Introduction

 
You can probably think of a thousand things you’d rather do than sit down and file your taxes—including some not-so-fun scenarios we can throw at you.    

Take out the trash every day? Sure, no problem. Get stuck in traffic for five hours? Put on your favorite podcast and you’ll be fine. Have your in-laws stay at your house . . . for an entire week? Okay, we’ll let you think about that one for a minute.

Here’s the truth: Nobody likes taxes. No one likes filing a tax return with the IRS. No one fires a confetti cannon after sending a check to Uncle Sam. But like it or not, taxes are part of life. The only sure things in life are death and taxes, remember?

From deductions and credits to W-2s and tax brackets, we’ll try to make taxes a little more understandable so you can file with confidence, put tax season behind you, and spend time doing what you really want to do . . . like figuring out how to get your in-laws out of the house.