Alright, so tax time rolled around again last year, and honestly, I was dreading it more than usual. Had some extra freelance work going on, plus sold a few things online, and the thought of sorting all that out with the usual online software just made my head spin. Usually, I just power through it myself, click click click, done. But this time felt different, messy.
I remembered seeing a sign for Mepham Tax Service somewhere around town. Never really paid much attention before, always figured those local places were for businesses or folks with super complicated stuff. But I thought, heck, maybe they can handle my slightly-more-than-basic situation without me losing my mind. Decided it was worth a shot rather than messing it up myself.
Giving Them a Call
So, I looked them up, found a number, and gave them a ring. Wasn’t sure what to expect, maybe some automated system or a long wait. But someone picked up pretty quick, sounded like a real person, you know? I just explained briefly that I needed help with my taxes, had some freelance income, wasn’t sure about deductions. They were straightforward, told me what kind of documents I should probably gather up.
- My regular job W-2.
- The 1099 forms from the freelance gigs.
- Records of expenses related to that work.
- Info on the stuff I sold.
They didn’t make it sound overly complicated, just told me to bring what I had. We set up a time for me to come in later that week.
Heading Over There
Gathering the papers was the usual chore, stuffing everything into a big envelope. When the day came, I went down to their office. Wasn’t anything fancy, just a regular local business spot. Inside, it was quiet, not like those big chain places with people everywhere. Felt a bit more personal, I guess.
I met with one of the tax preparers. Sat down, dumped my envelope of papers on the desk. Felt a bit like showing your messy homework to the teacher. But they were cool about it. Just started going through things piece by piece. Asked me questions here and there, like “What was this expense for?” or “Did you use this space only for work?”. Simple stuff, mostly. Didn’t use a lot of confusing tax words, which I appreciated.
Getting it Done
They punched everything into their system, double-checked some numbers. It took a while, maybe an hour or so, but it was way less stressful than me trying to figure out the software prompts myself. While they worked, I just kinda sat there, looking at the stacks of folders they had. Made me realize a lot of people probably use places like this.
In the end, they showed me the final numbers, explained the refund amount – which was better than I expected, honestly. They pointed out a couple of deductions related to my freelance work that I probably would have missed. I looked it over, seemed right. Signed the forms for electronic filing. Paid their fee, which felt reasonable for saving me the headache.
And that was pretty much it. Walked out of there feeling a lot lighter. No complicated mess, just got my taxes sorted by someone who seemed to know their stuff. It was a pretty smooth process, all things considered. Definitely different from battling software online late at night. Sometimes just handing it over to a local place works out better.