“Oh, the pain, the pain!”
You might remember that that was the catch phrase from Dr. Smith on the “Lost In Space” TV show, but I will bet Dr. Smith never had to pay his taxes.
Now that is real, real pain!
This two-day exercise in complete frustration that my wife and I engaged in came to its culmination yesterday afternoon, and if the government is wondering when they will get their money from us, since they appear to be so in need of it, well, the checks are signed, sealed and will hopefully be delivered ASAP.
As I expected, when all was said and done, we got zonked yesterday big time, but what made it worse was that it became a long, drawn out process, sort of like going through a major operation without any anaesthetic at all.
As I explained yesterday, a major mistake was made on the paperwork I received from my freelance job, a mistake which would certainly have added to that pain if the accountant, my wife and I didn’t discover it the way we did.
So my work acknowledged the mistake, adjusted their tax form, sent it to me, and I brought it with me to our second meeting with the accountant yesterday morning.
He went over it, adjusted everything, and we were given our numbers, basically what we owed the government, and it wasn’t pretty, neither the state or federal, as we owed plenty to both.
We drove home with all our tax information in tow, and while we werent’t too happy with the outcome, I vowed to write up the checks and get those payments the hell out of our house once we got home …
Which is what I was in the process of doing, but then we received a phone call from the accountant.
He asked if I had taken health insurance after my wife retired, which of course I did—I thought it was law that you had to have health insurance—and he said to find and print out a tax form for that insurance, something I did not even know existed.
I called New York State of Health, they directed me to where I could find it, and of the 10 pages that this file was, only one page was necessary—the page with all the numbers on it.
I rushed back to the accountant with this newly-printed paperwork in tow, and arrived at the office hoping that this would impact our taxes downward.
Little did I know how the government works, and in particular, the federal government when it comes to insurance like this.
The state government, which touts their New York State of Health website as if it is a real pot of gold for those who have no health insurance, pretty much stood behind these claims, as its inclusion in our taxes saved us all of about $60 on our state taxes.
But then we come to the federal government …
New York State claims that it will help you to pay for this type of insurance, and some people don’t even pay a penny for it, as it is subsidized by the state based on circumstance.
Me, I originally got a minor subsidy of $84 while I had to still pay nearly $400 a month for health insurance that is clearly inaddquate, to say the least.
Anyway, while the state touts this as gold, the federal government actually doesn’t take too kindly towards such insurance and its subsidy by New York State.
How do I know this? I found this out yesterday, when the accountant told me that New York State’s subsidy of such insurance is looked at as an addition to your salary, so since I was given a subsidy of $84 each for the two months I needed this insurance after my wife retired and I await Medicare, the feds added on $168 to may salary, pushing up my payment to them by about $60 or so, so it was a copmplete and total wash for my wife and I.
And also, next year’s taxes will continue to be fouled up by this utter nonsense, as since my wife will be retired for the three months that I actually need this insurance before I get Medicate in April, my state subsidy on the insurance is about two-thirds of what I was paying in 2021 for it, and thus, while New York Staste will look kindly on it, the feds will consider whatever subsidy I get as earned income, and thus, I will have to pay even more next year for it when it comes to tax time!
Thank you Obamacare!
And what about those unwitting people who think that because of their curcumstances, they are getting their health insurance for not just a very reduced rate, or even for free … when it comes to tax time, they are going to learn that nothing is free, no matter how nicely New York State wraps up such a package.
Why the state and the feds are not on the same page on this is beyond my comprehension. Maybe one of you can explain it to me.
I went home completely dejected, but I kept my vow to make out the checks for out taxes 1-2-3, and that is precisely what I did, and they are in the mail now.
Mix in everything that happened over the past nearly three years to me—losing my job, my forced retirement, getting a feelance job, my wife retiring on her own, the need for health insurance for the five-month gap that I need it before I get Medicate—and when you add that all up, the taxman wants his money, and my wife and I were forced to pay an exorbitant sum to satisfy the ridiculous amohjnt of taxes that we owed.
It’s not like we are millionaires here, but the government seems to think we are, and without any tax shelters like rich people have, we got completely zonked.
“Oh, the pain, the pain!”
You might remember that that was the catch phrase from Dr. Smith on the “Lost In Space” TV show, but I will bet Dr. Smith never had to pay his taxes.
Now that is real, real pain!
This two-day exercise in complete frustration that my wife and I engaged in came to its culmination yesterday afternoon, and if the government is wondering when they will get their money from us, since they appear to be so in need of it, well, the checks are signed, sealed and will hopefully be delivered ASAP.
As I expected, when all was said and done, we got zonked yesterday big time, but what made it worse was that it became a long, drawn out process, sort of like going through a major operation without any anaesthetic at all.
As I explained yesterday, a major mistake was made on the paperwork I received from my freelance job, a mistake which would certainly have added to that pain if the accountant, my wife and I didn’t discover it the way we did.
So my work acknowledged the mistake, adjusted their tax form, sent it to me, and I brought it with me to our second meeting with the accountant yesterday morning.
He went over it, adjusted everything, and we were given our numbers, basically what we owed the government, and it wasn’t pretty, neither the state or federal, as we owed plenty to both.
We drove home with all our tax information in tow, and while we werent’t too happy with the outcome, I vowed to write up the checks and get those payments the hell out of our house once we got home …
Which is what I was in the process of doing, but then we received a phone call from the accountant.
He asked if I had taken health insurance after my wife retired, which of course I did—I thought it was law that you had to have health insurance—and he said to find and print out a tax form for that insurance, something I did not even know existed.
I called New York State of Health, they directed me to where I could find it, and of the 10 pages that this file was, only one page was necessary—the page with all the numbers on it.
I rushed back to the accountant with this newly-printed paperwork in tow, and arrived at the office hoping that this would impact our taxes downward.
Little did I know how the government works, and in particular, the federal government when it comes to insurance like this.
The state government, which touts their New York State of Health website as if it is a real pot of gold for those who have no health insurance, pretty much stood behind these claims, as its inclusion in our taxes saved us all of about $60 on our state taxes.
But then we come to the federal government …
New York State claims that it will help you to pay for this type of insurance, and some people don’t even pay a penny for it, as it is subsidized by the state based on circumstance.
Me, I originally got a minor subsidy of $84 while I had to still pay nearly $400 a month for health insurance that is clearly inaddquate, to say the least.
Anyway, while the state touts this as gold, the federal government actually doesn’t take too kindly towards such insurance and its subsidy by New York State.
How do I know this? I found this out yesterday, when the accountant told me that New York State’s subsidy of such insurance is looked at as an addition to your salary, so since I was given a subsidy of $84 each for the two months I needed this insurance after my wife retired and I await Medicare, the feds added on $168 to may salary, pushing up my payment to them by about $60 or so, so it was a copmplete and total wash for my wife and I.
And also, next year’s taxes will continue to be fouled up by this utter nonsense, as since my wife will be retired for the three months that I actually need this insurance before I get Medicate in April, my state subsidy on the insurance is about two-thirds of what I was paying in 2021 for it, and thus, while New York Staste will look kindly on it, the feds will consider whatever subsidy I get as earned income, and thus, I will have to pay even more next year for it when it comes to tax time!
Thank you Obamacare!
And what about those unwitting people who think that because of their curcumstances, they are getting their health insurance for not just a very reduced rate, or even for free … when it comes to tax time, they are going to learn that nothing is free, no matter how nicely New York State wraps up such a package.
Why the state and the feds are not on the same page on this is beyond my comprehension. Maybe one of you can explain it to me.
I went home completely dejected, but I kept my vow to make out the checks for out taxes 1-2-3, and that is precisely what I did, and they are in the mail now.
Mix in everything that happened over the past nearly three years to me—losing my job, my forced retirement, getting a feelance job, my wife retiring on her own, the need for health insurance for the five-month gap that I need it before I get Medicate—and when you add that all up, the taxman wants his money, and my wife and I were forced to pay an exorbitant sum to satisfy the ridiculous amohjnt of taxes that we owed.
It’s not like we are millionaires here, but the government seems to think we are, and without any tax shelters like rich people have, we got completely zonked.
“Oh, the pain, the pain!”
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