I've always done my own taxes. For ten years I have done them. Usually on paper, usually a few days before the deadline. I don't have a lot of assets, I don't make a lot of money, my 1040 is pretty straightforward.
There's one little catch though, I run a little freelance business on the side. This year I finally made enough that I have claim every expense I can, and I'm getting a painful last minute introduction to the world of depreciable assets. I'm knee-deep in a sea of publications and my CPA friend is not answering his phone.
Let me be clear. There is no joy for me in accounting. I have no aspirations to grok the US tax code. So it is with a bizarre mix of horror and pride that I can honestly say the following sentence makes perfect sense to me even though this morning I didn't understand a single word of it.
To figure your depreciation deduction under MACRS, you first determine the depreciation system, property class, placed-in-service date, basis amount, recovery period, convention, and depreciation method that applies to your property. Then, you are ready to figure your depreciation deduction.
Oh! Is that all? To deduct $15 for a mouse I bought for my business I just need to fill out a 20-line worksheet and then lookup a percentage table to discover that my deduction for this year will be $5. That is, of course, unless the mouse is vandalized resulting in costly repairs and I need to use an adjusted basis, in which case I have to compute the deductions manually. I need a better accounting program.