Taxes...ugh!

I met with my accountant yesterday. It was our initial meeting actually, as I've been looking for someone who's extremely capable (yet still affordable.) He seemed very thorough and knowledgeable so I think he'll be a good one to work with for years to come.

But this post is not about him, it's about the KGB (IRS). The rules and the forms are so complicated it's a wonder anybody can ever get anything straight. I wish there could just be a number, like a percentage, of what I make and that's what I owe - like church. But noooooo!

Here's what really kills me. I could really try to be honest, or really try to skimp the man and either way I'm nervous about it if I don't hire a professional. Maybe I should just read more, but then again I can't find a decent book to guide be. With programming I can get a book and learn how to do specific things. With this I can't find anything except "IRS publications" which are worded so funky and broad-stroked that I can't gleam anything that applies specifically to my situation.

For example, I spent almost a full hour reviewing how to find the number for a baseline for depreciating the percent of my house used for an office. It's not based on the current estimated value. It's based on when it was sold and how much someone originally paid for it and who owned it, who gifted it, who was alive when it was gifted, the color of the inside of an eggshell and how many pop tarts Al had for breakfast. !@#$%& I just need a number!

But I'm not special in this. Everybody moans about taxes and tax season and no one will really ever be satisfied with taxes so long as they exist. I guess I'm just hoping one day we can figure out how to make taxes make a little bit more sense.