season, taxes

Hi, I’m Tara!

Welcome to Our Bill Pickle, a Canadian personal finance blog. Here, we share the good, the bad and the ugly about real life with (very) real debt.

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