After coming back from vacation, the first thing I checked was my tax refund as I needed the tax refund to help paying for the vacation expense.  To my surprise, I actually had additional money refunded to me.

Puzzled by the extra money in my account, I decided to contact my accountant and see whether he can track down the reason behind it.  However, I wasn’t able to get a hold of my accountant until I called his office multiple times.  To make the long story short, instead of resolving the issue, my accountant told me that I should call the IRS and figure it out.  I had to suppress my anger at that moment to prevent myself from cussing him out.

As a result, I started contacting IRS regarding my tax return.  Growing up, I have heard many stories regarding how inefficient the IRS is.  However,  to my surprise, I didn’t have too much trouble getting a hold of a very friendly  IRS agent.  Even though she wasn’t able to give me a clear and define answer, she decided to mail me a transcript of all the transactions on my account for me to review.

This is the first year in which I decided I will not be frugal on tax returns and decided to look for an accountant.  Maybe it is a sign that some times it is REALLY better to be frugal and do things yourselves instead of paying someone else to do it for you.