Uncle Sam wears the pants in this household.

ARGH. I finally got my 2010 W-2, and I went to TurboTax and did my tax filing first thing, and I owe the IRS $844.

This smarts even worse because I'd used a TurboTax calculator through Mint.com, and it had estimated that I'd have a small refund. So the big bill was a surprise indeed!

The problem, I found, was that I had said, "Yes, file as Head of Household" on the tax calculator, and that had skewed the results. (A Head of Household gets more deductions, and therefore is taxed on a smaller amount and has to pay less.) I figured that in 2010 I lived alone (or with a housemate who paid her own bills) and paid my rent; I make the financial decisions in my household because I'm not responsible to someone else (a parent, for example). But to be eligible for that role, you have to have dependents of your own, and they have to be related to you. I didn't find that out until I had filled out the 1040 tax form. *sigh*

This morning I e-filed my federal return (free through TurboTax) and set up a direct debit payment to come from my checking account in early March; because of legislation passed in December 2010, returns like mine won't be processed until mid-February even if they are filed now. That gives me enough time to cut back further on expenses and just take that chunk out of one paycheck. It's painful, but it will work. And I'll still fulfill my resolution of paying my taxes on time.

Slightly better news: I have to file a simple state tax return and mail it in (TurboTax charges to e-file a state return, so I'll do it myself), and I'm owed a refund of $26. That will go toward paying my federal taxes, of course.

I'm feeling really poor right now. But all my bills are paid. I guess that's the difference between being broke and just having very few assets and no ready cash flow.