Taxing Times
No cheery posts today, I am busy gathering the paperwork for our US taxes.
Imagine a game where the rules change every year, a combination scavenger hunt (this year you have to have complete documentation for every charitable deduction, every moving expense, every repair for rental properties, insurance receipts, property tax receipts, etc) and oh! some new deductions if you have kept records of travel and expenses (go dig out those credit card receipts) and accuracy (filling in the correct information in the correct obscure box) and drawing the right conclusions (check this box? that box?) etc.
I am pretty good at keeping the right paperwork, but I am not always good at keeping it in order. Before I can even start, I have to get it in piles sorted by types, then sort the piles chronologically.
AdventureMan is no help. He means well. He doesn’t handle frustration well. He has people who do things for him. At home, I am it. I am the people who get it done.
Then the worksheet, which has colors and prints so small that I can’t even read it once the sun goes down, so I have to get it all done while the sun is high. AArrgh.
So pardon me if I am not a barrel of laughs today. Bah! Humbug! Taxes!
9 Comments »
Leave a comment
Recent Comments
Catherine on Donna Leon Crossing Cultu… intlxpatr on Ignoring the Law thani on Ignoring the Law Anon. on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Reeva Mills on Cahors to Bordeaux, Preparing… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 
Where is H & R Block when you need them ?
I guess wishing Many happy returns just doesn’t cut it on this occasion
Good luck with your taxes
[…] […]
Pingback by Posts about Credit Card News as of March 21, 2009 | Credit Card Blog | March 20, 2009 |
This is a pretty dumb question but “you have to pay taxes when you live and work outside of the US?”
If I had filling question is there someone I could email at the US embassy?
Thanks for the reminded intlxpatr!
LOL, Daggero. H&R Block is over their heads when it comes to expat earnings. We have a specialist:
Steven Palazzo, CPA
Palazzo & Co, CPA
PO Box 4634
Biloxi, MS 39535
228-396-8800 – Office
866-272-9224 – Toll Free
305-768-0483 – Fax
http://WWW.PALAZZOCPA.COM
spalazzo@palazzocpa.com
who does our taxes, but he sends out a LONG worksheet, and we have to gather all the paperwork to support our claims. They are very very good, and know all the ins and outs of the expat tax situation.
Teagirl – YES! Even if all your income is excluded, you have to file. There might be someone at the Embassy, and it wouldn’t hurt to call them. Sometimes they sponsor a tax seminar to fill all Americans in on this year’s taxes.
What hurts is the change from the exclusion covering up to a certain amount and then the next income starting at 0 for tax calculations; now everything above the exclusion is calculated at the rate it would have been were the exclusion to be included. OUCH!
It’s a good thing to get started early, so you have the time to gather up what you need without a lot of pressure. Good luck, Teagirl!
Thanks intlxpatr, I think I’ll go cry in a corner now…
*sob* I’ll meet you there, TeaGirl.
IF you have trouble with your taxes and the IRS comes calling , you can in your defense invoke the name of Thailand Ex prime minister , Just say his name “Taxin shino what r a”
meaning Taxing me ??? Shino =kuwaiti for what ,
What = english for what , r = english for are , a = as in aaaaaaaa
The tax man will go away thinking this citizen has flipped
I was audited once, Daggero. I don’t joke around with tax men (although this was a tax woman) They have NO sense of humor. None. It is very serious, and very scary. We came our OK. We are honest folk. I never want another audit.