Yeah, I'm the taxed man
In a more prosaic note, I've ventured into the realm of electronic filing. While I love my computer and have been using Quicken since the mid-90s, I have never attempted to file my taxes electronically. I know it's cooler and faster and all that, but I have just stubbornly clung to the practice of filling out paper forms with a sharp pencil and good eraser. Until this year, of course. This year, the thought of having all my financial forms mailed over to China has forced me to give electronic filing a try. Actually, I cheated a bit. I downloaded tax forms and printed them out so I could do my rough draft with paper and pencil. But once I get everything together, I should be able to log on and do it all via the web. Of course, it's far from a smooth process. First, all my paperwork has been sent to our U.S. mailing address. So my sister-in-law--the saint who is really suffering the most for our venture since she has to get all our junk mail--has to e-mail me the figures from our various tax forms. That took a few days, since I had to inform her what info I needed. Then, the second problem was the site itself. I started the process today and had to go dig up the kids' social security numbers. When I finally found them and attempted to enter the info, the website asked me to log in again. Obviously they log me off if my connection sits idle for a minute or so. I suppose that's really a good thing, but I miss the paper 1040 form which patiently waited for me to sort through my paperwork. The final problem is that I'm not used to e-filing. I knew I needed the income figures from my W-2, I didn't stop to think that I'd need such info as my (former) employer's ID number. So, off goes another e-mail to Yau Neih's sis. And I have to log off, since they take you through a step by step process. I can't jump ahead and enter my interest income or anything like that. Ah, well, as long as I get this done by April 15, I suppose I shouldn't complain.
posted by John @ 1:13 AM
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