It's that time of year again

This being April, the one thing on most minds here in the former British Colonies is taxes. Not mine, of course, because I have Faye. Faye is a whiz at taxes. She is an IRS Enrolled Agent. That sounds more important than it is. It merely means the IRS will let her sit in on an audit or answer those scary letters one might get from the dreaded IRS. She was a tax preparer for more than 20 years. I leave our taxes in her capable hands... happily... gratefully.

Faye even helped me with taxes before we were married. I hate taxes and I especially hate filling them out. Always have. I am not even sure if I filled out tax forms while in the Navy. I don't recall. During my first marriage, I let my then wife do them. So it was natural for me to turn them over to Faye as soon as I could.

I have noticed some things about people and taxes, people usually put them off. Not everyone, of course, but plenty. Especially if they owe money. You shouldn't. Even if you owe, you should do them in a timely manner. You don't have to file them until April 15 (17th this year, I think, due to a Federal Holiday). So get them done, know exactly what you owe before it's due. Then you can put it off until that dreaded day.

The last time I had an unrelated tax professional do my taxes was in California. I had everything ready and owed about $600 to the state (because I had worked out of state and taxes had not been withheld). I didn't wait but mailed off the forms and the check in February. It was May before I received a letter from California's Tax Department. Seems I had neglected to sign the check. They wanted the tax and they wanted interest and penalties to boot.

I signed the check and sent it back with a copy of their letter, a letter of my own, and copies of my checking account statements for February through April. I explained in the letter that there was no intent to deny payment, that the statements clearly showed I had enough in the account to cover the check at all times, and that I would not pay interest nor penalty because of that and the fact that they did not notify me of my error in a timely fashion. They could have notified my before the tax deadline and I saw no reason why I should pay for their bureaucratic slowness.

I think it stunned them. I received little reminder cards once a month saying they were still looking into the matter until, in September, they sent me one saying they were dropping it.

Sometimes you get lucky.