A Writerly Thought For the Day

Mar. 12th, 2012 at 9:24 AM

For the next few days, I'll be immersed in one of the greatest fiction projects of 2012 - aka This year's tax return.*

Aside from a few conference related emails, I'm organizing the book fair for GLVWG's Write Stuff Conference and the volunteer roster for the Liberty States Fiction Writer's Create Something Magical conference (both of which take place this coming Saturday), I shall be locked away with nothing but my calculator and about 3,000 pages of US tax forms.

If you don't hear from me by Wednesday, send the cavalry.

In the meantime, I leave you with this Writerly Thought for the Day:

*If you work for the IRS, please note: I'm kidding

Current Mood: determined

Comments

( 18 comments — Leave a comment )

msstacy13

Mar. 12th, 2012 01:47 pm (UTC)

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jongibbs

Mar. 12th, 2012 04:21 pm (UTC)

Lol, thanks :)

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serge_lj

Mar. 12th, 2012 02:51 pm (UTC)

I went thru all of my wife's writing-related expenses, tallied everything, then turned that and my own stuff over to our tax consultant.

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go...

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jongibbs

Mar. 12th, 2012 04:22 pm (UTC)

I'd rather do them myself. I have a vested interest in getting it right ;)

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serge_lj

Mar. 12th, 2012 04:48 pm (UTC)

So have I, which is why I'm letting someone else do it. :-)

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jongibbs

Mar. 13th, 2012 11:14 am (UTC)

When we first moved here (in 2004), Senior Management's employer supplied the services of a nationally known company of accountants to do our first US tax return.

Since I knew I'd have to do them myself the next year, I also did a set, as a trial run. When I checked my own version against the 'official' one, I found a big difference between our final amount due to the various tax agencies.

Turns out my version was right. That trial run saved us over $6,000. I've done my own taxes ever since.

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serge_lj

Mar. 13th, 2012 03:02 pm (UTC)

In my case, I used to do my taxes then Congress passed the Taxpayer Relief Act. An item that used to take one minute took me a few hours to figure out, all this to save me $5. :-)

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ladysaotome

Mar. 12th, 2012 04:20 pm (UTC)

Love the writerly thought. lol

Only by Wednesday? ;)

I'd sympathize but considering my line of work, I've been buried in tac forms since Jan 1st & won't be seeing the light of day for another month!

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jongibbs

Mar. 12th, 2012 04:22 pm (UTC)

Oh dear, that doesn't sound like fun at all :(

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bogwitch64

Mar. 12th, 2012 05:04 pm (UTC)

It is a very good thought for any day, m'dear.

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jongibbs

Mar. 12th, 2012 08:39 pm (UTC)

It's certainly more printable than some of the thoughts I've been having about whoever wrote the instructions for how to fill in IRS forms ;)

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jakobdrud

Mar. 12th, 2012 07:23 pm (UTC)

I work for the IRS*

___
* We don't have a sense of humor.**
** We don't read foot notes.***
*** We do _make_ foot notes, but we call them 'the fine print'.****
**** All hail the fine print.

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jongibbs

Mar. 12th, 2012 08:39 pm (UTC)

Uh-oh :)

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wordsrmylife

Mar. 13th, 2012 12:53 am (UTC)

I fully endorse that message. I am definitely a "first draft" = outline person.

Good luck with the tax returns. That's still on my to-do list, too.

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jongibbs

Mar. 13th, 2012 11:05 am (UTC)

It takes me a couple of days, just to get my head around everything. After that it's plain sailing...or perhaps 'Plane sailing' might ddescribe the process better ;)

Edited at 2012-03-13 11:05 am (UTC)

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