Income Tax Time Troubles

Did you get your Income Tax forms off on time? Was it difficult? Or do you pay someone else to do it for you?

I had a rough time the last 4-5 days with mine. I do not pretend to be great with numbers, but I've done my own income tax every spring since the year after I finished high school and had my first year as a telephone operator at Sasktel.

(Oops, there was the year that I moved back to Hague to care for my parents and I was afraid I wouldn't know how to get a rebate for my moving expenses. So I had H&R Block do my income tax and it cost me more than I could afford.)

So, despite being somewhat dyslexic with numbers, poverty forces me to do this work slowly, carefully, checking my math 3 or more times, for every number I have to put down, I've done it myself all these years.

Friday evening is my bookkeeping night, and after checking my accounts, paying some bills, etc., I spend some time starting January to check and filling a chart with the numbers I'll need to fill out the forms as honestly and accurately as I can.

I had my numbers ready, so I thought I'd get the forms filled out between Friday and Saturday evening this past weekend.

However, on Thursday I had problems with some programs not opening on my computer. I found other browsers and ways around this, but it got more and more frustrating. But midnight I had decided that I should probably download and install the newest version of my linux system, (Leap 15.4) But... I know it is always wise to back up all the files I have created/edited since my last backup, which ...(gasp!) was several years ago! I resolved that I would do that first on Friday morning.

Yikkes! That went all day, all evening, and through the night. I had to wait for it on Saturday morning to finish up at last. Meantime I was researching the newest version LEAP 15.5. It has only taken mere minutes in the past but the largest file took about 12 hours, for 4 GB of data!!

Then my program that should burn this to a DVD (or USB device if I had one with 4 GB of space) would not open! I was stuck!

Now I won't bore you with all the creative strategies I came up with to get around this, which included bringing my old laptop to life, and transferring some files to Tom's Windows computer that I use for a huge genealogy database that ONLY works on Windows, and my favourite BBNradio.org which I listen to all day long.

Once all my self-created files were safely on a backup drive I decided to see if installing the system I already have all over again would solve the problems with programs not opening. I tried an upgrade first, which did not help, ...so it was Sunday evening before I resigned myself to printing out the forms from the Windows computer, and filling in the blanks by hand instead of keying them via computer into the forms.

About midnight I realized that though I got some pages done I'd have to continue on Monday. (Yes, yesterday!) I thought if I could dash off to the Post Office in Shoppers which is open evenings until 9pm, I would make the May 1st deadline!

But then, rustling sheets from this pile to that pile I got confused and ended up making mistakes. I had to go more slow and deliberately - and I ended up doing all the pages over yet another time!

About midnight it appeared I should be getting a rebate of over $5500!!

That hasn't happened in ages! I paused and decided that I'd rather not do it all over again. I double-checked that all the pages were accounted for, and that I had my photocopies - and I shut down the computers for the night.

This morning I raced off to the post office, and got there before it opened in the Shoppers Drugs. I slapped 3 stamps on the envelop and - at the last minute saw that I needed to write in my return address, which I did by hand, then shoved it into the slot.

I'm sorry for unloading all this on you, but it's all I can still think about this morning. I hope you can imagine just how greatly relieved I am now though.

And... I'm resolving NOT to let this happen again!

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