Saturday, April 9, 2011

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

I feel like today was more stressful than it needed to be.  My biggest priority for the day was to get my taxes straightened out.  After I received the 1099's that Holly sent me last week (the deadline to mail out W-2's and 1099's to employees is January 31st), I resolved to do everything in my power to make her life miserable, since now I have to come up with about $500 to pay my taxes out of pocket.  After going over my whole entire tax return, top to bottom with the "tax professional" (I use quotes because I feel like he wasn't terribly certain about what the hell he was doing), we then amended my tax return to include the 1099 Holly sent me and the corrected 1099 I received from unemployment about the same time I got the one from Holly.  It only took an hour and a half, and with some extra help from another tax professional, we were able to figure out how much I'm going to owe, and I was given forms to use to report Holly to the IRS for 1099-ing me instead of W-2-ing me as an employee as she should have.  The use of the 1099 is for contract workers, and the example I was given was someone who comes in to re-tile a bathroom.  The person who hires the worker says, "Please re-tile my bathroom.  I will pay you $X when you are finished," and that's that.  An employee is someone who is under complete control of an employer, who sets forth hours and controls every aspect of the job: what is being done, how it's being done, when it gets done, etc.  After discussing my job with the tax professionals, it was decided that I was, in fact, an "employee" and therefore should have been subject to the taxes and tax withholding of an "employee" and not a "contract worker."  Holly used the 1099 on me to get out of having to pay payroll taxes.  But I'm going to fuck her every which way from Sunday (as far as is in my power) by reporting her to the IRS.  Once I submit the paperwork, there is a chance she will be investigated and audited, as well as fined.  Considering what I know about her and her organizational skills, I doubt the IRS will find much with which to penalize her, but auditing and investigation from the IRS is nothing if not an enormous pain in the ass, and I want to cause her as much of a pain in the ass as she is causing me by the late 1099 and for how demanding she was of me when I was in her "employment."

I felt substantially better when I left HR Block, almost giddy.  I grabbed Phoenix and we went back to my parents house, where I had decided to spend the rest of the day detailing my car.  Unfortunately, upon my arrival, all three kids woke up from naps and my parents had to go run some errands, so I was put in charge and was forced to wait to work on my car.  I'm not necessarily complaining because I really love spending time with them, but I was sort of looking forward to going over there and getting to be completely free of responsibility of watching the kids.

My parents are rock stars.  With my sister working now, they are given the responsibility of watching the kids when she's gone.  My mom is off on Wednesday afternoons, Thursdays and Fridays, and the kids now stay over there Wednesday night through either Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon, alternating each week.  So my poor mom is basically going through raising three small children all over again in her 50's, after having gotten rid of her own three children.  The only real positive of my sister working is that she can carry her financial weight now and pay for the stupid shit she does instead of forcing my parents to pay for it.  I'm not sure it will actually work out that way, but it's a nice idea in theory.  I wish my sister could be more sensitive about her schedule, though, and take the days off when the kids are there instead of the days when they're not there because it's really hard on my parents to be in charge all over again.  One positive aspect of my parents being primary caregivers is that the kids are given a little more freedom to make mistakes and misbehave without fear of being screamed at all the live-long day, and my parents are a lot more cognizant of getting the kids out of the house and out from in front of the TV.  Today, I guess, they all spent much of the day outside while my parents were out in the backyard working on the vegetable garden, with the boys digging up worms (which they named Squirmy and Slimey) and the baby doing a little playing in the dirt of her own.  By the time I got there, things were winding down and the boys went to play with their new friend that lives two houses over who is 5 or 6 years old.

I did get to finally detail my car, although ironically not in as much detail as I wanted, because the kind of Saturday evening ritual my family has is that around 4pm, my parents start fixing dinner and we all sit on the back porch drinking beer and chatting about whatever.  They turn the radio on and listen to the Rockies broadcast and my dad grills steaks and we all sort of get caught up on each other's weeks, or the kids, or on our own opinions of current events.

Something I was thinking about as I was driving over there today was what my roommates must think of my relationship with my family.  They know my sister's story and about how I had to get the hell out for fear of siblicide (the only word I can think of that means to kill one's sibling), but they know that I spend a lot of my free time over there, too.  I wonder if they think that I just sit over there and watch TV the way I do at home, or if they think I was being over-dramatic about the whole situation with my sister.  I don't really care what it is that they think, but I am just slightly curious.  I like to try to envision other people's opinions of me from time to time.  Even as frustrating and upsetting as it can be sometimes, I love my family so much, and I'm so close with them.  They know just about every detail of my life, and I like it that way.  They're my support system and that's a place that I can go to feel important and loved and cared for.

And that brings me here.  I spent about an hour on the phone with my breakfast date for tomorrow, which is a different guy from last week.  I'm real excited because after talking to him on the phone for awhile, I think we'll get along really well, and I'm feeling a twinge that maybe he is looking forward to meeting and liking me more than I am him.  I like the idea of being pursued and being considered interesting and having someone out there who wants to learn more about me without me having to try to convince them that I really am all of those things.  I'm just a little thrown on this guy because while he's nice and attractive and tall (he resembles Aaron, I think), and he's really down to earth and funny, but I worry that he might be just a little too into himself for me.  I really like self-deprecating humor and while he's funny, he's not funny in that particular way.  He likes to point out things about himself that he thinks I should know, and I totally get that and I've done it myself, but he does a lot of it.  I think part of it might be nerves and him trying to get me to like him, but I worry that he might be that way all the time.  So we are going to breakfast about halfway between our houses, which is about Washington Park in Downtown Denver.  I have a soccer game at 1, but I am not going to play because of how my ankle swelled up last night, so I am free to spend some extra time with him if the occasion should call for it.

With regards to my ankle - I feel just the slightest bit of guilt over not playing, both because I want to play and I need and want the exercise, but I want to be a dependable and reliable member of my soccer team since I've obligated myself to playing this season, especially since I missed the first game.  But at the same time, I really feel like if I want to survive the remainder of the season, and if I want to be able to do some running this summer, I need to give my ankle a chance to heal from rolling it last week.  It doesn't really hurt anymore, unless I step funny or stand on it the wrong way, or sit on it the wrong way, but it's still a little swollen and I can just tell that there is damage in there that really needs to heal before I get back out there again.  I'm really hoping that I can play again next week, but I know I'm going to have to take it super easy after that.  What pisses me off is that I was wearing my damn $90 ankle brace on that ankle when I rolled it.  This shit isn't supposed to happen!!  And I know I need to have surgery to fix both ankles and a lot of physical therapy if I want to continue to be active, but I am nowhere near being able to afford it with my shitty insurance.  Which is why I am looking forward to going back to school - I'm getting new insurance and either grants or student loans will pay for it for a whole year.

Okay I really need to get into bed now so that I can get up and shower tomorrow morning without thinking about canceling so I can go back to sleep.  The weather is supposed to be crappy again tomorrow like it was last Sunday, so I'm real glad I won't be outside playing, and I can theoretically sleep the rest of the day away tomorrow without guilt of missing valuable outside time while the weather is beautiful.

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