As with almost everyone else in the nation, we filed our taxes last week. I do our taxes by hand, as I have for the past 30+ years. However these days taxes don't take nearly as long to do, since (a) we retired our woodcraft business, and (b) I lost my online job a year ago February. Less money means less taxes, right?
Last year, despite a vastly reduced income, we still had to pay quarterly taxes based on the previous year's (higher) income. We had set the necessary funds aside, so this wasn't a hardship. This year though, when we met with our tax preparer, we made sure to stress our reduced income.
In the tax preparer's office, we saw this notice of "Respectful Behavior Required."
When our tax documents were prepped and ready to sign, we weren't altogether surprised to learn we're getting a modest refund. However, we still have to pay some (reduced) quarterly taxes. But here's the ironic thing: Our quarterly taxes, added up, equal the amount of our federal and state tax returns.
Seriously, they equal out almost to the dollar. What we're getting back is almost exactly what we will owe. Therefore, everything we get back will go into the account for paying the quarterlies.
Taxes, whee!
Reminds me of the time I owed $12K and a friend of mine got a "refund" of 12K from the Earned Income Tax Credit. True, she had to stay home with a disabled baby. I still resented it a little. (The baby died when he was three, poor little thing. My friend is now gone too, and I'd give a lot more than 12K to have her back. Such is life.)
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