The Tax Filing Frenzy

Shortly after 7 last night, the tidbits of tax arcana that I'd crammed into my noggin over the past month or so began to evaporate. I had finally clicked the "Transmit" button to file my taxes, with about the same doubt over whether I got the "right" number as last year.

Unlike last year, I didn't have any trouble getting my return through to the IRS. As of 10:30 this morning, TurboTax reported its status as "Accepted."

Later last night, I clicked another button to send off my Virginia return, making my escape from tax-prep hell complete for another year. Aaaahhhh.....

The state e-filing experience was far superior to the federal one. Instead of having to install an extra program on my computer and pay for the privilege of e-filing, I only had to go to the Virginia Department of Taxation's iFile site and copy and paste some numbers from the federal return into a sequence of Web pages.

(Now if only the folks in Richmond could do something about the puzzling "Spouse Tax Adjustment Worksheet." I like how this knocks $259 off the bill every year, but I have no idea how it accomplishes that.)

I'll spare you yet another regurgitation of my rant over a tax system too complex for mere humans to understand (besides, The Atlantic's Megan McArdle just wrote it as well as I'd hope to), and instead just ask a few questions:

* How often did your tax-prep program's counsel leave you guessing about the right number to plug in?

* Will you use the same program next year?

* Did you e-file to the feds? How about to your state?

* If you did e-file, did you have any problems transmitting your forms?