Tax season is upon us. Individual income tax returns are due April 15 in the United States. If you havent filed your taxes yet, why not procrastinate a little bit longer and play some games instead? Here are five games about taxes to play to procrastinate filing your taxes. Some involve filing virtual taxes, some involve avoiding them, and one actually helped people prep their real taxes in 2022. But they all have two things in common: adorable art styles and loads of fun.
Mother Truckin Taxes Image: Neil SveriWhere to play: Itch.io (name your own price)
In Mother Truckin Taxes, you procrastinated on filing and need to drive straight to the IRS to drop it off. To make matters even worse, you also havent filled out the return yet, so you have to write while driving.
Baba Files Taxes Image: HempuliWhere to play: Itch.io (name your own price)
Baba doesnt know how to file taxes. In this cute game, you help Baba file their taxes by answering short questions and forging Babas signature. You will be scored on how accurately you replicate Babas signature. Its available on Itch.io and you can name your own price.
A Game About Literally Doing Your Taxes Image: Not a Sailor StudiosWhere to play: Itch.io (for free!)
Perhaps this one is too on the nose. Sort through checks, bills, and envelopes and sort them into two piles: Taxes or Toss. Its quite satisfying.
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion Image: Snoozy Kazoo/Graffiti GamesWhere to play: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One
The actual gameplay isnt as tax-related as in the previous games, but the premise is that Turnip Boy committed tax evasion and is now on a quest to destroy the corrupt vegetable government. Solve puzzles, fight creatures, and rip up tax documents on your journey. This is certainly the longest game of the bunch.
Tax Heaven 3000 Image: MSCHFWhere to play: Itch.io (for free!)
Join Iris in searching for deductions and love. Tax Heaven 3000 is a dating sim made to highlight how easy filing taxes can be, and how corporate tax filing services like TurboTax can be “predatory, parasitic bottlenecks that deliberately complicate the tax filing process in order to make it unnavigable by ordinary people.” Unfortunately, this game cannot be used to actually prepare your taxes anymore, because it was made for the 2022 filing year only.