Death By Taxes
For several months now I have been slowly, slowly discussing with the IRS details of my 2006 tax filing. Slowly because first they sent me a form and notice asking for more than twenty thousand dollars. They had gotten some misinformation from a company about how much money I had made (by tens and tens of thousands of dollars). That was clarified and then they responded by saying I owed much less, but still owed. The problem with the details lied in the fact that there were errors on several filings from several different entities. I learned an important lesson: make sure you’ve dotted your i’s, crossed your t’s and then double, triple and quadruple check your i’s and t’s. Search out the rest of the alphabet and make sure that the details are perfect.
In looking over the data for this tax fiasco I have found a few more errors where if I re-filed I could get some money back from other tax years [too tiny of an amount to get active about]. I’m going to avoid re-filing because I don’t want to get flagged for an audit and since I’m already on the radar I want to stay clean and without fault. I’m relatively confident an audit would not turn up any issues, but I’d rather not go through the hassle. The IRS employees don’t want to come to my house anyway 
The good thing about taxes is that they help us have roads, military personnel, justice, and social services, but I sure would like to pay less legally. The bad thing about taxes is that they are often more complex than they could be (despite the congressional ‘clarifications’ and ’simplifications’). Taxes fund things that we as tax payers don’t like. They fund bureaucracy that at least feels like its slow and costly. However, we’re blessed to live in the United States and I hope that the taxes I pay will be used well for the growth and development of this country and the world at large. May the benevolence of the U.S. stand strong and continue on… just without some of the perceptible waist.
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June 9th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I’ve always subscribed to the theory that you should punish the IRS for accusing you of a mistake by making sure they end up owing you money.
An added bonus is that next time some auditor is going over the records, they just might look at your previous history and decide you’re not worth it.
(But then I’m Canadian, so I don’t have the IRS in my life)
June 10th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I like to tell myself that my taxes go to what I approve and that other people’s money goes to the stuff I don’t agree with. Like my property taxes go to fund the library where I take Nadia.