SORRY NOT TO HAVE POSTED - IT HAS BEEN ONE OF THOSE TIMES - TOO MUCH TO DO AND MORE COMING DAILY!!

 Yes, it's been a few weeks since I posted.  My apologies.  I am sure all of you have gotten into periods of time when too much has TO be done in too short a time – that's where I have been.

I have to do extensive paperwork for us to apply for senior reduction in our real estate taxes.  Last year our submission took 126 pages - and when I dropped this office they were NOT surprised at how big the submission was and had clips large enough for it all – I submit it in 2 sections as we don't.

While my part of doing this is bad enough, I had trouble getting the correct printout from our medical insurance company – it took a letter and 4 or 5 phone calls over the period of almost 2 months to finally get the paperwork we needed – and I had sent a copy of last year's printout to show them what we needed with the first request.  I have to enclose proof of all incomes (umm, do they think I would include an income we didn't have?).  Since I am self-employed I also have to include proof of all my business expenses and the same for husband's business.  This year for the first time we also had to get a print of what income IRS has for us.  Have I mentioned copies of our Federal AND State income tax returns have to be sent also?   One thing which has become easier is that since I am not going out to clients due to Covid I am not taking car expenses so I don't have to copy all of that and include it (submission with same used to be something like 170 pages).  I finally got a chance to work on all of this this week – due by January 2 – but who wants to be dealing it with it during the fun of December.  We will walk this into the county assessor's office as one year there was confusion and even with mailing it certified mail, we were not sure if they received it in the mail.  

I also have to take a series of courses to be able to be able to prepare income tax returns next year – 20 hours of classes plus exams.  Luckily I can do at this home online – but it does take a lot of time – actual time is lot more than 20 hours.  

So last week I started working on the real estate tax exemption paperwork.  I was doing well and then – I got a notice from IRS that we never filed a partnership return for a zero income (for decades) business we have.  It was due and filed last March!!  So I had to print it all out again.  I know that our state received their form as they cashed the check.  The IRS form has no check which is why we did not know it was not received.  Being in accounting since I was 12 years old and I know how to appeal an accidental problem such as this so that there is no penalty – but the notice came with different instructions and I was not sure what was made by what part of it said.  Tried calling the special number for IRS on the form on Monday morning.  Now, I know that Monday is the worst day of the week to try calling – well, any business – as they get more calls after the weekend.  I also know that later in the day is better than earlier, but husband insisted that I call right away.  (An any business with a phone number which is open across the country until later so those on west coast can call – is much better to call later than earlier as, again, fewer people are calling later after business hours on the east coast and same across the county end. )  While I was setting up that evening to go on a Zoom meeting with our reenactment unit I tried calling again – this time I actually got into the waiting que.  I texted my husband – he was going to attend the Zoom meeting on his computer upstairs – what was going on and to explain to the other members if I suddenly disappeared.  The call was finally taken by someone from IRS and the matter of what to do to resolve it was solved.  It was mailed out certified mail on Friday – why did I wait for Friday?  I figured (correctly) that the Post Office would be empty the day after Thanksgiving as most everyone would be shopping.  

As of last night I had done most of the photocopying/scanning of the paperwork for the real estate tax exemption.  BUT – I received in the mail from an accounting client on the other side of the country an IRS notice she received on her income taxes (due last April of course and sent then – they must be way behind in processing returns).  I determined that the problem was my fault, though only an omission of a form, and I went to print out the form to send it to IRS.  It was missing.  I had used husband's computer (with data on my stick data drive) as his computer is newer than mine and the program needs same.  So I went to print out the page to send it to IRS.  The software was missing from his computer and we had to reinstall it.  Got the page printed out, wrote a cover letter and got it ready to mail to IRS by – again, certified mail.  I had planned to mail it out today, but the rain was so heavy will mail it tomorrow.  

I then went back to working on our real estate (partial) exemption paperwork.  I am missing about 10 pages I know I printed out (I have the other 2 pages, so I must have printed all of them) and will have to reprint that tomorrow.  Hopefully this will be done by the end of the week and we can bring it to the county assessor's office next week.  (I will take it in while husband waits in car – too crowded to park there and they have metered parking.)

That will leave the classes I need to take.  I have already picked out which ones I plan to take.  Some of the courses are required – a basic income tax class, a special class to meet IRS requirements for being a tax preparer (the longest of the classes),  and a class on ethics.  The other classes it is up to me which ones to take.  This year they have several 1 hour classes and I will take 3 of them.  After reading the course text book for each course I have to take (and pass) an online exam.  

While I have until the end of the year for these classes I can't put it off.  Husband is planning on our going with our reenactment unit for the Candlelight nights at the local restoration village (as volunteers) and he really needs me to be there with him as we are light on member volunteers this year.  (Whether it is a good idea to do this or not with Covid about as it is tiny space, I will not discuss with him as he REALLY needs to do the event.)  

And, of course, we have not put up any Christmas decorations outside or inside the house – yet!  Plus who knows what else will pop up?