A big thick FedEx package arrived today from our accountant. I opened it with great trepidation. Gone are the days of two page tax forms. Now I spend four to six hours filling out the accountant’s tax questionnaire, mail it in and then wait a few weeks for the accountant to send back a book telling me how big of check I need to write.
This year my federal tax return was sixty-five pages. It was undecipherable. Except for line spelling out how much I owe. Sadly, that was perfectly clear.
Do other countries have such a complicated tax system?
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I dread it. DREAD it.
Not a good tax year for us, either, mostly because we screwed up on Billie’s W-4 form. That’ll be fixed next year, though. It’s an interesting question about other countries. Most “Western” countries seem to have a lot higher taxes, no? But that doesn’t mean the process isn’t easier; in fact, perhaps it exactly means it is easier.
Wow… that’s ridiculous!!
I wonder why that is… when the way the US government utilises tax revenue is not very efficient c.f. other nations…
Over here, we can download an e-tax software and do our personal taxes online.
The software is quite new but it is working really well (improvements coming this year). Other than being very quick, it retains the information and automatically uploads the same the following year.
Of course, if one’s affairs are a bit complicated than the average, then going through an accountant will yield (much) better returns. Even that however, doesn’t take very long.
On average, the government responds within 14 days (for uncomplicated individuals). And, it takes about an hour to complete the (e-)forms, provided that everything is in order.
PS: I heard that Germany has the worst system in the world… but the American one sounds pretty bad to me.
Holy cow! Ours are fairly easy since it’s just Al’s income right now, but we still get help, just in case. The big shock comes when we realize how much we’ve paid in property tax.
I suppose for 90% of Americans the tax system is pretty straightforward, and the downloadable software does a good job. The rules all seem to change though when you own a business and are, at least from the IRS’ perspective, self employed.
Oh well, on to happier topics.