I got a lovely letter from the IRS last night - Happy Fourth of July to Me!!
Just Kidding! The letter says that we owe them $2,300.00 from our 2009 return that was done incorrectly. In a way, I had been expecting the letter; but I hadn't been expecting it quite so soon and I certainly wasn't expecting it to be so much. Last year when I filed our taxes, I wasn't thinking about the liquidation of my parent's assets after my Mom died... So, when I got some additional tax forms about a month after I filed, I realised that they were really supposed to be included in the original filing. We were deep in the middle of our move to Australia though so I was distracted enough to just throw them in a folder and deal with it later.
At Christmas, I was talking to friends about it and I started getting really freaked out that I was going to get in huge trouble if I didn't fix it right then and there. So, I slowly started the process of getting the right year of Turbo Tax re-installed on my computer, finding my original tax return and going through the amendment process. When I got to the end of the amendment, It said that we owed a thousand dollars. I was so mad that I had to pay a penalty for having dead parents that I actually declared our charitable donations for the year. I've never declared them in the past because it feels slightly wrong getting a tax break for doing what you should be doing in the first place. I know, that's stupid and idealistic. Anywho, entering all that stuff brought our total owed down to $675.00. That was a number that I could live with and I had a brilliant idea: I would save the amended return, file my 2010 taxes and then use part of my 2010 return to pay what I owed in 2009. Personally, I thought that was bloody brilliant.
I still haven't filed my 2010 taxes though because I was waiting for the Aussie tax year to end (June 30th) so I could file them together. Don't worry, I filed the extension paperwork for the IRS so I don't think I will get in trouble there. I was going to start the US taxes last week and when I went though all my paperwork, I realised that we had never gotten Joe's W-2 from his employer in the States. We've requested a re-print; but we still haven't gotten it.
But - back to the outrageous amount that the IRS feels they deserve from me - beyond the thousand dollars that I already knew about, they are also saying that I claimed excess SS tax or some such rubbish... I did the taxes through Turbo Tax and I even had H&R Block check them when I was done so how could that have happened? Who knows...
Anyway, I got all ready to call them last night - I ate some a lot of chocolate, I had some a lot of Jack Daniels, waited till after 9pm (7am in the States) and logged on to Skype. I was ready - well, maybe not ready, but at least resigned. The line rang and rang and then told me they were closed! What? I double checked the times and the time zones only to realise that it was the Fourth of July.
So, I have to call tonight and figure this all out....
Ugh, they want more money from us for 2009 as well. Pain in the butt all around... Sorry you are going through this!!
Love you! xoxoxoxo
Meaghan