A Seasonal Vent

[sheepdog 10]

It's that time of year again. I have been fighting a loosing battle with getting the kitchen table cleared off long enough to get started on my anual torture fest, what most people commonly call doing their taxes. After many threats of doing great bodily harm if he put anything on my kitchen table during this stressful period, I finally got it cleared away and proceded to dump the contents of the filing cabinette that I carelessly toss my reciepts in during the rest of the year. The result is a mountainous pile of tiny scraps of paper, hundreds, no, THOUSANDS of them. The painful procedure then begins of sorting them out into their prospective catagories. What was this for? Which pile do I put this Walmart ticket in, it has a bag of dog food on it and heat lamps, so does it go into dog food or supplies? Was this tire for the tractor or the car? (I take milage instead of car maintence, so can't take off any car stuff) Is having dog clipper blades sharpened maintence, or hired help? And that ever pressing question, is rat poison considered feed?Ad then come my rather dubious skills (or lack thereof) in the mathmatical department. Even with a calculator, I can add a stack of reciepts 5 times and come up with 5 different totals. It is frustration beyound anything any human should have to endure!But you know the worst part? What really annoys me more than anything? It's the dissapearing ink these dang companies use to print out their cash register reciepts! As I sort threw the mountain of scrap paper, I find dozens of just nearly blank scraps. Just a hint of ink left, you can't even tell what is was for, let alone the ammount you spent. Seriously, what is the point in handing out reciepts if they are unreadable in a few months? I mean good grief, is the cost of a good quality ink that bad that they have to use the cheap stuff? How expensive can good ink possibly be?

[anwiii 17]

haha well at least you're doing it. might i suggest doing this work from a month to month basis? that way when the time comes every year, it's a whole lot easier and less time consuming? and remember.....no cheating!

[sheepdog 10]

You know, I tell myself that every year, that I should sort them out as I go along, and sometimes, after a particularly bad time of figuring them out I actually do it for a month, or maybe 2, but before long I'm right back to the old toss it in the drawer and go on routine. I have a tough time remembering to write down my milage when I take a trip, or the old man goes after feed. I got spoiled for a few years, had a wonderful lady do my taxes for me, she raised a few dogs too, so some years I got them done for a puppy. I could just take her a big brown paper bag full of reciepts and she could just rip right threw it. It amazed me one time, she came out to the house to do them, her fingers would just fly over the calculator as she flew threw stacks and stacks of reciepts, she did more in 2 hours than I could do in 2 weeks. I decided right then I wasn't going to stress myself out doing them anymore after that. But sadly she passed away. So until I find somebody else that will tolerate my brown paper bag filing system, I'm stuck with doing them myself. And don't worry about my cheating, I don't have to. Have you priced dog food lately?

[mrdee 1]

Yes, I have indeed priced the price of dog food.I have three of them, and that will get worse, as my female labrador is pregnant and we are expecting the puppies around May 9th.(OK, for a while, mum will feed them, but that will change too).Anyway, back on topic now:Keeping track of and properly filing your income/expenses are indeed a pain, but unfortunately they are a legal requirement (poor state might suffer a loss of a few pennies otherwise ).It is, of course, a well-known fact that self-employed people (although this is not legally required) are much better off if they have some knowledge/training in the field of accountancy.There are, of course, professional accounants available, and, granted, their services are tax deductable, but the money for those services still has to be put on the table every month/year (depending on how the system you agreed on operates).And, yes, a brown paper bag is the favourite filing system of many of us, which makes us sweat when it s that time of the year again, however, there are now things called either PC, Mac or laptop which can make life a lot easier.Then again, having said that (it takes one to know one ), many of us start using an accounts program full of enthusiasm, we say "wow, this is so easy to use, so user-friendly, does all those calculations", but after a while it goes "oh, yes, here is my petrol receipt for today, it s getting a bit late, so I'll enter it tomorrow", which then, bit by bit starts to happen a bit more frequently, and after a month or two, the good old "filing cabinet" (the brown one, that is) has started to fill up nicely again.And, sheepdog, you were lucky to have the dear lady when you had her, as nowadays, there is a great deal of accountants around who are quite willing to take your money, and, some of them do a great job, while others charge you an arm and a leg for a crap service too, but there are quite a few of themnowadays (as i said earlier) who will flatly refuse to do anything at all for you when you just hand them the brown filing cabinet or a shoe box. (I know, it doesn't make their job any easier, but is that not what you pay them (handsomely) for?)So, what people say about "this not being the times to refuse work or to be choosy or fussy about being selective with customers" does not always go.Come to think of it, I know quite a few accountants, and I have yet to see one who drives a 2CV or a rusty old Renault or Fiat, or, even worse, one who goes to visit his customers on a bicycle.And, yes, they do have to pay taxes at the end of the year too, but I am sure they will know the way to keep that to a minimum.

[sheepdog 10]

Ah yes, the old keep 'em on the computer trick! That one has gotten me into a ton of trouble this year. I was keeping my sales list on the computer, and when mine crashed, I lost it all! What a disaster that has become. It's going to take forever to recreate all the sales I made this year. I have to compare my list of pups on hand to my breeding records, and the breeding records are the lifetime record for the dog, not just 2010! Day before yesterday, I drug my old computer back to the house and hooked it up in hopes I could fire it up one more time, and I got lucky and was able to make a print out of my sales list, for half of the year. Better than none of the year like I was facing. It's still going to be a royal pain. Lab pups! Big litters, and big eaters! (not to mention lots of puppy poo to clean up too) Mom isn't going to feed them for long, and even while she is feeding them, she's going to eat twice as much as normal to make milk to feed them. But ahhh, they are puppies! And so cute and so much fun!

[mrdee 1]

Yes, I know about labbies, but, to me it is worth it.Anyway, that "old keep 'em on the computer trick", I have always been told (and, yes, we all (including me)tend to sin against that rule more or less) to, especially if you have crucial or sensitive data on your system, keep a hard copy , backup or both of your files.I would say, in case of someone's accounts, or the books of his/her livelihood being on a PC, it is essential to back up regularly, just for cases like what happened to you.And, yes, I do agree with you on one point: when something like that happens, it is definitely a disaster, nothin more, nothing less, which is why it is so vitally important to stick to the backup/hardcopy rule (for honesty's sake, I am saying this because I speak from experience too. ).So, having said all that, I still think it is a slightly better system than keeping it all in the good old paper bag/shoe box (although, if you do that alongside keeping your records on file electronically, you still have something to fall back on) and the law still requires that all paper based invoices/receipts are filed so they can ask to see them should they require it.(At least, that is the way they operate here).I have just tried to bring my opinion across, whether or not that is met with sarcasm is beside the point.Making your point is what this place is for.

[buxgoddess 1]

You know, I tell myself that every year, that I should sort them out as I go along, and sometimes, after a particularly bad time of figuring them out I actually do it for a month, or maybe 2, but before long I'm right back to the old toss it in the drawer and go on routine. I have a tough time remembering to write down my milage when I take a trip, or the old man goes after feed. I got spoiled for a few years, had a wonderful lady do my taxes for me, she raised a few dogs too, so some years I got them done for a puppy. I could just take her a big brown paper bag full of reciepts and she could just rip right threw it. It amazed me one time, she came out to the house to do them, her fingers would just fly over the calculator as she flew threw stacks and stacks of reciepts, she did more in 2 hours than I could do in 2 weeks. I decided right then I wasn't going to stress myself out doing them anymore after that. But sadly she passed away. So until I find somebody else that will tolerate my brown paper bag filing system, I'm stuck with doing them myself.
And don't worry about my cheating, I don't have to. Have you priced dog food lately?

This is a similar situation for many people at the year end. With all the work and budgets at hand things get dirty sooner than you expect. However you need not be a maths wizard or an accouting pro to be a great problem solver, but some good planning makes all the difference.

Notice from rvalkass:

Copied content removed.

[sheepdog 10]

have just tried to bring my opinion across, whether or not that is met with sarcasm is beside the point.Making your point is what this place is for.

I'm sorry, I had no idea I was coming across as sarcastic. It was not my intention. I was just carrying on a discussion. Was not in any way intened to be sarcasm.

[sheepdog 10]

YIPPEE!!! I'm done!!!!Thank goodness that is over for another year! I'd had about all the paperwork I could stand for awhile. I finished up last night about 11 pm, did my filing with that taxactonline thing, it's cheap enough, only $18. Of course, if I screwed up, I have no one to blame it on except myself, and I doubt the IRS has much sympathy for dumb people.

[mrdee 1]

I doubt the IRS has any sympathy for anyone, except themselves.Has anyone ever noticed that, when you owe them any money (now matter how small the amount), you get a letter telling you you have 10 days to pay the money you owe them, while, on the other hand, when they owe you money, you will get a letter telling you "We are pleased to let you know...." (I have my doubts about that), and then they will tell you you will get the amount of money they owe you in about 3 months time.That is indeed an example of the IRS's sympathy.

[anwiii 17]

yea, the irs are nasty crooks and for some reason, it's very easy them to get court orders against you without notice or without you even having to go to court. i remember one year, i didn't file a tax return. it's a myth that it's illegal to do so if you don't owe them anything. what the irs did was look at my qualifications and estimated and assumed i made a certain amount of money that year and was ready to deduct what i owed them out of my wages including late fees etc.... i went to the irs office and explained the situation. they forced me to file a return or have my wages garnished. this is something i didn't fight and wish i had the money to do so. i didn't fight it because i needed my wages. anyway, after filing my return, the appologized and then agreed it was them who owed me money. the system is really wacked. they use fear as a tactic to control people and then force people to do what they want you to do while you're under duress. it's really a shame our government can act like this. but i've heard horror stories before that make my situation look like a walk in the park.

[buxgoddess 1]

yea, the irs are nasty crooks and for some reason, it's very easy them to get court orders against you without notice or without you even having to go to court.
i remember one year, i didn't file a tax return. it's a myth that it's illegal to do so if you don't owe them anything. what the irs did was look at my qualifications and estimated and assumed i made a certain amount of money that year and was ready to deduct what i owed them out of my wages including late fees etc.... i went to the irs office and explained the situation. they forced me to file a return or have my wages garnished. this is something i didn't fight and wish i had the money to do so. i didn't fight it because i needed my wages. anyway, after filing my return, the appologized and then agreed it was them who owed me money. the system is really wacked. they use fear as a tactic to control people and then force people to do what they want you to do while you're under duress. it's really a shame our government can act like this. but i've heard horror stories before that make my situation look like a walk in the park.

Well its a fact that there are thousands of people who do nor submit their tax returns and almost half of those who do submit actually do not give details of proper earnings like those other than the salary. If you were one of them, then I do not think it to be a surprise, as the system of earning through the myCent and paying for your website for profitable gains never ever reflect in your balance sheet nor your tax filing. Its also the same for me and I call all these people thieves and cheaters, though a milder tone. But look at your case where the irs office charged and threatened you, its the same here, if you do not pay your tax properly or do not file returns on time, you will be fined on flat rates, which are much higher than the normal tax slabs.

However there is a relief for salaried people like us as we will not require to file our tax returns from next year if we earn nothing other than our salary. Of-course, we are thieves and liers and will not post the earnings from here. The other day I had payments done from PayPal and in return I received some merchandise with some gift coupon for further purchase. It such happened that the use of the coupon required me to pass through the bank account which I had to decline, coz if I did that it will automatically add the gift amount into its database, a large sum of-course and I'll need to pay a good amount of tax after currency conversion.

As for the original post here, I have the budgeting done on daily basis purchases and payments. I keep a diary of records of all the things that the money does and at the end of the month add up for the headings like food, transport, entertainment, bills and miscellaneous heads. The total ammount spent is tallied on monthly basis to figure out if I have exceeded on any fields and if it is found to be higher, then a scrutiny is done to find the expense raiser. It is then adjusted for in the next months budget in areas where expenses can be curtailed. Not on all cases it is possible to bring the cost and expenditure down but a check and a little control is always possible.

And I never keep the payment receipts of goceries and others as the consolidated bills of credit card are always there with the daily diary list. Those products that come with warranty and service periods get a copy stored by scanning the receipts and invoices. I had the expenses of my vehicle stored in the spreadsheet in my Google account and hence never miss out on updating as it gives me results including mileage, expense over a period, expenses on petrol only and those on servicing and of-course the bribes I had to pay the traffic police department for no fault of mine.

I am no good at mathematics either, but you do not need to be Einstein to be able to do daily accounts. On daily basis or even weekly basis if you can jot down your expenses of the bills you have then you get a fair idea of your bad habits of mishandling your hard earned money or your money earned by cheating, whatever be your case.