I’ve been tagged by Dexie over at She Knows Best to do a meme. I’ve never done a meme for taxgirl before – it’s never seemed to fit. But I thought I’d give it a go, incorporating facts about me that have to do with tax. Here we go:
1. In law school, I swore that I would never take a tax class. I ended up getting my Masters in Tax. The lesson I learned? Never say never.
2. I won my first audit when I interned with IRS. I was young, female and scared to death. The audit was in a bank – we were auditing an estate. The bank brought all of its “people” and its attorney, who was an older, male attorney. I had written a letter presenting my findings and I basically summarized it at the table. The attorney looked at me very seriously, looked at the bank VPs and said, “Gentlemen, she’s exactly right.” I almost passed out.
3. For years, I prepared tax returns pro bono at our local senior center as part of the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. It was great fun. My favorite client was an older gentleman who wanted me to list his occupation as “Spy”.
4. I don’t prepare tax returns for clients anymore. I’m far too busy. Instead, I focus on compliance and planning.
5. I rarely file my return in April. I almost always have to get an extension because we’re so busy.
6. I’m writing a book about taxes, specifically focusing on the history of income tax in the US. It’s neither a dry historical perspective nor a policy-driven book, it’s kind of both.
7. My oldest daughter believes that I work with taxis, not taxes. I should be so lucky!
Whew, that was actually fun. You can find out more about me by reading my GTKYT interview here or reading my b5 bio.
And now, I’m supposed to call some folks out to do the meme over at their blogs. So here is my eclectic mix, some business-related, some fun, some both:
Chris at Hopsreport
Sally at Living Without Meat
Dave at PopBuzzUK
Kim at Zoot!
Madeline at Hogwarts Herald
Mary Emma at Home Biz Notes
Darlene at Interview Chatter
Here are the rules:
Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.
And there you go: my first taxgirl meme! Hopefully, it wasn’t too random and you’re learning that even tax geeks are people, too. If you have any questions about a tax career, feel free to ask or comment away. If you have specific tax-related questions, ask the taxgirl!
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Thanks Kelly
#5 is very interesting, I surely wouldn’t expect that from people who do taxes. I always assume they’d file first. But then the busy time makes sense too.
you’d be proud of me coz my hubby and I are always one of the first people lining up to get taxes done. it’s one thing we always try to do on time, figures..
Who knew that you could meet such interesting people?? I just bet that your elderly gentlemen (#3) has some great stories to share lol…
I also like to remember the time you said you’d never be a tax attorney because they have to dress too conservatively.
I don’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed that you’ve passed the meme on to me Kelly lol
Nice post though, your oldest daughter wishes you worked with taxes, they’re much more exciting
Dave -
the correct answer is “pleased”
Hey, Kelly. I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to give me specific advice and to check out my site. I agree – I definitely fall into the hobby category. Thanks for clarifying!
Can you say more about the book? It sounds interesting!
Reading #6 made me chuckle. I’m a student a UCLA Law and I’ve taken two tax classes from Stephen Bank, who works tax history into everything he talks about. He doesn’t always use a “dry historical perspective,” but I confess I often found even the policy-driven discussions to be rather dry, despite the fact that Professor Bank is also a hilarious lecturer…
Fine, fine, be that way. I’ve done my list of seven but I’m not tagging anyone else! First, because I’m cranky that way, and second because you’ve already listed all of the bloggers I know (and then some)
Ellie -
The book is about how our tax policy has been shaped over a number of years – kind of the why our code is the way it is. There are a number of books that offer a straight history of the code, but our tax system is really the result of hundreds of years of trying to make our citizens behave a certain way. I’m trying to break the code down to show that the complexity of the system didn’t happen overnight.
It’s still a work in progress but I already have some interest from agents.