Taxed

Although I filed my federal and state returns in January, I got to enjoy the anxieties of Tax Day by procrastinating and forgetting (and forgetting some more) to complete my city taxes. The night before the day of reckoning I dug through old mail pushed aside long ago until I found my June pay stub. And then I noticed a funny thing on it and the W-2. City taxes had been withheld for both my city of employment and city of residence.

All this time I'd been trying to wrap my brain around an amazingly confusing city form for which I thought I'd need to apply all sorts of formulas to determine how much I owed for a partial year. My employer had been withholding the additional percentage for my new place of residence all along.

With the complication removed, I whipped through my old city's form and my new city's form. This is what I'd been postponing for almost three months? Since everything had been properly withheld, I'm not sure that I would have needed to file in the new city, except that I had made a little money freelancing. This morning I cheerfully wrote a check for six dollars to the city treasurer--I had expected I would owe a couple hundred dollars if the tax wasn't getting taken out of my monthly paycheck--and quickly bought a stamp from the post office's vending machine while feeling a bit superior to the poor souls already waiting in the long morning line.

But I would be taxed another way today. Dealing with students and their problems--interpersonal issues , worries about post-college futures, basic instructional needs--can be draining, and this day presented plenty of the energy-sucking variety. No complaints from me, just this statement of being tired and desiring to knit my blanket. And so I shall.

Loose ends

As promised, here's a picture of my mom's first FO. I fixed her mistakes while I was home. After that she was on her own. From what I can tell, it looks like she did a pretty good job, so I must have pointed her somewhat in the right direction. FYI, she used a variegated Red Heart yarn.

I've taken a step toward knitting again. I went through the tedious process of winding the hank of yarn she selected for a hat she asked me to make. I hadn't been feeling like knitting it, but now that this part is out of the way, I think I'm ready to get started. I need to check the cable, though. It seemed like one end was coming out of the join. Since I glued several of these at Christmastime, I'm going to assume it is the other end that is popping out.

I keep forgetting that I bought five skeins of yarn to make myself a blanket, so that's a mindless project I can begin anytime. I'm not feeling up to any knitting challenges at the moment. Although work is going well, it's taking a lot out of me. I also have a lot of writing to do that requires a good deal of thought. So I'm looking for knitting to be nice and simple.

Maybe I'll get some brain energy back now that I've finished a book that required a lot of it. I want to write an extended post on my other site about How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by James L. Kugel because it provoked a lot of thoughts. It's fair to say that it has had a significant impact on me, both in confirming and challenging my beliefs about interpreting Scripture.

To follow up on my outrageous overachieving in filing taxes so early, it's something I'm able to do because mine are very simple. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that it takes longer to find my previous years' returns than to do them for the new year. (That would definitely be true if I did them by hand. E-filing takes me through more steps than I really need.)

I did them the same day my W-2s arrived in the mail, although I'm finding that the city taxes are going to take longer to complete. I need to file in two cities. Columbus has an incredibly convoluted form that I'm not sure how to fill out, not to mention that it's likely I'll probably owe them a couple hundred dollars because of the difference in city tax rates where I live and where I work. No rush there.

Taxman

Let me tell you how it will be. I won't be making any friends with today's entry, and I'm not referring to the recent unfortunate turns of one knitting entry for you and nineteen space fillers for me.

Nevertheless, when I have one of those days in which I don't have time to stop and think, I'm a desperate man come blogging time. So, today in miniature:

-Morning and afternoon: Work, work, work.

-Early evening: Hunt down last year's tax returns. Go to 27 Dresses screening.

-Late evening: Start writing 27 Dresses review. Stop writing to complete federal and state tax returns.

Yes, I've already filed my federal return and am ready to do so with the state return. Why not? The W-2 forms arrived in the mail today, and my taxes are pretty simple to calculate. Get 'em done and get the direct deposit refunds on their way.

The state's I-File program is acting buggy when I click the question marks for assistance, which is the main reason it isn't filed. Since I moved last year and live in an area where I pay city taxes to Columbus and call a suburban school district home (I think), I need to confirm what's what so I have everything correct.

I also need to untangle how many city tax forms I must file due to partial year residency in two cities. I think I'm probably going to get dinged on local income taxes since I moved to a city with a higher rate than where I lived and work. If that's the worst headache I get from tax season, I can't complain.

Yeah, I know. The filing deadline isn't until April 15. You hate me. I understand.