March is waning and the deadline for filing taxes is looming.
I haven't found the information yet. It has to be in this box as I've scanned, filed, and dealt with every other box of paperwork I accumulated between December and the beginning of February when we finally landed in the house. I didn't plan to be so disorganized, but those last few weeks, when we were tired of being in the hotel and I was frustrated with appraisers that didn't show up when they were supposed to and repeated delays, when I was standing outside in the cold with a moving truck I couldn't unload, when I was scrabbling at the last minute to round up enough cash before yet another deadline passed, when mail that was supposed to show up on certain days didn't show up until days, or even a week later, by which point I was too busy to deal with it — when all that was going on, I just let the boxes pile up.
And now I am paying for it. But there is only one box remaining. That box up there in that photo. It has to be in there. I had hoped to get to it before now, but it is not really likely to happen this weekend. I can't lock myself in my office, I can't leave G to his own devices. So on Monday I may lock myself in with the scanner and the computer until it is all done.
In the meantime, today we drove around to take one of the local dogwood tours, although I noticed that I mostly took pictures of azaleas. Oh well.
I'll be back when I am feeling a little less under the gun. This may be the first year I just throw everything in a box and put it in the mail without sorting and categorizing it first. There's a first time for everything.
Comments
13 responses to “The Last Saturday of March”
And to have one year when you take the easy way out would not be a bad thing given all that you’ve been charged with in the last months. Treat yourself as kindly as you do others, right? Take care . . .
The dogwoods and the azaleas are gorgeous. Would an extension take some of the pressure off?
Yes, yes there is. A first time for so much.
I love spring in the mid-south. Gorgeous flowering trees and bushes! Good luck with the taxes – not fun, I know.
Good luck with sorting out the paperwork. It’s such a pain every year just pulling things together to file tax returns! Lovely azaleas.
Just post the whole box as such.
After all what you have gone through, it´s the best thing you can do: )!
One problem with an extension is that if you’re going to owe you still have to send the money. So you have to have your taxes halfway done to even file an extension.
I stood around in our basement file room yesterday and saints be praised found records of a purchase in 2001. It wasn’t in the 2001 folder it was in the 2002 folder, but I patted myself on the back because that’s pretty darn close. Turns out I took a loss, but it’s good to know because the made-up basis I was going to use was a gain.
I felt rewarded for my efforts and no mice scurred past.
Good lucK!
I would definitely just mail the box at this point. No sorting and categorizing.
Frances, I’m all for being kind. I did half and half. I found that a spreadsheet was useful just to make sure I had everything, but I didn’t go into the details, just shipped it off.
Terri, the spring has been beautiful. I still marvel at it, and how early everything is compared to upstate NY.
Lisa, so many first times.
Pseu, SewingLibrarian, Mette — yes all off in the mail. Sometimes it is just easier to release oneself from responsibility
Rose, I’ve done that more times that I care to recall. I had a list, but didn’t do the capital gains this year, just shipped it off. Luckily everything was in the documents at hand.
I agree that there is no point to an extension since you have to pay anyway. However I always have one K-1 that comes around the beginning of April, (from a Canadian firm) so I get the taxes done and then have to wait. Perhaps it is time to eliminate that headache.