taxes

I don't really understand taxes at all, but that's probably because I've never done my own. My Dad did my taxes (because he still claimed me a dependent) up until the year I graduated from college; and when the next tax season rolled around Eric and I were already living together and he took care of it, so there has never really been a need for me to ever learn about it or really care that much.

Eric has spent the last couple of nights putting all our info into Tax Cut (H&R Block's tax program) and it's weird to me how it figures everything out and calculates the best return for us. I always just assumed we would file jointly now that we're married, but it turns out filing separately gives us a much bigger return. We made most of our big purchases a little different in the fact that the house and car were purchased in Eric's name alone. I guess with our combined income we don't qualify for as big of a return as we do separately because my name isn't associated with our home or car purchase.

It's crazy how all that works out and that it would even make a difference filing jointly or separate. I think taxes will always remain a mistery to me and I'm ok with that...