When filing one’s taxes it is important to know that if one lives in New York and works in Vermont, one must always do the New York State Long Form, even though it means hitting the No button on TurboTax fifty gajillion times. Yes, it is dull and pointless, and yes, it does hurt to see all of those deductions that you will never qualify for, but if one chooses the short form TurboTax will not pick up on the fact that you live in New York BUT work in Vermont. And it will then thus say you owe the State a whole fuckload of money.

So remember, Ben of the future, when doing next year’s taxes, do the Long Form. That is unless you like paying New York State money not owed to them.

[Note: This was the second year in a row I did my taxes only to shout out “What the hell?” when I saw how much New York said I owed them, only to see three quarters of that amount disappear in smoke as soon as I went back and selected the Long Form.]