- For some of you, this might be your first time
doing your taxes which I know adds a certain element
of stress or confusion to the process.
But you're not alone.
Two Business Insider Journalists just filed their taxes
on their own for the first time ever.
And we caught up with them to see how it went.
Tanza tell me a little bit about why you decided
to do them yourself.
- I decided to do my taxes through H&R Block this year.
My parent's accountant has been doing my taxes
the past few years and I decided to cut the cord on my own.
Take charge of my taxes for the first time.
- That's scary, right?
Were you nervous?
- Really scary, yeah.
But I read a lot about H&R Block and I kind of liked
their marketing for some reason.
I was drawn to them.
So I decided to just take the plunge.
It was really easy.
I got my W2 directly from Business Insider
and it was a PDF file.
Had all the numbers on there highlighted for me.
And H&R Block makes it really easy
to go through the process and tells you which boxes
it's pulling from.
You can also have the option to just upload the PDF file
and it pulls everything for you.
- That's cool.
- And then you answer some questions about yourself
which is always easy.
They put like one question on each page
so you're going through really quickly.
- But then you get into the part where you're actually
putting in your income
and anything that you've already paid.
Were you worried that you were gonna get it wrong?
- I was worried at times, yeah.
But H&R Block's really helpful in that they have explainers.
Anything that they're asking you to give numbers on
they'll have an explainer next to it like
why do I need this number.
Which was really helpful and kind of
teaches you about taxes a little bit.
- So what was the most surprising thing as you
went through the process of filing your taxes?
- I think how quick it was.
It took me exactly an hour to the minute
to create an account and to click the button to submit
to file my taxes.
- So an hour, that's amazing.
It sounds like a really seamless easy process.
- It was.
It seemed great and everything was great.
I left the office after I filed my taxes
and went to happy hour.
And then I got a text message from H&R block saying
they rejected my federal return.
- Oh my God.
That's so stressful.
- So I checked this morning and I had put in the wrong
number for my adjusted gross income.
Which I took from my W2 from last year.
Actually, you're supposed to take that number
from your return from the previous year.
So I entered that number and I refiled.
So hopefully, everything's going to go smoothly from here.
- So do you feel empowered.
- I do feel empowered.
- Cool.
- Yeah, well I'll feel extra empowered once I get the money
in my bank account.
- I'm here with Sarah and you're not an accountant.
But you decided to do your taxes.
Why would you do that to yourself?
- Well first of all, I'm in my late twenties.
I'm 29.
I've never filed my own taxes.
I've never filed anybody else's taxes.
I just felt like it was something I needed to learn.
- Like a bucket list kind of goal.
- Yeah, exactly.
To like be a fully realized adult, I should do this.
- Yes.
- I do feel like if you hadn't been sitting next to me,
it would have taken me so much more time.
I relied on you a lot in order to be like,
what should I do.
I'm not sure about this part.
What exactly are they asking?
Turbo Tax uses really clear language and and yet
somehow I still had questions.
Why is that, I don't know.
- What were the things that kind of were hurdles
that you had a hard time getting pat?
- The jargon.
Some of the jargon I just totally did not understand.
I had to file a 1099-DIV.
Which, ewh, like I have but I don't know a lot about.
But I knew that I needed to file it.
- And so a lot of people who are filing their taxes
for the first time can file for free,
but you had to shell out.
So what was that like?
- Oh yeah, okay.
Yeah, that was a little confusing actually
because Turbo Tax, I signed up to use the one
that might cost $130.
But I started with the free trial.
So, I wasn't sure during the process when I
was gonna have to pay and that actually
was a little bit confusing.
And because I have a freelance business,
I had to end up paying $138 to file my taxes.
- Worth it?
- Worth it, yes.
Because it was a little bit less than what I normally pay
somebody to do this at H&R Block.
And I've sat through a bunch of H&R Block appointments
and it kind of starts to feel like,
okay, you're just typing information that I'm telling you
that I feel like I could probably be typing in myself.
So yes, it was worth it.
Even though towards the tail end I was very much like,
okay, I just like wanna get on with my day and my life
and have this money.
(playful string music)