February 14, 2008

Cheer up, right? Please.

This day has gone from inconvenient to annoying to down right so angry that I just actually told my accountant: "You have disturbed my serenity to such an alarming degree that I actually cannot adequately communicate it to you". Much, much better than telling him to go f**k himself.

To begin, I could not sleep from between 12:30 and 1:30 this morning. I lay on the sofa downstairs and listened to the storm battering the house. It was loud, persistent, and somewhat violent.

I left the house at 4:56 this morning to go to the train station, as is my custom. There was a huge tree branch, like half a tree, down and blocking my driveway. I had to go over the lawn to get out of my house. I should have just gone back to bed.

It was a slow train ride in to Stamford. Once in Stamford, they announced that the train had hit some debris and they had to change equipment. That meant that they had to cancel our train and stick all of us on to the local -- the one that makes every stop between Stamford and Grand Central. Having left the house at 4:56, I arrived in Grand Central at 7:05.

No time to play squash this morning, due to late arrival. My partner picked up another game, you see.

Get a call from the accountant who got call from my wife who got a letter from the IRS asking in that really gentle IRS kind of way, where are your 2006 tax returns? For gentle, read: there could be criminal penalties associated with failure to file returns. As much as I would like to say, kiss my Wesley Snipes ass, you jerks, I resist. I tell my accountant that I am puzzled since I have his letter telling me that my returns (joint returns) were filed electronically. Ah, says he, let me call you back. See, if e-filed, that means that his firm did it.

His partner calls me. Turns out, for reasons he cannot explain, none of our tax returns (we file federal and in two states) were filed for 2006. Their mistake. He is going to re-prepare them and send them over to me for my and my wife's signature so that we can file them by mail. He will, I insisted, include a cover letter on his firm's letterhead taking full responsibility for the mistake.

Sure.

And if this mistake screws up my wife's application for US citizenship? What do I do if that happens?

I am now terribly concerned about what bad and stupid thing is about to happen next.

I have not had lunch yet. I bet I break a tooth when I bite into something and the dentist won't be able to see my until June. If I was a betting man, that's what I would bet will happen.

I am really beyond angry here. Way beyond. As only a guy who hasn't slept well in two days can be.

Posted by Random Penseur at February 14, 2008 01:06 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Uh, what happened to the cash you handed over to pay said taxes? That's what I'd be wondering.

Hope you get it resolved, and painlessly. the IRS scares the ever living shit out of me.

Posted by: Kathy at February 14, 2008 01:39 PM

Oh, man. That's no good, whatsoever. I'm with Kathy: I hope it gets resolved, and soon. The IRS is like our own internal terrorist organization.

Posted by: Jennifer at February 14, 2008 02:28 PM

no kidding, what Kathy said. And I hope you do get a satisfactory cover letter, one that you keep multiple copies of.

In fact, I hope he words it in such a way that it covers ANY consequences from the lack of filing.

Jeez.

Hope tomorrow is better, my friend.

Posted by: caltechgirl at February 14, 2008 05:03 PM

RP, I think you should get a whack of cards printed up thusly..."You have disturbed my serenity to such an alarming degree..." and send one to the Dentist when he can't make a prompt appointment, one to the jerks that didn't e-file your income tax, one to the IRS...etc.

It may not be a solution for everything, but for some unknown reason, there's more comfort in these words than any four-letter words of malice. Guess because the words indirectly say that you remain a person of reason even though the rest of the world is insane.

Hope all turns out well for you, RP.

Posted by: Roberta S at February 17, 2008 12:33 AM

Geez! Must be nice to altogether NOT do a part of one's job, just apologize, and promptly move on!

Aargh!~

Posted by: Monica C. at February 18, 2008 07:04 PM

Oh, nobody has seen the troubles I've seen with the IRS! All thanks to an incompetent accountant no less. I even had to go to tax court. Not a good time those years, and exceedingly stressful. It did affect my marriage too.

The good news: I represented myself in tax court and won (of course with the guidance and supervision of Harvard-trained tax attorney). I then sued my lousy incompetent accountant and won! In the process I learned my identity had been stolen. Horrible 6 years those were!

I'm now paying through the nose for a top notch accountant and I'm happy as a clam and stress free. You'll get there too.

Posted by: michele (of letters from nyc) at February 26, 2008 11:26 AM

Massage McHenry

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