Death and Taxes
I did my dad's taxes this year. This is because I haven't done taxes since 1976 when I worked for the Department of Water and Power and had no idea what records my dad's tax preparer would need. I also procrastinated to the point I didn't think she'd be able to get them done in time. Last year, I just brought her a big envelope along about February containing all the Important Tax Documents Encloseds and nothing else, since my parents would be taking the standard deduction. It still took her a couple of months and $165 to complete them.
This year, I decided my dad ought to itemize, since the cost of my mother's skilled care facility alone put him well over the break-even amount. This meant I had to locate a lot of documents I hadn't been keeping very close track of: charitable contributions, other medical expenses, property taxes, etc. Fortunately, I had been trying to keep my mother's Quicken accounts more or less up-to-date, even if I hadn't reconciled the Morgan Stanley since last April or so. Unfortunately, it was an old version of Quicken, so TurboTax couldn't directly import any of the information. I expect I missed a fair amount, but if the IRS audits my dad, they may end up owing him even more money (except I expect it doesn't work that way).
Thank goodness for TurboTax! I even had the satisfaction of getting my dad's federal returns filed twice. When I e-filed the first time, the IRS rejected his 1040 because his birthdate didn't match his birthdate at the Social Security office. I unfortunately couldn't fix the error, because it wasn't an error on my side. So I just printed out the forms, which do not include a birth date, had Daddy sign and date them, and stuck them in an envelope with a thick sheaf of 1099-R forms (those are what you get for payouts from retirement pensions and IRAs). I essentially made a special trip to mail them, but I rewarded myself with a trip to the craft store after I left the post office. There's nothing like totally useless pretty things to cheer a girl up!
This year, I decided my dad ought to itemize, since the cost of my mother's skilled care facility alone put him well over the break-even amount. This meant I had to locate a lot of documents I hadn't been keeping very close track of: charitable contributions, other medical expenses, property taxes, etc. Fortunately, I had been trying to keep my mother's Quicken accounts more or less up-to-date, even if I hadn't reconciled the Morgan Stanley since last April or so. Unfortunately, it was an old version of Quicken, so TurboTax couldn't directly import any of the information. I expect I missed a fair amount, but if the IRS audits my dad, they may end up owing him even more money (except I expect it doesn't work that way).
Thank goodness for TurboTax! I even had the satisfaction of getting my dad's federal returns filed twice. When I e-filed the first time, the IRS rejected his 1040 because his birthdate didn't match his birthdate at the Social Security office. I unfortunately couldn't fix the error, because it wasn't an error on my side. So I just printed out the forms, which do not include a birth date, had Daddy sign and date them, and stuck them in an envelope with a thick sheaf of 1099-R forms (those are what you get for payouts from retirement pensions and IRAs). I essentially made a special trip to mail them, but I rewarded myself with a trip to the craft store after I left the post office. There's nothing like totally useless pretty things to cheer a girl up!
Labels: Daily grind
posted by Jeannette | 9:01 PM
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