Income Tax Time Again

Last night I sat down to start preparing my income tax filing for 2012 as it is that time of year again. Last year I had them done in January. This year the IRS decided to hold off on processing any tax filings before January 31st. I know that Congress could have thrown some last-minute changes at them, but secretly I think they just need an excuse to hold onto my money for a little longer. Every year I get a sizable refund because of all my allowed deductions. I would decrease the amount withheld from my paycheck, but the moment I do that, Congress is going to eliminate all of my deductions and I will get hit with penalties. It is better to receive than to owe.

I have used TurboTax for the past 5 years and so I fired up my old Windows XP computer to begin the process. The computer normally boots into Linux except for the once-a-year task of doing my taxes. Naturally it took ages for the computer to boot. Once it did boot, everything ran so slowly, it was almost unusable. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I decided I would install the Mac version on the Mac-Mini used by my kids. I did an online purchase and immediately downloaded the software. When I went to run TurboTax, it told me my computer was too old. You see, my Mac-Mini uses an Intel Duo, which is only a 32-bit processor. I need an Intel Duo 2, which is a 64-bit processor. Meanwhile the abacus running Windows XP in the basement is a perfectly acceptable computer according to Intuit, the makers of TurboTax.

I have a number of Mac computers perfectly capable of running TurboTax and so I will have to install it on one of them. I wish I had known all of that before wasting an hour of my life last night. You may be wondering why I just don't use the online version of TurboTax as it would have made my life a lot easier. That's easy as I don't trust anyone with my financial data. That is why I use an old computer that only gets turned on once a year. There is no possible chance a hacker can get at that data without physically coming into my house. Yes I am probably a bit paranoid.