Life and Taxes
I got my taxes done this weekend with the help of TaxAct. For those of you still procrastinating, I recommend it; it's free for Federal, but with a few extra fees for State and for state e-file, I spent about $21 to get all my taxes done and submitted electronically.
Of course, this was all after I spent a few days attempting to do everything by hand. I've always filed a 1040EZ in the past, because it really is pretty "EZ". However, this year I had a 1099 that made things complicated, so I had to do a normal 1040. The actual 1040 is a piece of artwork. I believe this 2-page is actually a dimensional portal, whereupon you can look through a single line-item and discover two or three additional forms required to determine the actual value of that item. If my meager salary and simple income structure requires 6 pages of forms, I imagine that the return of, say, Bill Gates consumes about 2 trees' worth of paper and must be shipped to the IRS by private jet.
Reporting my 1099 (which constituted 3.6% of my income) required two additional forms. By the time I had downloaded and looked over these additional forms, I knew that I'd be willing to pay some of that hard-earned money not to do any more by hand. Luckily I stumbled upon TaxAct, which saved the day for a reasonable $21.
My parents, on the other hand, got a notice from the Uncle Sam the IRS had not received their FY2001 tax return. Since my parents usually get a refund, this was not a big deal; they wouldn't have to worry about late penalties, interest payments, and all that. This year being 2008, however, meant that they were now beyond the 7-year deadline to re-file and receive the refund due to them from that year. This means that the IRS sat on their refund for 7 years until it expired, then notified my parents that their return was missing. Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy (and patriotic) inside?
Of course, this was all after I spent a few days attempting to do everything by hand. I've always filed a 1040EZ in the past, because it really is pretty "EZ". However, this year I had a 1099 that made things complicated, so I had to do a normal 1040. The actual 1040 is a piece of artwork. I believe this 2-page is actually a dimensional portal, whereupon you can look through a single line-item and discover two or three additional forms required to determine the actual value of that item. If my meager salary and simple income structure requires 6 pages of forms, I imagine that the return of, say, Bill Gates consumes about 2 trees' worth of paper and must be shipped to the IRS by private jet.
Reporting my 1099 (which constituted 3.6% of my income) required two additional forms. By the time I had downloaded and looked over these additional forms, I knew that I'd be willing to pay some of that hard-earned money not to do any more by hand. Luckily I stumbled upon TaxAct, which saved the day for a reasonable $21.
My parents, on the other hand, got a notice from the Uncle Sam the IRS had not received their FY2001 tax return. Since my parents usually get a refund, this was not a big deal; they wouldn't have to worry about late penalties, interest payments, and all that. This year being 2008, however, meant that they were now beyond the 7-year deadline to re-file and receive the refund due to them from that year. This means that the IRS sat on their refund for 7 years until it expired, then notified my parents that their return was missing. Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy (and patriotic) inside?