howdy folks. sorry i haven't been around...it took me a while to recover from my IRS bloodletting. here's the story for you...it's funny in a 'ironic wow that's really not funny' kind of way.
so for the past year and a 1/2 i've taken a break from teaching to focus on one very small student...i'm a nanny for a 3 1/2 yr old boy who is genius brilliant, and also has asperger's syndrome. his mom is a buddhist author and his father is a genetic engineer (
i know...).
one of the perks of being a nanny is supposed to be that you get paid under that table. except i don't because the father's company (from which my paychecks are issued) is about to go public, and they want everything on the up and up. at least this is what i was told when i asked WHY.
for 2002, for the first time, i filed as 'self-employed'. meaning that no taxes were taken out of my paychecks, so i had to pay it all in one painful lump sum. apparently i did my taxes wrong last year, because two weeks ago i received a nasty letter from the irs saying that i owed $775 in back taxes!!!! ouch.
so for this year, i really got on it, hoping to avoid further mistakes. except, unlike last year, the accountant at the dad's office refused to give me a 1099 misc. form (what you get instead of a w2 if you are self employed), because THEIR tax consultant said they didn't have to. which is wrong, according to MY tax consultant. i tried to get on her ass about it, but to no avail. she did, however, send me an email with a listing of all my paycheck amounts, and a total sum.
but when i double checked, some payments were missing, while others had been repeated. so more email warfare ensued with me trying to get the correct amount from the accountant. i mean, i had to make sure i was reporting the same amount they were, right?
now a really nasty thing about being self-employed that i just discovered, is that you pay more than if you work for a corporation. 28% of my income, to be exact. unless you deduct your whole life, which i couldn't because i didn't realize all of this, and i had no receipts.
so i add up my taxes, and i owe.....
....$3000!!!!!!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! suddenly i'm realizing, that i can't afford my job! this is retarded and depressing, but whatever. i do my taxes, and drop them in the mail.
the VERY NEXT DAY, i stop by the dad's office, and the account, all sugar and smiles, approaches me and says, "wow, sorry about all the tax mess, is everything ok?"
"well, not really, but they're taken care of. basically i just wanted to make sure that the amount you guys reported is the same amount that i reported so i don't get in trouble."
she just blinks at me.
"we didn't report you. i thought you knew that...that's why none of us could understand why you were so adamant about getting a 1099. you didn't have to report your income to the IRS"
i didn't need that $3000 anyway.
right?
so for the past year and a 1/2 i've taken a break from teaching to focus on one very small student...i'm a nanny for a 3 1/2 yr old boy who is genius brilliant, and also has asperger's syndrome. his mom is a buddhist author and his father is a genetic engineer (
i know...).
one of the perks of being a nanny is supposed to be that you get paid under that table. except i don't because the father's company (from which my paychecks are issued) is about to go public, and they want everything on the up and up. at least this is what i was told when i asked WHY.
for 2002, for the first time, i filed as 'self-employed'. meaning that no taxes were taken out of my paychecks, so i had to pay it all in one painful lump sum. apparently i did my taxes wrong last year, because two weeks ago i received a nasty letter from the irs saying that i owed $775 in back taxes!!!! ouch.
so for this year, i really got on it, hoping to avoid further mistakes. except, unlike last year, the accountant at the dad's office refused to give me a 1099 misc. form (what you get instead of a w2 if you are self employed), because THEIR tax consultant said they didn't have to. which is wrong, according to MY tax consultant. i tried to get on her ass about it, but to no avail. she did, however, send me an email with a listing of all my paycheck amounts, and a total sum.
but when i double checked, some payments were missing, while others had been repeated. so more email warfare ensued with me trying to get the correct amount from the accountant. i mean, i had to make sure i was reporting the same amount they were, right?
now a really nasty thing about being self-employed that i just discovered, is that you pay more than if you work for a corporation. 28% of my income, to be exact. unless you deduct your whole life, which i couldn't because i didn't realize all of this, and i had no receipts.
so i add up my taxes, and i owe.....
....$3000!!!!!!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! suddenly i'm realizing, that i can't afford my job! this is retarded and depressing, but whatever. i do my taxes, and drop them in the mail.
the VERY NEXT DAY, i stop by the dad's office, and the account, all sugar and smiles, approaches me and says, "wow, sorry about all the tax mess, is everything ok?"
"well, not really, but they're taken care of. basically i just wanted to make sure that the amount you guys reported is the same amount that i reported so i don't get in trouble."
she just blinks at me.
"we didn't report you. i thought you knew that...that's why none of us could understand why you were so adamant about getting a 1099. you didn't have to report your income to the IRS"
i didn't need that $3000 anyway.
right?
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And sorry about the mambo songs in your head! Well, maybe I'm not sorry. Maybe I'm cruel that way.
PS: Thank you about the piccie!
[Edited on Apr 24, 2004 11:54AM]