Soooo…… we put off doing taxes until the bitter, bitter end. The plan was to work on them this Saturday, but the fun began last Monday!
I came home from work and checked the mail. There was an envelope from the IRS which I thought was weird. I looked at the stamp area and it had ‘Presorted First Class Mail’ printed on it, which was obviously a sign that it was junk mail. “Who’s impersonating the IRS and why would they want to?” I laughed as I opened the envelope.
Um. It was from the IRS. It was a letter that basically said, “Why didn’t you file your taxes last year? Don’t you love us anymore?”
What the what? Lloyd did our taxes last year. He used TurboTax! The rest of the evening was a little busy. My ‘not being good/careful with money’ reared its ugly head. We usually get a refund, so first I had to find all the old bank statements, checked them, and sure enough – no refund had come through. A person who balances their checkbook on a regular basis would have noticed this.
So then it was time to check with Turbo Tax. I mis-read the confirmation e-mail that was actually from 2011, so when I was insisting that this must be their error, Lloyd started up a chat with the company.
After waiting about an hour, Jon came on board. He and Lloyd searched through the records and though Lloyd is pretty dang sure he pressed the ‘submit’ button, apparently it didn’t happen. Jon was very sympathetic.
Well, it wasn’t a big deal. We had copies of the papers right there, so we just mailed them in. There won’t be a penalty since we will get a refund, but it was still a big waste of time.
Ok, on to this weekend’s taxes. I puttered around and tried to find all the relevant paperwork, and even tried to work for long stretches of time, but Lloyd was playing a video game and the cats were napping. I really just wanted to take a nap, since that’s what Saturdays are for. But no, I sorted and tallied and realized, “Lloyd, you don’t have your W-2 (W-4? WD40?) here.”
(Playing video game)”Oh.” (Playing video game) “I’ll get it tomorrow after choir.” (Continues playing game.)
I seethed. Because now (my now, as I am typing this) it is Sunday night, April 14th, 7:30 p.m.) Lloyd is on the phone with his cousin and hasn’t yet begun our taxes. I am getting sleepy and would like to go to bed soon, but once he’s going to get started he’s going to ask me where a certain paper is, and I won’t know, but I had already planned to freak out about that on Saturday!
8:00. Still on the phone. I have hung up the laundry.
8:10. Off the phone. I have flossed my teeth.
8:35. See?!?!? We don’t have the form from the bank. Luckily the internet has saved me so we can claim the $8.20 earned in interest on all three accounts. It ain’t easy being moneybags.
9:07. Grrr. I was supposed to tally stuff for our schools separately. Re-tallying. Lloyd is missing some stuff from school.
9:30. Get registration forms from the cars.
10:06. Lloyd is calling it quits for the night. He’s going to enter the missing numbers at school tomorrow and hopefully this will all be over.
Deborah says
Registration forms for the cars?! Rats! I forgot that!
Deborah says
Also, this is one of my nightmares. How do I know my forms got from the computer to the satellite to some guy’s office?
Brad says
Ugh. Good thing you had a refund. Can you imagine if you owed?
“We’ve been compounding your interest penalties weekly. You now owe $600,000. Please make your check out to the United States Treasury.”
Kristi says
Yech. Yech. Yech.
Can you claim the cats?
Peggy says
If it helps any, I just finished my taxes last night aroung 8:15pm. I knew we had to pay. @#$&* And I do not mean that in the nicest possible way.
Deborah says
I like how Jon C. is so empathetic.
Lauren says
I like to read it in a sorrowful, Antonio-Banderas-as-Puss-in-Boots voice. “But sadly, Lloyd, all that means is that you had paid for our service…..”
Mark says
We laid our offering on the altar of Big Government this afternoon. Unfortunately, the returns were accompanied by checks to both state and federal. I shudder to think of what life would be like if the returns weren’t mailed on time or submitted via the interwebs.
Stout hearts, sis and BIL. This too shall pass.
Kris says
So… did you get them done?
Lloyd says
Lets just say that I THINK they are done and sent in.
Lauren's dad says
Will Rodgers is to have said: Just be thankful you aren’t getting all the government you are paying for.