The Tax Man Cometh

Hear about the man who called the Post Office last year at 11:55PM and asked how late he could mail his return? When told he could mail it up until midnight for the postmark, he said, "Good! Where do I get the forms?"

OK, so how are you doing with your tax returns? This year I did not wait until the last minute. I did them today! Fortunately, I keep up with the bookkeeping throughout the year and even had the totals done. Just a matter of plugging in the numbers on the forms. I did them online one year and hated it. It's much easier for me to do them on paper, make copies and mail them off.

Anyone out there who normally would not file a return? Check to see if you qualify for the Economic Stimulus Payment. Some people are going to miss it. They'll qualify but they won't file a return to get it.

What a joke! Like $300 is going to stimulate the economy. And it's our money, anyway. Where is it coming from? Certainly not from the surplus! What surplus??? Did you read where we are heading to the largest deficit ever in the current budget?

I'll bet it would have just been cheaper for I.R.S. (us!) just to mail $300 to everyone.

What if the I.R.S. just shut down? What do you think the budget of I.R.S. is? Does it cost more to operate I.R.S. that they take in?

I was audited on my 1983 return. The auditor spent eight hours on it. When all was said and done, I owed taxes on $400 of additional income and she waived the extra tax.

I was audited once before that. I.R.S. questioned four items on my return. When I went to their office to discuss it, the auditor asked about the first issue, and I explained why I had deducted the amount. He told me he'd have to check with his supervisor, left the room, came back in five minutes and said everything was okay. On to Item 2.

We discussed that, after which he left the room to check with his supervisor. Upon return, he said all was okay, and we proceeded to Item 3.

After a thorough discussion of Item 3, he said that he probably didn't need to check with his supervisor, but he would, anyway. He left the room; when he returned, he said all was okay and we went on to the last item.

After discussing it, he said he ought to check with his supervisor but he wasn't going to, since I had been right so far on three out of three.

How do I view I.R.S. auditors? They are just people, like everyone else, and there to do their jobs. There are plenty of cheats out there, and they will catch them. And they should. If you have done your homework and prepared your tax returns carefully, kept records, have receipts and believe you understand the law, then you'll have no problems.