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Every calendar we own has a large red X on February 1. This is the date my husband and I refer to as the Day We Start to Shop for Tax Software. Unlike Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter, which are marked in happy green ink, each February 1 bears a red X considerably bigger than the heart I draw on Valentine's Day.

All this hoopla really started four years ago. While recuperating from major surgery gone wrong, I decided to hand over the preparation of our annual income tax forms to a professional. A co-worker recommended a CPA firm her family had used for five years for both business and personal income tax work.

The staff members were cordial and professional. We were impressed. At least until we got the return with some of our W-2s reversed (merely coming up with the right family total isn't enough). By the time we were finished with them, IRS would not accept the amendment they prepared. We had to use the tax return calculated by the Feds. Then we had to deal with the folks at the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Being forced to take the IRS figures petrified me so much that I wouldn't go near any tax forms the next year. My husband considered himself blessed to never have touched a return except to sign it.

Friends who had their own business volunteered the name of a CPA who worked out of his home a few miles from us and who had done their tax work for several years. He promised us a reasonable fee and a prompt return. No problem, he assured us.

The forms weren't ready until April 11 and had mistakes immediately visible to the naked eye. The best one was the "farm income" that appeared on the schedule intended for my husband's eBay business.

I hurriedly filed for extensions. By June, the accountant still had no revisions ready.

I had to hire a third firm. They too made mistakes and tried to charge us nearly $3,000 versus the $350 I had been quoted by CPA #2.

The next year, I reluctantly took back our taxes. They're a little tougher than average, but somebody who does taxes for a living should struggle far less than I do to complete them.

Note that the standard income tax software we see plastered all over TV the minute the Christmas specials end all has the same premise. The premise is that the software will squeeze all your information into precisely numbered fields matching the numbered lines on your Federal and state forms.

My first nervous twitch developed when the 27-page blur of numbers I received from an out-of-state bank had no form designation on it. All the software

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