The Tax Man Cometh

There's no escaping death and taxes. Since the one option is a bit final for me (and hopefully still many years ahead in my future), that leaves the other and tonight is the night. It's not that it is that difficult to get my things together for the tax man. It's that the complexity of our taxes has increased every year as we have grown older. The days of sitting down over the dining room table or even visiting the local H&R Block are long behind us. We are older and we have more 'stuff' which generates more paperwork and more reporting requirements. All of those empty boxes on your tax forms? We fill in far too many of them and it's a pain.

I love this winged skull motif. It has shades of the Grateful Dead massed
with a bit of Dia de los Muertos and a touch of Harley Davidson. 

It means that I usually have two grocery bags full of paperwork that I bring along with me, not counting the folders that my DH has with him. I printed out a bunch of my monthly and year end paperwork last Wednesday and I'll grab some others to take with me today. I hope I have the correct check register along with me for miscellaneous payments that I made, and hopefully I also have all of my charitable contributions and other miscellaneous paperwork.

I loved this cartoon. The expression on Death's skull is wonderful and
the spiderweb in the mailbox is the perfect touch. 

But if not, not all is lost. I can quite easily drop missing items by my accountant's office on Wednesday since his office is quite close to my home. It's also actually rather lucky that we always run a bit late with our personal taxes because my state (in its wisdom - or not) passed a new tax law late last week that affects this year's taxes. They are telling everyone who hasn't filed yet to hold off until April 3rd and those who have already filed will either receive automatic rebate checks or will have to file amended returns. What a mess!

Precision in the tax interview will avoid situations like this. 

It's March 25th and our current wind chill is 0 degrees. Zero degrees in late March! Someone needs to tell the sun that it's Spring and we should have temps in the 20's overnight and in the 50's for the days. Unfortunately, those temps won't be back with us until Sunday. Argh!

I couldn't resist adding one more IRS Audit cartoon for poor Death. 

I hope each of you has a wonderful Tuesday with everything working well for you. Enjoy your day to the fullest and smile - smiles are contagious.