Income Tax
Title
Income Tax
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"A long time ago, I did my own income tax."
Date
2011-04
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Identifier
INCOME_TAX
Text
INCOME TAX
A long time ago, I did my own income tax. No big deal. Then when I married Fran she told me that she had a wonderful accountant that did her income tax. He was very reasonable and he came to her house and in less than an hour he took all the W-2s and 1099s and receipts and statements and figured it all out. Sounded great, and that it what we did from the time we married.
Then one day, some years after I retired, I was speaking to a friend about income tax. He had also retired from Federal employment and he mentioned in passing, wasn’t it great that we don’t have to pay Massachusetts income tax on our Federal pension. Or something like that. I don’t remember the details. But I do remember being very surprised and saying “What!!!?: Our wonderful accountant always included my Federal pension. My friend then showed me the provision in the tax law..
I immediately called our wonderful accountant who had been to our home just a few weeks before, and who, sitting at our dining room table, figured out our income tax, in less than an hour. I told him what my friend had said, and he sounded very surprised. He said he would look it up right away. He did, and called me right back after looking it up, and said, very much upset, that my friend was right. We had been giving the State too much money, and the State simply took it and never said anything.
Our wonderful accountant said that he would file for a refund, immediately, but according to the law, he can only file for the last three years. However, we had been paying taxes on money for which we didn’t have to pay taxes, for twice that time. Our wonderful accountant expressed his deep regret and remorse, but he didn’t offer, and we didn’t ask him, to make up the difference. By this time we had a computer and discovered you can get software for your computer that will do your taxes for you. So we said goodbye to our wonderful accountant, and we did our own income tax, with the help of our computer, for several years.
I don’t remember why I stopped using the software. It must have gotten too complicated, but once again I found myself speaking to a friend (a different friend) about income tax, and she told me that she had a wonderful lawyer who does her income tax and that he is very reasonable. You can either go to his office, or he can send you a “tax organizer” and you can fill it out and send it back with all your W-2s, 1099s, receipts and statements, and he will prepare your income tax. I chose to go to his office. I feel better handing over all the little pieces of paper to him, and answering any questions that he might have. I know that he takes the information that I give him, and the “tax organizer” that I had filled out, and feeds it all into HIS computer, but I am happy with this arrangement. And we even get a tax deduction from the fee we pay him, for having someone do our income taxes for us.
I feel about paying income tax, much the same way that I feel about paying a fine at the public library. It is going for a good cause. Income tax is the price we pay for all the services we receive from the government. It is not quite the price for civilization, but close. I feel very lucky that we have the income that we do, that enables us to pay the tax that we pay. I have my social security as does Fran. We both have a State pension and I have a Federal pension. I was able to defer compensation while I worked for the State, and the State is now giving that money back to me. We have IRAs and we are getting something back from that as well. We contribute to our favorite charities and that lowers our tax.
It turns out that over the last several years, there is always a large balance due on my Federal Income Tax, and a small refund on my State Income Tax. I keep telling myself that I have to tell the offices that send me my pensions each month to give Uncle Sam more money each month, but I keep forgetting.
4-11
A long time ago, I did my own income tax. No big deal. Then when I married Fran she told me that she had a wonderful accountant that did her income tax. He was very reasonable and he came to her house and in less than an hour he took all the W-2s and 1099s and receipts and statements and figured it all out. Sounded great, and that it what we did from the time we married.
Then one day, some years after I retired, I was speaking to a friend about income tax. He had also retired from Federal employment and he mentioned in passing, wasn’t it great that we don’t have to pay Massachusetts income tax on our Federal pension. Or something like that. I don’t remember the details. But I do remember being very surprised and saying “What!!!?: Our wonderful accountant always included my Federal pension. My friend then showed me the provision in the tax law..
I immediately called our wonderful accountant who had been to our home just a few weeks before, and who, sitting at our dining room table, figured out our income tax, in less than an hour. I told him what my friend had said, and he sounded very surprised. He said he would look it up right away. He did, and called me right back after looking it up, and said, very much upset, that my friend was right. We had been giving the State too much money, and the State simply took it and never said anything.
Our wonderful accountant said that he would file for a refund, immediately, but according to the law, he can only file for the last three years. However, we had been paying taxes on money for which we didn’t have to pay taxes, for twice that time. Our wonderful accountant expressed his deep regret and remorse, but he didn’t offer, and we didn’t ask him, to make up the difference. By this time we had a computer and discovered you can get software for your computer that will do your taxes for you. So we said goodbye to our wonderful accountant, and we did our own income tax, with the help of our computer, for several years.
I don’t remember why I stopped using the software. It must have gotten too complicated, but once again I found myself speaking to a friend (a different friend) about income tax, and she told me that she had a wonderful lawyer who does her income tax and that he is very reasonable. You can either go to his office, or he can send you a “tax organizer” and you can fill it out and send it back with all your W-2s, 1099s, receipts and statements, and he will prepare your income tax. I chose to go to his office. I feel better handing over all the little pieces of paper to him, and answering any questions that he might have. I know that he takes the information that I give him, and the “tax organizer” that I had filled out, and feeds it all into HIS computer, but I am happy with this arrangement. And we even get a tax deduction from the fee we pay him, for having someone do our income taxes for us.
I feel about paying income tax, much the same way that I feel about paying a fine at the public library. It is going for a good cause. Income tax is the price we pay for all the services we receive from the government. It is not quite the price for civilization, but close. I feel very lucky that we have the income that we do, that enables us to pay the tax that we pay. I have my social security as does Fran. We both have a State pension and I have a Federal pension. I was able to defer compensation while I worked for the State, and the State is now giving that money back to me. We have IRAs and we are getting something back from that as well. We contribute to our favorite charities and that lowers our tax.
It turns out that over the last several years, there is always a large balance due on my Federal Income Tax, and a small refund on my State Income Tax. I keep telling myself that I have to tell the offices that send me my pensions each month to give Uncle Sam more money each month, but I keep forgetting.
4-11
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Income Tax,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 28, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/150.