Well, it’s that time of year again. Gather up your W2s, find all those 1099s, and shuffle through that one drawer that has a million receipts that you thought would come in handy but is actually just a physical manifestation of your anxiety and just looking in its direction freaks you out. I’ve written about taxes before…I’ll probably write about taxes again in the future. When you write a free-form weekly essay for three years, anything that gets your blood pumping is worth writing about. This year, though, I’m not writing about taxes themselves, I’m writing about how in the United States of America in the year 2024 we’re still getting shaken down by an unnecessary industry just to pay our goddamn taxes!
Perfect timing, considering the fact that my accountant told me last month he was retiring, which meant finding somebody new (and definitely younger so with luck I’ll die before the new one retires), and then, having found him - and he seems great, and young…enough - it also meant sending him last years tax returns, all my 2023 tax forms and quickbooks reports, and then spending the weekend answering four pages of questions from him as to why my old accountant (who has apparently already headed for an island with no cell service) had me do things the way I did them. Still, as Bob Dylan famously pointed out, “When you ain’t got nothin’ you got nothin’ to lose” so I guess I should be grateful I do and I can’t wait to find out how much of my somethin’ will be heading out the door.
Ok now I'm really pissed. I had no idea there were other countries with a simple system. And I really needed one more thing to be pissed at this country about. So...thanks?
Thanks for another light (sort of) moment! I am the worst! Haven’t filed until October’s final deadline, when the armed IRS agents camp out in your driveway in case you don’t go to the mailbox, in well over a decade. And, while I know your Dad is the writing master, I have to say fiction is fun! I picked my “young accountant” at 38 when he was 28. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t retire! Love to all! Keep these coming!
Gathering all the data is the challenge. Getting sophisticated companies (like banks, credit card companies and investment firms) to have what you need on a timely basis, is frustrating. Particularly when your account is pushing you for the info and thinks you're just dragging your feet. Not a particularly humorous post, but...
Perfect timing, considering the fact that my accountant told me last month he was retiring, which meant finding somebody new (and definitely younger so with luck I’ll die before the new one retires), and then, having found him - and he seems great, and young…enough - it also meant sending him last years tax returns, all my 2023 tax forms and quickbooks reports, and then spending the weekend answering four pages of questions from him as to why my old accountant (who has apparently already headed for an island with no cell service) had me do things the way I did them. Still, as Bob Dylan famously pointed out, “When you ain’t got nothin’ you got nothin’ to lose” so I guess I should be grateful I do and I can’t wait to find out how much of my somethin’ will be heading out the door.
Death. Taxes. Tax preparers. What ever happened to income averaging?
Ok now I'm really pissed. I had no idea there were other countries with a simple system. And I really needed one more thing to be pissed at this country about. So...thanks?
Thanks for another light (sort of) moment! I am the worst! Haven’t filed until October’s final deadline, when the armed IRS agents camp out in your driveway in case you don’t go to the mailbox, in well over a decade. And, while I know your Dad is the writing master, I have to say fiction is fun! I picked my “young accountant” at 38 when he was 28. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t retire! Love to all! Keep these coming!
Gathering all the data is the challenge. Getting sophisticated companies (like banks, credit card companies and investment firms) to have what you need on a timely basis, is frustrating. Particularly when your account is pushing you for the info and thinks you're just dragging your feet. Not a particularly humorous post, but...
Hahaha hell yeah to taxes getting your blood pumping
Sorry, dad, for not following you into the family business. But thanks for doing my taxes!