Tax Day

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." ~ Albert Einstein

Taxes are due today. Do you all have your taxes done? I got mine in in time this year, thanks to Jackson Hewitt. That wasn't the case last year. Or the year before that, Or the year before that.

I've never been very good with money. I try to budget, but I always forget some big bill, and then I spend more than I should, only to discover to my horror that I forgot to pay something. That happened this weekend. I had more money to work with this weekend due to the fact that my state tax refund check came in. I have been struggling since last year to catch up on certain fixed expenses and it appeared that I finally had enough to catch all of them up. So I did.

Except I forgot a bill.

Again.

Well, at least I caught up on the big ones. But I digress.

When I moved here to Maryland in January of 2003, I had not done my 2002 taxes yet. I was freshly separated from my wife and I had no idea how to file. I couldn't file married filing jointly. I didn't know how my wife was filing and that made a difference for some reason. It was just too confusing to me. Anyway, after a rough draft of my tax returns, it appeared that I was going to have to pay in, and I didn't have the money.

So I just didn't do them at all.

The next year, I had been here a year and I knew to file single. My son had come to live with me in October of 2003. I thought I had read somewhere that if your dependent kid lived with you for any part of the year, you could claim him as a deduction. But a brief phone call proved that I had heard that wrong. Also, another rough draft showed I would have to pay again.

So, I didn't file that year either.

Last year, I just didn't file. I made no excuses. I just didn't file. I figured I would have to pay in again.

This year, after pulling my son out of driving school, and haggling with his driving school teacher over the refund, she informed me she could do my taxes for me at a discount. It seems she is not only a driving school instructor, she also works for Jackson Hewitt.

So I brought my taxes to her. For all 4 years.

She started working on them and only had to call me a couple of times for additional information. I had to call the IRS to have copies of my 2004 W4 forms sent to me because I had somehow lost them.

Shortly before she was done, she called me on the phone to tell me that my expenses for last year amounted to more than I made. I explained that was impossible since I actually had not starved to death during the year, therefore I must have had income. I had to go in personally for her to explain that to me. The IRS allows a certain amount per mile for us couriers and so, the expenses incurred amounted to more than I made. Hence, I had no taxes to pay for 2005. None.

And I am not among the top 1% in income in America.

Eventually, after more than a month in her possession, she finally called me and told me she was done. Except for the 2004 State taxes. She couldn't use the copies of the forms sent to me by the Federal IRS to do the state forms. I don't know why.

I asked her if I had any money coming back and she said yes. I asked her if it was going to be enough to pay her fees. She said yes. Now, I was getting excited. Next I asked her if the refund would be enough to cover the back taxes she said I owe from 2002 and 2003.

She said YES!

"You mean I am going to have some left?"

"Yes", she said, rather unemotionally, too unemotionally for my taste. Then she said she was sending me information on the results.

Well, friends, two days later I received, in the mail, a letter outlining the disposition of funds. I owe money to the IRS for the years 2002 and 2003, but the government owes me for 2004 and 2005.

The only problem is, I can't file my taxes without paying Jackson Hewitt first. And I don't have the funds to do that. Fortunately, by electronically filing for this year (and this year only), I could file this years taxes without having to pay them their fees. They simply take their fee directly out of the refund.

So, this weekend, I received my first refund in the mail. Then, I immediately took that money down to Jackson Hewitt, and paid the fee for filing my 2004 taxes. I will get that money in about 6 weeks. Then, I will use part of that to pay the fees for 2002 and 2003, and also to pay the back taxes that I owe.

I will end up $1,770.00 ahead.

Whew!