The reward

Half past April! No, wait it’s quarter to May. Time for me to start thinking about doing the income taxes. I know, I know. Start? Really, I’m not kidding. At this point in the year, many of you have been there and done that. You’ve paid the piper or jumped for joy because you paid the piper too much and are getting a refund. I’m impressed by your focus. My definition of a banner tax year would be not owing a cent and not getting a refund. Income tax namaste. I know, I sound crazy with regard to the refund issue, especially when so many people think of an income tax rebate as some kind of coup. For me, not getting a refund means I didn’t let the federal government have my money for a whole year for free. Think about, that’s some kind of crazy arse loan deal. If we get a refund it just means we’ve loaned the feds money, interest free. The feds aren’t as kind if we happen to owe them money, are they?

Seriously though, I do admire people who have all of their tax receipts and forms sorted into categories and stashed away right where they should be—in a file marked “income tax”. I am equally blown away by those of you who have a spreadsheet for your expenses and income and the data on your spreadsheet matches the chits in your tax file. Shaa-wing. I have a special place in my heart for that in a person, sort of a love/hate/admire/disdain place. I should have married a person who could keep me and my income tax file organized. Instead, I married an aspiring teacher of French who won mathematics awards in high school, loved travel and adventure, art and fine food, but who is pretty much like myself with regard to bookkeeping on a household and personal level. I was top of my class in accounting, believe it or not. I could do fictitious books for the ABC Company like nobody’s business. My parents were very proud of my scholastic accomplishments and, I’m sure, they secretly hoped I would become an accountant or a banker and offer to do their books for free. Banking it was, for a little while. As it turned out, there wasn’t any room for laughs or creative thinking in banking during the ’60s. It didn’t take long for me to ditch the ledgers and look for something more amusing.

So, quarter to May it is. As it turns out, LOML does have a tax file and if he has a receipt that looks as if it needs to be in the tax file, that’s where it’s dumped. His un-spreadsheeted receipts are easy enough to find. Mine? Well, not so much. I started 2013 with a mission to be more organized with regard to my income and expenses. My receipts from January to March of that year are in a file folder marked “The Vortex Museum”. More on the VM at another time. Receipts after March of 2013 are in the upper deck of the antique, two storey in/out tray with a Chenhall’s Nomenclature acting as an anchor or a breeze blocker. (Both the Chenhall’s and the VM will definitely figure in a column of mine, one day.) The trick will be to remember if the cash register tape for $93.15 was for research materials, or matting and framing photos for a show, or the new hard drive. That’s where the bank statements come in handy—being able to find the $93.15 on a bank statement and seeing where the money was spent is a bit like a research project in my “vortex museum”.

I wonder if my bank statements for 2013 are in the folder marked “Research, other”. Who knows, maybe the $93.15 was for the Chenhall’s Nomenclature. Ya, maybe I’ll pack everything into a Sobey’s bag and call the bookkeeper. Ya, that’s the ticket.

The reward for saving your money is being able to pay your taxes without borrowing.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca