File this one under something for nothing is still nothing. Remember last fall when Congress sent out a second round of stimulus check in the amount of $600 per person? It was just prior to the election and at the time I thought that they were just trying to buy my vote, but free money is still money. We got our checks and have already spent the money, new bed and printer. Today our tax refund was finally deposited, light $1200. After much consternation, I figured out that my tax preparing software (TurboTax) had factored this Recovery Rebate Credit into our refund, with the idea that we hadn’t actually received our checks, which we had. Unfortunately, that created a false or higher than normal refund amount. It could be a case of operator error, but TurboTax leads you around by the nose, so I feel that it is their fault. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I guess that all this rigmarole also explains why it took the IRS so much longer than normal this year to refund my taxes, since I was claiming an extra $1200. Somehow I feel better now, after I’ve figured out that it was me trying to cheat the government, instead of the government cheating me. Me bad, but all’s well that ends well.