The taxman cometh.
It's tax time, and since I knew we'd end up owing, I delayed filing until this week. I still haven't filed yet - that will probably be this weekend - but unfortunately, it's going to be worse than I feared. Why? Because a large chunk of freelance work I started when I was between jobs was paid for in 2008, and this amount of income was high enough to make me owe $900+ in self-employment taxes. When I'd done my earlier estimations (while waiting for one piece of paperwork), I had a chunk recorded as "miscellaneous income", which doesn't count as self-employment. When I actually received the paperwork, it was on a 1099-MISC form, which does count as self-employment income. That changed the numbers a bit, hence the unexpected tax jump. We went from getting back around $230 from the Feds to owing them $240.
Now, fortunately I didn't budget in the money we'd get back, just the money we were expecting to pay out, so we're not completely screwed - just nearly broke. In fact, in one iteration of the budget, we ended up $5.50 or so in the red. This all fixes itself when I get paid on the 15th, but I need to file before then if I want to avoid the last-minute rush. We should be okay - we'll be tighter than a drum, but we'll make all of our bills (a couple may get bumped back a few days), and afford gas and groceries. We'd have more reserves, but we're recovering from the roof and the heater, and this is the month that we're supposed to turn around from that. We still will, but it'll be a bit slower. In the meantime, I've started selling a few things over on Forumopolis, and Z will be getting some commission money in. We just need to make it through the next 12 days, but those are going to be a very lean 12 days. It's ramen for lunch for me.
Now, fortunately I didn't budget in the money we'd get back, just the money we were expecting to pay out, so we're not completely screwed - just nearly broke. In fact, in one iteration of the budget, we ended up $5.50 or so in the red. This all fixes itself when I get paid on the 15th, but I need to file before then if I want to avoid the last-minute rush. We should be okay - we'll be tighter than a drum, but we'll make all of our bills (a couple may get bumped back a few days), and afford gas and groceries. We'd have more reserves, but we're recovering from the roof and the heater, and this is the month that we're supposed to turn around from that. We still will, but it'll be a bit slower. In the meantime, I've started selling a few things over on Forumopolis, and Z will be getting some commission money in. We just need to make it through the next 12 days, but those are going to be a very lean 12 days. It's ramen for lunch for me.