More taxpayers are preparing their tax returns themselves this year and to help, H&R Block is offering one of my taxgirl readers a free iPod Touch with the new Tax Answers Application. The app connects users to the Get It Right Community where 1,000 H&R Block tax professionals are answering specific questions and sharing their expertise. With access to these tax professionals in their pocket, DIY-ers can get answers to their toughest tax questions from anywhere.
And we all know that tax questions can pop up in the most unexpected places. When you’re eating sushi in a restaurant in San Francisco, you may wonder if it’s deductible. Strolling through the Home Depot, you might wonder which home improvement projects might qualify for home energy credits. And while jetting off to your next interview, you may find yourself trying to figure what you can write off.
So we want to know: Where’s the most unusual or interesting place you’ve ever had a tax question?
Here are the rules:
- Post your tax story in the comments below. It can be as long or as short as you want. Please don’t include any personally identifying information that you don’t want made public (your AGI, address, etc.).
- Enter as many times as you like – but you must post a different story or comment each time. Links and pingbacks while appreciated, don’t count.
- My normal comment policy applies (you can read it here). I have standards, you know.
- I love my foreign readers, too, but this contest is for US residents only.
- You must leave a valid email address (it will not be made public) so that I can contact you if you are a winner.
- Deadline for entries is March 26, 2010, 11:59 pm EST. Don’t panic if your story doesn’t show immediately – if it goes to moderation (because, for example, you’re new here), the time stamp on your story is what counts.
We don’t judge here. Okay, I usually do. But I won’t this time. While I’m hoping for funny, interesting or unexpected stories, you don’t have to leave an outrageous story to qualify. Just answer the question. I will randomly select the winner from all of the qualified entries. One lucky winner will receive an iPod Touch preloaded with the new H&R Block app.
I had a client call me while in labor but before she went to the hospital. She was worried about an amended return I was doing for her and needed to make sure it didn’t need to be signed in the next couple of days while she was in the hospital. She had a couple of years under the statute of limitations so she was fine.
In a department store! I was trying to figure out if something was tax deductible for my business or not :).
The most random story I can think of is my junior year of college I started dating a new guy. We lived in Florida, but he’d just moved from New York City. I mentioned that I’d just filed my taxes and he said he’d never done his before; his parents had always done them. He was going to call an accountant but he asked if I’d help him get organized first. He only had one W-2 and nothing else unusual, so I told him he could easily do it himself. He asked if I’d do it for him! Silly me, I said yes and spent an entire afternoon figuring out just how many tax returns a New York City resident had to file! I think it goes without saying I didn’t go out with him very long…
Those tax questions can pop up in the most unexpected times and places!
The most surprising occasion that I’ve had a tax query occurred earlier this month, on March 1st.
My son’s wife was in labor at the hospital, about to deliver their first child. Myself, and other close family members had been with them off and on since 6:00 am that morning. I was out retriving dinner for the crew, when my son texts me.
I was expecting ” Baby arrived at 5:23pm, 7 lbs, 11 oz!”.
Instead the text reads “Is it too late to get an extension for my S-Corp?”
I assured the nervous Dad -to-be that it was not too late, and would take care of it for him the next day. He relaxed somewhat. Ironically, when I returned with dinner, all sat around and listened to stories from my son’s father-in-law about 45 years of the family business.
Finally, close to midnight, the text finally arrived that we had been waiting for from the delivery room all day… “Baby arrived at 11:42pm, black hair, 7 lbs, 11 oz! All are good!”
I often get asked tax questions while floating down the River, I am a part-time rafter in the summer months and it surprises people to learn I’m an accountant.
In bed… because I am super pregnant right now and can’t sleep well… AND still haven’t done my taxes yet. So I have lots of different thoughts running through my mind including random tax questions. I really need to get them done!
I get asked tax questions often enough, and one recently was from a nurse the hospital where my wife is being treated. Everyone wonders about taxes in the back of their minds.
Lobbying for an opt-out – “Bad Bookkeeper Bill” where I can just pay some agreed upon amount per year rather than stay up for nights trying to figure out why my nonprofit bank account has $0.25 more than it should. Can the IRS please just focus on fellow nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield and ignore me?
Why do we stick with the 1040? why can we make it simple like the Fair Tax?
I’m an HR Manager in Florida and have gotten lots of questions due to the Making Work Pay Tax Credit such as, “Why did I stop paying paying taxes in March 2009, when I never changed my W-4?” This leads me to think to myself, “You’ve gone more than 10 months without noticing you weren’t paying any federal taxes from your paycheck and you’re upset with me???” Wow.
At the salon, more than once. Last time I got my hair cut I spent the entire 45 minutes answering tax questions from the person cutting my hair. My billing rate is a whole lot more than the cost of the haircut, so it didn’t seem quite fair that I had to pay.
My favorite is when a long ago aquaintence sends you a friend request on Facebook just so they can ask you a question about taxes.
I was at a knitting techniques class & spent half the class answering questions from the store’s owner about how to treat a K-1 that she received from a trust & the tax treatment of retirement plan distributions from an IRA that she’d inherited.
At church…trying to work out how the pastor’s housing allowance is taxed, and whether the mortgage interest deduction AND excluding the housing allowance, is a legitimate double-dip. (it is!)
My daughter’s boyfriend broke up with her just before Valentine’s Day one year. He called her again for a date and while she was on the phone had her ask me some tax questions for him. He called back the next day and cancelled the date. She never took a call from him again.
There are lots of great toddler games for the iPod Touch… Winning one would sure help me get my taxes done…
Working on the weekend here in sunny Florida. Why can’t it rain more during tax season?! It sure would be nice to have an excuse to be indoors…
The weirdest place I can think of was at a Funeral (unrelated party from the decedent) lol
My husband is on a multiple-year, round the world trip, traveling in very remote locations. This year, we’re trying to coordinate the filing of our joint tax return as he traverses the Australian outback. He is far from water, let alone telephones, internet, postal, or other communication services, so needless to say this is quite a project. Half the time, I have to use telepathy to let him know when I need to ask him a question about his deductible expenses, interest income or other tax matters that only he can answer. Meanwhile, he’s so far out in the middle of nowhere (with few reminders about the modern world), that the notion of taxes seems quite irrelevant to him. When he makes it to a telephone, and we finally do get to talk, I end up having to direct much of our conversation to tax logistics. I have to say, that’s not so much fun when we’d both much rather be spending our phone time sharing personal adventures and updates with each other.
The most unusual place I had a tax question was in a bathroom. I asked my friend how much he got on his return in the restroom.
I was at the acupuncturist getting treated for a headache one day. While stretched out on the treatment table with a dozen needles sticking in my face — yes, my face — I’m asked by the acupuncturist whether he should be charging sales tax on his Chinese herbal supplements. When I said yes, he got all nervous, and proceeded to tell me how many 1000’s of dollars in sales he’d made that year. He then stopped abruptly and asked if I was going to report him to the state tax authorities. I told him no, at least not until he took the needles out. Yikes!
Recently I was driving to pick my daughter up from gymnastics practice, and the mother of one of the other girls asked my daughter to call me on her cell phone and let her talk to me so that she could ask me some tax questions. Apparently they couldn’t wait the five minutes it would have taken me to arrive at the gym!
I started my own small business this year (in addition to working another job) so every time I turn around I’m wondering about the tax consequences of a particular event. But probably the most unusual place I’ve discussed tax issues is while picking up my children at their pre-school; hardly the place to have a private discussion with a CPA with lots of loud kids and their parents around!
I too have been asked tax questions on a date. what a mood killer.
As a high school economics teacher, taxation is a topic we cover every year. I grab a bunch of 1040 EZs from the local library and make up a fake W-2 so my students can get their first experience at filing. Their fictional customer had no other income except what was on the fake W-2. Out come the giant calculators from math class and after about ten minutes one girl, in desperation, asks me, “Miss, why do they call this form EZ when it’s SO HARD to figure out!?”
In a haunted house. My brother and I flew back to Michigan for a funeral and we ended up staying in a neighbor’s lake house that gets boarded up for the winter. The door that leads to the very dark and very scary basement kept opening on its own. We would close it several times a night and make sure it was properly closed. You could not push it open. Anyhow, my brother has several lingering tax issues from the previous year and we spent hours discussing what needed to be done. Of course we didn’t have access to a computer to answer our many questions so we just wrote them down to research later. Focusing on taxes was actually a nice distraction from the spooky basement.
The very first time I ever had to pay state taxes, I did not also have to pay federal, which I found very curious.
My state liability ended up being $3, whereas my federal return was 4 digits.
I was very confused, and I spoke to several professionals about it, and they all confirmed I had done my taxes correctly. (With the usual “I can get you more back” type claims)
I am still a student, so luckily there are not many people asking me tax questions yet. I do get quite a few questions when doing VITA, which is neither unusual or interesting!
A partner at my firm once had a guy call and ask for help on an “IRS issue” that had come up. The guy offered to pay a $50,000 retainer — in cash — on the spot… with his only requirement being that the partner not ask him any details about his business operations. The partner turned him down.
Best tax year ever was several years ago when I owed the state less than $100 and got back from the Feds less than $100. I’ve never been that close before or since. The tax code is broken!
As a youngish mom, I have often had to squirrel myself away in the bathroom when having a discussion about taxes; one of the only places a mom can catch a semi-quiet moment. Many an unsuspecting tax professional or IRS agent (wink, wink) has carried on taxing conversations with me while I sat on my bathroom rug – trying to avoid the cyclical “Hey, mom?” ‘s. Gosh, I hope the echo didn’t give me away… LOL
Apparently, a lot of engineers don’t understand the tax implications of stock options. I’ve had many discussions in my cube at various jobs explaining to other engineers how to differential between the income portion and the capital gains portion of stock options.
The most unusual place I’ve had tax questions were while watching a lacrosse game a fellow spectator found out I was working towards my CPA and began to bombard me with tax questions about the new home buyer credits (Federal & Georgia).
In World of Warcraft. A “gold farmer” tried to sell me WoW gold. I asked him where he worked and he said China. I then asked him if he was working for a US business. He said no. I told him that under US tax law, I would have to withhold 30% of your price to pay taxes. Otherwise, the IRS will force Blizzard to terminate my account because I am using it in violation of US law, which is a violation of WoW’s terms of service contract. Goldfarmer said that that was unacceptable. In that case, I told goldfarmer that I can help him set up a U.S. LLC so he can establish a US business and thus avoid the 30% withdrawal. I told him that I would be willing to do this for the low price of 80,000 gold pieces and powerleveling two of my Alliance avatars to Level 70. Needless to say, he never bothered me again.
As an addendum to the previous comment, goldfarmer asked me if there was any way to avoid the 30% withdrawal. But obviously he didn’t like my answer (or my price).
i was wondering until i heard somebody talking about h&r block so i went and checked it out it was really good it wasnt bad at all
I have moved a total of 4 different states, heading to my 5th one soon. I have an accountant who does my taxes.
For my LAST tax return I literally had to make a TIMELINE of which states I was working in and where I was working for the entire year, include all moving/gas receipts from driving cross country, and ask Disney of all people for a W2 for the last 2 days of work I did. They weren’t happy and it took a few phone calls.
I think my accountant MAY hate me =)
In high school learning my but off,just took some exams im so tired….i passed all of them and my mom is so proud,but she can award me anything. But i still have faith that i am going to get something cause her taxes wasnt what she thought it was. Im in the 9th grade and im already taken college classes at DCC in Danville Virginia. But love love life and get your taxes…..laughing out loud 🙂