I’ve tried to do a bit of financial planning in the final days of 2006. Armed with my financial statements for the business, the most recent stub from my husband’s work (with YTD figures), and my mileage, expenses, and medical information, I began my work…

Last year, being unexpectedly surprised by the “taxes owed” column of
the 1040 form, my hubby and I decided to bump up (dramatically) the
amount he had withheld rather than doing quarterly estimated taxes. We dramatically over-estimated our tax bill for 2006 and hubby tried hard all year to not complain too loudly that he was bringing home less than 35% of his paycheck each payday.

So, I wanted to do a bit of figuring before the December 31st deadline for making any necessary purchases, etc. And what I found shocked me. We scrimped this year. We made a respectable amount of money… more than we have ever made (collectively and individually) in any year prior, too.

We both stared at the gross totals with awe. Funny, I thought, I don’t recall any fancy vacations, any extraordinary jewelry, any shiny new cars or any major investments. What I recall is us scraping so we wouldn’t have to worry about taxes this year. What I recall was an expectation of a refund at the end of the year and no worries there, even if the bills accrued for medical and standard expenses were larger than anticipated for this year.

What I did NOT expect was a figure to be missing in the “refund” slot and a LARGE figure in the “Taxes owed” box. Now, granted this was a quick calculation. Granted, I may have overlooked something (and will go through it all again, once my tears dry and I get brave again). And I pray that I’ve missed something huge — but right now I’m too disgusted to review it all. We OWE? Geeze! This is nuts!

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