Tax Filing Frenzy

© 2006 Universal Press Syndicate

Each year I remind myself to complete my tax filing the moment I get my W2. And each year it boils down to me trying to cram everything just before the deadline. How typical!

Last year, I literally filed my tax on the deadline day. I procrastinated because I knew it was the first year I will need to write a check out to IRS. Last year was the first time I actually used H&R Block to prepare my taxes. Or I should say -- label my filing with their logo (see, I am neither an American citizen nor a Permanent US Resident and my tax classification with my work visa is different; the accountant who I tried to explain the way my tax filing is prepared looked at me as if I just elaborated the complex virology and mutations of the AIDS virus to a 2 year-old -- i.e., she absolutely has zero knowledge on the rules that apply to my status). Then again, when the IRS itself makes an oversight about my status, why should I expect that these accountants would know better? The only reason I finally decided on getting H&R block was to obviate the IRS on sending me back letters that I lack more paperwork -- only for me to impress on them that it's their ignorance that led to their misconception in the first place. It happened more than once. Case in point: two years ago, they sent me back my filing saying I had made a mistake on my calculations, highlighting the value from the IL-1040 form. But it was their mistake -- they were referring the form that everyone else uses, and not the one that I was supposed to use (1040NR). I still chuckle with what I did -- I sent back a form they should have been looking at in the first place, and highlighted the area where I got it (downloaded from irs.gov) and then feigning unfamiliarity asked: Was I suppose to use a different form? The IRS promptly sent me the refund after.

Now I have a little over three days to rummage through my files to find my receipts that I could declare tax-deductable and do the math on whether I'd owe the government more money. Likelihood is that I will.

Bummer.