well i'm glad that's over

after spending 20 minutes in line at the post office this morning, it's over (knock on wood). getting the taxes done this year was possibly one of the worst experiences of my life.

since the last post on the topic, i called the md comptroller myself to find out what the correct forms were to file. turns out these guys filled out the wrong form for me. good thing i checked, because they obviously didn't bother and i would have sent in the wrong paperwork. after i told them that, i actually had to tell them what day the maryland taxes were due. they thought it was may 1st. eventually, they sent me a version of the correct form, of course it was filled out incorrectly.

i ended up taking the day off of work yesterday to do them myself. i sat down with a pencil and printed the forms and the instructions and did them by hand. i called the accounting office several times throughout the day and not once did they call me back. finally, when i finished doing them by hand, i drove over to the accountants office and laid into them. the owner was such a dickhole he wouldn't even turn around to acknowledge me when i walked in. he told me that they "have done 75 personal tax returns" and that i was "the only one who ever complained" and that he found it hard to believe that they were doing it wrong, implying that i must not know what i'm talking about. it was ugly, but i'm getting my money back (the owner claimed he was too busy to stop and write me a check at that time, but whatever). with any luck, my refund checks will be the last i will ever see of our 2008 taxes.

for the record, the accounting firm is Accounting Solutions Network, PLC and their url is http://arlingtoncpas.com. stay away. far far away.

final score:
md refund ~$500
va refund ~$1300
federal refund ~$1000
accountant fee refund $540