I no sooner wrote my previous posting about looking forward to a tax refund, then I was greeted 24 hours later with news from our accountant. It appears that my lovely wife’s 2014 income far exceeded the good accountant’s “conservative” expectations for estimated taxes she paid, and we now have a sizable tax bill owed to Uncle Sam. I had given our accountant a moniker of “Reagan” in that post, but I think I’m renaming her “Pinocchio” instead.
Gorgeous received an exuberant amount of platitudinal praise for having such a good year. With accolades like that we think the good accountant should stick to her numbers rather than Dale Carnegie impressions. Needless to say we are not amused. We will need to learn the intricacies of estimated taxes for 2015 on our own, and not just depend on the handy coupons she creates for us.
I knew I should have not looked out the window so much during high school math class.
Snakes in the Grass 
I have to do quarterly estimated taxes too and I usually do a mini tax return prior to the last payment just to be sure we (the IRS and I) are in the same ball park (or at least the same country). That’s a lesson learned from a humongous error many years ago. Last year the IRS sent me a note that I owed $11K. I almost had a heart attack until I found THEIR mistake. I hate taxes. There has to be an easier way. One thing I learned from your post, having an accountant doesn’t mean there aren’t surprises. Does this mean your vacation is kaput?
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Yes, a very good friend of ours who works in the financial field explained to us this morning that even the best accountants view everything wearing blinders– their world is one in which they really know the know tax law and rulings, and the advice they give is very black and white. We now know to do pretty much what you’re doing prior to each quarterly payment. I like your verbiage of “mini tax return.” That’s pretty much what needs to be done. Lesson learned the hard way.
We think it makes sense to get on the installment agreement to pay this so that we’re not living too tight. The IRS interest and terms are quite reasonable, and our financial friend recommends it. So, I think we can still take some trips this later this year, yes. They might be Motel 8-like instead of Marriott but we’ll still be able to do a couple.
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Motel 8? That must be better than Motel 6 where they keep the light on! 🙂
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lol Touche!
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Congratulations on the successful year! Sorry about the extra taxes due. Often success is penalized in the tax world. We will be paying a lot more in taxes this year surprisingly due to a successful year as well. There goes lunch!!!! Speaking of Reagan, this reminds me of the Laffer Curve, which was big in the Reagan administration. Economist Arthur Laffer attended a meeting during the Ford Administration and supposedly used a napkin after the meeting while at a reception to show Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (please see the posters on your wall) to sketch out how tax revenues are highest in certain ranges. If there are no taxes (0) citizens will work their hardest to make all the money but the government gets nothing; likewise, if taxes are at 100% of income, citizens have no incentive to work and therefore there will be no tax revenues. The debate continues as what is the optimal tax rate in between to both encourage citizens to work and succeed in business and gain the most for the government in tax revenues. Taxes have definitely gone up over the past couple years for me and with a tax bill instead of a refund, I’m looking for the easy chair, tallying up my sick leave, and wondering when ‘Maury’ comes on in the afternoon.
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Ah yes, that balance to figure out how the 99% will work for their piece of cheese! Thank you, Arthur Laffer. Shhhh! Those framed portraits of Cheney and Rumsfeld was supposed to be a secret!
Maury? Nah, it’s Wendy now. Get with the program, Dude.
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Sorry…
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Sorry to hear of the bad news on the tax front. In all of my years of being a tax-paying citizen, I have never once received a rebate, so I somewhat feel your pain.
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Many thanks. I really can’t complain when so many go without. Onward!
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