Taxed

I have to admit it, I'm a virgin when it comes to dealing with public accountants, especially those that prepare taxes. In the past, I've either filled out my own tax forms or used Turbo Tax online. I started out with Turbo Tax this year, but found it a bit confusing when I was trying to enter the sale of my multiple stocks. Typically, I might just try to get close, but I'm claiming SRS this year, and I would rather everything be correct so nothing sets off any bells or whistles.

What is the worry about claiming SRS on my taxes? Well, a memo recently made its way around multiple T boards about the IRS not allowing SRS as a medical deduction for a transsexual woman. This comes a year after the IRS approved SRS as a medical deduction for Rhiannon when GLAAD appealed a tax examiner's refusal to allow it. One year it's approved, the next it's not...strange if you ask me. The imporant thing to remember is that both of these are individual cases and not standing policy, at least that's what I've heard from some legal friends.

So, I met a CPA about a year ago via a TS friend of mine. We chatted a little at a social event, and he seemed relatively cool about everything. When it came time to handle my taxes this year, I didn't want to walk into an H&R Block office and say, "Hi, I had a sex change last year and would like to claim it on my taxes. Can you handle that?"

Thus, I stuck with someone who seemed ok with the subject and who wouldn't get freaked out with my news. I made the appointment about 2 weeks ago and skipped out on lunch today to go over my information. We chatted for a few minutes as we went over my personal info, then dove into all of my tax stuff. I basically have two items besides the usual income and deductions....sale of stock and a lot of medical expenses with SRS and Labiaplasty. I didn't even attempt to put the breast augmentation on there.

I took in a summary of my items for him, as well as all of the stock information I could find. He handed back most of the stock information since he said all of the info he needed was on the tax forms the financial institutions sent me. After that, we chatted for a while before I headed back to work.

Overall, I got a warm fuzzy feeling driving back to work knowing that someone else was properly putting my tax forms together. Plus, I'm not the one having to do it.