A Short Letter Home: Taxation, frustration

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Taxation, frustration

Well, since I'm done recounting last month's vacation, I suppose I should blog about something more recent. Of course, life has become a bit more routine, without much to blog about. The only major endeavor I've undertaken these past few weeks is to file my income tax returns.

I briefly mentioned last year some of the challenges of filing ones taxes while living overseas. All my tax info gets sent to my sister-in-law, so she has to e-mail the info so I can plug it into the form. Actually, that part of the job went quite smoothly. We had less sources of income than last year, when I had quit my job mid-year and Yau Neih had some business income. I also had a better idea as to what info I needed. So I was able to gather the info within three mailings.

The challenges this year were all software related. Last year I had a wonderful experience with TurboTax, and was seriously considering using it once I returned stateside. This year, I also was going along fine until I had a couple of hiccups. First, by entering various sources of foreign income, I had somehow triggered the software to include a form for an exemption of foreign income. The problem is, to claim this exemption, one has to have spent almost the whole year out of the U.S. We fell a bit short of that time limit. (We have colleagues who purposely spend some vacation time in Thailand so as to claim this exemption.) Finding the exemption form was a tough nut to crack, requiring some searching in the help files and running through the interview process a few times, but finally I managed to find the right button to click. I was ready to file my Federal taxes.

The state taxes, however, had problems of its own. Washington doesn't have a state income tax, but since we get a stipend from our agency in Missouri, we have to file Missouri state taxes. Last year, I had no problem with the Missouri forms. In 2006, however, we had made some estimated tax payments and when I went through the forms, I couldn't find a way to enter that information in the returns. I searched the help pages again, but without success. It was very frustrating, as I knew which line to fill in on the actual tax form, but the software wouldn't allow me to fill it in. (I did learn from a message board user that such a feature is available in the desktop version of the software.) I finally resorted to e-mailing for assistance. The response for the first query wasn't helpful, as they thought I was looking for information as to how to navigate the interview process. That was a process with which I was quite familiar. My second query, however, garnered the information I needed. In TurboTax, the process for filing the state tax forms pulls a lot of information from the federal returns. I needed to add the estimated tax payments there in order for it to get to the state form.

So once the obstacle to finishing my state taxes was overcome, I ran straight into an obstacle that was keeping me from filing the state return. (I did file the Federal return--a somewhat foolish action since it meant my credit card was charged for both returns.) When I ran an error check on my state taxes, the program said that it was not possible to file the MO-TC form electronically. This was quite frustrating, not only because of my previous problems, but also because the feature of electronic filing was the main reason I chose to use the service. I once again searched the help section of the site and repeated the interview process. I couldn't find any significant reference to the form. Then I checked the forms that TurboTax would be sending and couldn't even find the flurshugginer form. I shot off an e-mail to support and received a response telling me to contact them via phone. Now my status as an expatriate came into play. 800 numbers have been a great advancement in the field of telecommunication, improving the quality of life for many. They don't work overseas, however. If you try to call an 800 number from, say, China, you'll get a message saying that they will be sticking you with the phone bill. With no chance for using a discount calling service, either.

I sent off another mail telling them of my dilemma and asking if they could either call me or communicate via e-mail. The response explained a bit more about the situation (they were going to give me a free download of the desktop software so they can try and figure out the problem), but said that the phone line was my only option. I accepted that, and asked them if they had a normal phone number available that I could call using Call2 discount rates. They shot back stating that the number provided was my only option, though perhaps I could try using live chat. I gave the chat a try, but gave up after waiting for 45 minutes. I briefly considered filing for an extension and then resolving the issue when I return stateside. The problem there was that filing for a state extension wasn't an option. Finally, in frustration, I just printed out the forms, signed them and mailed them to Missouri via China Post. I didn't feel like I got my money's worth, but at least the work is done.

More musing on this later....