Not Dead!
This is embarrassing. I have been a terrible blog slacker for some time now. Sure, it was tax season for a long time, but that's been over for a week. I guess I overslept or something.
Tax season gets worse each year. I see very few simple 1040s. Most of the 1040s I see can't be prepared until a number of other returns, usually S corporations and partnerships, are ready. Many of these aren't even ready to start until the second or third week in February, and often they raise complex issues that have to be addressed before the serious 1040 work can begin. As the tax law gets harder, these preliminary returns take longer. Some of these returns themselves have to wait on other partnership returns. As a result, you have a real 2-3 week window where all of the hardest returns hit, along with the usual dribble of procrastinators.
Sure, you can extend returns, but that requires a lot of work in itself. You have to get at least 90% of the tax paid in to avoid penalties, and usually you want to pay in enough to cover the first quarter estimated taxes.
Of couse, the work we do the rest of the year - consulting on tax aspects of transactions and so on - doesn't stop ("sorry, you can't sell your company, I'm busy looking at 1040s!")
So that's my lame excuse, and I'm sticking with it. I took Tuesday, 4/16 through Monday, 4/21 off from work. I spent part of the time that I wasn't sleeping running around trying to get a passport, because one of the male chaperones for Dan's England Trip dropped out, and I have been asked to interview as a replacement. I learned that the thing I thought was my birth certificate was actually a mere "hospital certificate," useless for getting a passport even though it had my tiny footprints on it. Illinois still hasn't gotten it to me yet, so I'm not sure I can even qualify, as I won't have the passport until mid-May at the earliest.
It's delightful that tax season is done. We went to Chicago for some college-visiting and to see the folks over the weekend, so I have fodder for many posts, which will resume with I hope at least the old frequency.
See you tomorrow!
Tax season gets worse each year. I see very few simple 1040s. Most of the 1040s I see can't be prepared until a number of other returns, usually S corporations and partnerships, are ready. Many of these aren't even ready to start until the second or third week in February, and often they raise complex issues that have to be addressed before the serious 1040 work can begin. As the tax law gets harder, these preliminary returns take longer. Some of these returns themselves have to wait on other partnership returns. As a result, you have a real 2-3 week window where all of the hardest returns hit, along with the usual dribble of procrastinators.
Sure, you can extend returns, but that requires a lot of work in itself. You have to get at least 90% of the tax paid in to avoid penalties, and usually you want to pay in enough to cover the first quarter estimated taxes.
Of couse, the work we do the rest of the year - consulting on tax aspects of transactions and so on - doesn't stop ("sorry, you can't sell your company, I'm busy looking at 1040s!")
So that's my lame excuse, and I'm sticking with it. I took Tuesday, 4/16 through Monday, 4/21 off from work. I spent part of the time that I wasn't sleeping running around trying to get a passport, because one of the male chaperones for Dan's England Trip dropped out, and I have been asked to interview as a replacement. I learned that the thing I thought was my birth certificate was actually a mere "hospital certificate," useless for getting a passport even though it had my tiny footprints on it. Illinois still hasn't gotten it to me yet, so I'm not sure I can even qualify, as I won't have the passport until mid-May at the earliest.
It's delightful that tax season is done. We went to Chicago for some college-visiting and to see the folks over the weekend, so I have fodder for many posts, which will resume with I hope at least the old frequency.
See you tomorrow!
posted by Joe at 7:38 PM
2 Comments:
Um - You are coming to England? Like for real?
I don't know yet. I have to be interviewed for the chaperon spot, and I'm not sure my temporary lack of a passport won't disqualify me from the start.
Dan is going, for sure.
Post a Comment
<< Home