Death and Taxes

As the saying goes...only 2 things in life are guaranteed...death and taxes. Well, I have recently experienced one of those...2 guesses...its taxes. In my younger years, my mom would have my taxes done when she had hers, and without much effort on my half, I would always end up with a few hundred dollars in the end. I thought this was the most awesome thing, and didn't know what other people had to complain about. Last year, I had to do my taxes on my own. For the year of 2009, I spent half the year in school, working part time at Urban Outfitters and as a CNA. Once graduated, I took my time finding my dream job and only worked about 3 months of the fiscal year. So, the tax year was good to me. With the government instilled HOPE tax credit and minimal income for the year, when my H&R Block accountant told me my refund would be $3100, I could've kissed her. More amazingly, the day I got my refund, I was in the dressing room of an H&M in Los Angeles. It was perfection.

This year...different story. Apparently, a single girl with no children or dependents shouldn't claim "2" on her W-4...I know, I know! But no one told me these things! It was my first full year of working as a nurse, and that official tax jargon was about as foreign to me as Swahili. So, as I did my taxes on-line, my face began to flush and I started to get my anxiety hives...looks like I was owing the government just slightly under $1200. What!?!? I was blindsided. How did this happen? Again, I maybe should've taken to account that I have nothing more to claim than myself in the government's eyes...which equates to about zero. How comforting.