For starters, by way of explanation for most of the stress I've been coping with, my mother has been suffering increasingly from Alzheimer's (now in the moderate or late-moderate stage) and I've been the only one nearby to give assistance. That would have been difficult enough except that she got stubborn and wouldn't accept assistance so things got really out of control. As of about a week ago, however, she has gone to live with another relative out of state. But while the responsibility for her care has shifted elsewhere, I'm not responsible for straightening out her financial mess. More about that in future posts.
But I suppose the main reason I haven't been blogging is that I've known that I had a dark financial cloud looming over me--taxes. I knew I was going to owe a whopping amount and I didn't have enough money saved. That thought plus dealing with my mom's situation just made me want to crawl in a hole. But in the past week or so I've been getting things in order so I could at least know exactly where I stand. I paid my property taxes and that almost cleaned out my savings. I've got a total of a bit more than $400 left in all my savings accounts combined--not good!
Then it was time to tackle my income taxes. I hadn't made all my estimated tax payments and I knew the bill was going to be big and it was--$6679 for federal and $693 for the state. I paid the state, but I filed the federal tax papers with no payment. After speaking with someone at the IRS, I decided to wait until they bill me and then work out a 120-day extension. There will be penalties and interest, but they're pretty low. I could take out a low-interest advance on a credit card to cover it, but I think the thought of owing the IRS will keep me scared enough that I'll be even more motivated to pay it off this way. I'm going to try to earn extra money every single way I can think of (legally) to get this paid off in four months.
I'm very depressed to think that this IRS debt will just about wipe out the progress I've made in paying down my debt over the last two years. But I'm just going to have to suck it up and dig myself out of this mess too.
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3 comments:
First of all, I am sorry about your mom and that is a very tough diagnosis and situation to deal with. Don't blame yourself for faltering in your financial plan. With regard to the income taxes, I can feel your pain. I, too, found out that my federal taxes are going to be near $6,000 with the state at only $150. I can pay the state but definitely not the federal. My tax person filed my return electronically and told me she filed the request to work out a payment plan as well. I hope it isn't a 4 month requirement, though, because I certainly don't have an extra $1500 a month. I will tell you that self-employment has never looked so bleak this last year. At least you have your property taxes paid - mine are delinquent as well. Good luck to both of us!
Immer, I'm sure you'll be able to work out an arrangement with the IRS to pay back over more than 4 months. I'm just hoping that I can do a 120-day extension rather than an installment plan. We'll see. But best of luck to you as well.
Dear Nine,
I had previously asked you why you would consider self-employment with your gross salary on the low side of whatever you do. Just say I consult with people about job-related decisions and I would rarely advise someone to go into self-employment for so little return. This is not a put down. I know you feel that whatever you were making, you could make more on your own. It's the little stuff that can trip people up, such as having your taxes withheld by someone else and their being responsible to the IRS for the 941. Plus things such as keeping a good health plan or risk losing good talent to a company that takes benefits seriously. What's the future? Are you considering going back into the job pool, or continued self-employment and resulting issues?
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