It's Raining Rants (Hallelujah) - April mini-rants

That’s so lovely to hear! I wish you the very best possible outcomes, and you’ve definitely got the right attitude and have all the right support to make that happen – and said support is there because they obviously all know you deserve it. Hope you get better food, and please post if and when you can, although we will sure understand if you don’t. (And I love your avatar.)
{{{ Morgyn }}}

That’s my Eddy. One of my friends is taking him in for a rabies shot tomorrow so she can bring him to visit.

My family it tends to be pure mule-headed stubbornness.

If you still have the Rx, check out zenni dot com. Very reasonable prices for frames, and even the “fancy” lenses (coatings, etc.) are way cheaper than most brick and mortar stores.

Oh that is definitely the plan. It’s just unfortunate that we don’t have his prescription anymore. My husband has to see an eye doctor for that. And now I have to wait for him to do that. He will not be speedy about this. He just won’t be. He drags his heels about every chore and always waits till the last second. His mechanic’s license renewal is due on the 20th. He can’t work without it. He’s just now getting to it even though he’s had the notice since February. I won’t mother him because I’d rather be his wife but, sometimes, it is really frustrating to watch.

You know what’s due Monday?

Taxes.

When’s my first opportunity to go home?

Monday.

You can file for an extension online and have plenty of time.

Your avatar is awesome, and you can extend as late as Monday, and I would be gobsmacked if there wasn’t a hardship extension! Get well.

I just want to go home. I’m so tired of not being home.

No need for hardship. Anyone can get a 6-month extension to file just by sending in the one page form that’s basically just your name, address, and SSN asking for it. Approval is totally automatic.

The gotcha is that’s an extension to file, not an extension to pay.

If you were getting a refund anyhow, no big deal; they’ll be happy to hold your money another 6 months until you file your return request for your money back.

But if you own them a some money, or might owe, you need to to send that in with your request for extension. If you might owe, but you haven’t touched your taxes yet and just can’t be sure, then you can approach that dilemma two ways. One is to send in your best guess of a ballpark amount and settle up later, or send in nothing and expect to pay a penalty and interest once you know for sure how much you owe.

The truth is despite their fearsome reputation in some circles, the IRS is pretty casual until you’re trying to steal / abuse the system. The penalties and interest charged for simple underpayment of reasonable amounts until you file your return are derisory. Don’t worry about it.

That is so true. It’s just so wearing being stuck not at home.

Won’t be long now. Then we’ll let out a might mumper cheer for you once you give the good news!

FWIW, the out-of-network anesthesiologist thing was so prevalent at one time that it practically qualified as a scam. A lot of the recent surprise billing laws were intended to prevent this, but I’m not sure if they actually work.

If you mean here in the US, taxes are due the 18th, which is Tuesday. Why? No idea.

ETA: I looked it up. The 15th is on Saturday and Monday is recognized as Emancipation Day in DC.

ETA: ninja’d by the ETA above. Dueling ETA’s! :slight_smile:

Whenever Apr 15th falls on a weekend, Tax Day slides to the subsequent Monday. This year that’s the 17th. So far so normal; it happens 2 years of every 7.

But this year, Monday the 17th is some sort of local holiday in Washington DC. Which means the IRS is closed. So Tax Day slides another day. Viola! Tue the 18th it is.

If Emancipation Day is a permanent DC holiday on the 17th, which I think it is, that suggests that in future years, we’ll have Tax Day on the 15th five years of every seven, the 17th one year of every seven, and the 18th one year of every seven. Such fun.

My accountant always stresses for me to wait and mail my stuff on the absolute last day. This year I owe $80. My taxes have been done for two weeks, but I have been waiting, which stresses me out because I’m afraid I’ll miss it.

You can arrange for the Feds to auto-withdraw the money so you don’t have to stress about that.

I mailed (e-filed actually) my tax return about 6 weeks ago. On Tuesday, and not a moment before, the Feds will stick their giant vacuum hose into my checking account and withdraw several pounds of flesh. I’d misunderestimated my withholding rather badly due to a bunch of one-off factors in 2022. Oops. Sux to be me.

Another thing to consider:
How much difference does it really make to you whether they cash your $80 paper check on Apr 2nd or Apr 25th? Probably zero. Financially the difference is a tiny fraction of a penny even assuming you’ve got a really awesome high interest checking account. Why are you spending all that anxiety to no real benefit? My advice: Stick that puppy in the mail today and sleep better the next 5 days.

And, your accountant’s name is Viola?

Walla!

I think I have a UTI. That’s it. That’s the whole post.

So I use the Google Finance app as a quick way to look up my investment prices. I have one stock for a company that starts with the letter A. Every time I look at the price chart for that company, Google helpfully suggests comparing that stock to ten other stocks. These are not stocks in the same industry or sector. They are simply stocks that also start with the letter A. That’s all.

I suggest thinking twice about investing in any AI project Google may have in the works.

My accountant is a nut. She has some conspiracy theories regarding the IRS. However, I’ve used her services for 25 years and I’ve never been audited, so there’s that.

Oh, and the $80? She told me she originally had me getting $200 back, but she changed a bunch of things so I’d owe a little this year. Because. :crazy_face: