Tax season. It’s challenging and annoying, but it’s something most of us can commiserate over.

I don’t like math. I don’t like the ridiculous directions that try to make the process seem harder than it truly is and making the reader sift through the wordy instructions. However, I do enjoy the thrill of figuring out each piece of the paperwork puzzle. Once I’m done there is a great feeling of relief and accomplishment because I do it on my own.

Tax season is going to be a little bit different for me this year.

This year I received an income in both Alabama and Mississippi. I have had all kinds of tax forms coming to me in the mail for me to examine while considering my state and federal taxes. Those forms are coming from my retail job, my job writing for the school newspaper in college, the interest my account earned at my credit union, my tuition, my health insurance and my job here at The Post.

I’ll have to decide if I actually made enough money in Alabama to even file state taxes there. It may not be worth it considering the small sum of money I amassed in the five months I was there. Especially, since it’d be extra work for me to fill out two state forms. Ew! I’d be tempted to do it if I knew I’d get a check back, but the state has never sent me one.

I usually get a decent amount of money back from my federal taxes, but then I end up paying some of it back to Alabama on my state taxes. I never really understood how that all stacked up, but it’s just the way it worked.

I’ve always just used the EZ form on my federal taxes, not ever having dependents or ever having made a large sum of money. Sure it’d be nice to claim the tax-deductible donations, but using an EZ form really makes sense for my situation.

My dad’s goal is to always come out even. He doesn’t like to owe money, and he doesn’t like to be owed money. It makes sense, but receiving that tax money is a rather exciting treat. Don’t ask me what I do with my money. You’d be disappointed. I’m rather frugal.

So far in my life, I’ve only ever filed state taxes in Alabama. I typically just look back at the previous year’s form to jog my memory and then plug in the current year’s numbers. I’ve never seen Mississippi tax forms. Will they be the same? Will they be different?

I’ll soon find out.

My family that lives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is pretty good at doing taxes. They owned multiple Jackson Hewitt stores in south Mississippi for years. I think they’ve finally sold their last store early this year, but one of my cousins is working for the new owners. I could always ask her advice, but I like doing my own taxes and I intend to try to do them by myself again this year.