Tax Tango

Filling out tax forms for folks you get some interesting scenarios and I have found you actually get to do a little dance with each one of them. You are both a bit shy at first, not quite sure who is going to lead but soon the music of numbers and W-2s takes over and you find both are pretty adept at this ritual.

"Do you know about the telephone tax credit?" they ask coyly.

"Yes, the program defaults automatically gives you the credit and we would have to manually remove it if you answered that you did not have any long distance services since 2003." They nod appreciately at the agileness of my move but quickly pull me back with,

"My mother lives with us and we provide food, shelter, and most of her medicine. Can we claim her?" There is a big smile as they believe they have started to twirl me around but I dodge the move with,

"Sure, if your mom hasn't already filed, doesn't claim herself, and hasn't already filed otherwise." The smile leaves their face as they race out the room to call mom to stop her from filing. I take a moment to hurriedly fill in the spaces before they return. As they file back in and sit down in front of the table, they are a bit more wary.

"We qualified for EITC last year and got lots of money back. We want to do that again this year." I nod enthusiastically because this is the primary reason the free tax service is offered, to increase the number of people who can take advantage of this benefit and to keep them from being gouged by instant refund services.

"No problem, let me get all of your information in and we will see what we can do."

The dance continues with questions and answers, sly sliding movements to avoid direct confrontation that might lead to their unhappiness but ultimately you find yourself heading to the grand finale where you will either dip them with a flourish or drop them on the floor with the thud of "I'm sorry, your refund is much less this year because a) you didn't work enough b) little Johnny has grown up and doesn't live with you any more and is now married and raising his own kids, or c) you can't claim your dogs, no matter what the tax preparer's in Wally World tell you."

Luckily, most of the time you are able to tell them they are getting a nice refund and the dance ends with everyone clapping and sweating appreciatively. Those dances are fun... it's the thud ending ones that break your heart.

I hope your dance with the IRS is a good one this year and that you have the chance to step on their toes as much as possible.