One for you, Nineteen for me!

I did my taxes today, and let me tell you, they were WEIRD (at least comparatively weird). You see, I'm on a fellowship; or WAS for 1/2 of 2008, so a lot of my income had no taxes deducted, and was not reported on a W2. As such, it was my responsibility to report the income (or not).

I really really wanted to opt for the not option, but I am afraid of being taken away by the government. Plus, unlike my libertarian friends (<3),> I think people should pay their taxes [not that the libs think people shouldn't pay their taxes; just that we shouldn't have them, lol]. I figure if I am going to vote for people that want taxes, I should be willing to play along (here is hoping that some of my money goes to good social programs!).

Anyway, because of all of this, I was terrified that I would owe Uncle Sam $4000 or something CRAZY. Fortunately, there is this education credit that I qualified for, and that meant that I really didn't owe anything at all (in fact, I STILL overpaid by $666 on the income that I earned as a TA! Yay refund!). Also fortunately, grad students are not subject to FICA since it is not "earned income" but a "subsistence allowance" which is cool since I doubt social security will be around to take care of me when I'm old and grey.

Unfortunately, IN does not have the same kind of education deduction, so I OWED the state $427. This makes my net refund $239, which is a nice chunk of change for someone expecting nothing.

Had I cheated the government, I would have received over $1200 back. This would have been really nice, but I would have felt guilty and scared. Since I am about 98% sure I filed my taxes legally (with no errors TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH) I suppose I am paying around $1000 for peace of mind. C'est la vie!