#620 Tax Time

Late entry today - sorry, Daughter.

I spent the entire morning and afternoon pulling documents together for The Angel to do my taxes. First I couldn't find the 2004 taxes, finally found them filed in the wrong folder. Then I discovered to my horror that three 2005 1099-DIVs and one 1099-INT were missing. I had to go online to the company websites, get into my accounts (not easy), and reconstruct the dividend payments. Then I paper clipped everything together in batches, with covers describing and totaling each batch. Putting together the receipts for the 2005 estimated tax payments, I discovered that the amount that New York State has reported to the IRS as my 2004 state tax refund does not match the amount of refund on the filed form. I have no idea why it's different.

Something else very strange happened.

There was a huge stack of paper on the desk, and I pulled the desk chair out, turned it slightly, sat in it, and sorted the papers into five stacks on the floor: 1) bills to pay, 2) tax stuff, 3) investment stuff, 4) to be filed, and 5) trash. Along the way I found a letter saying that AT&T had purchased SBC, and that my SBC stock certificates did not have to be turned in, they were now effectively AT&T stock. I thought "Oh, I should note this in the online portfolio, next time I edit it", and I put the letter into one of the stacks - either the "to file" one, or more likely the investment one so I'd be sure to see it later, or maybe the "bills to pay" stack, since it was a "to do" item. I don't remember. Note that from the time I picked up the paper until I put it on a pile, I did not leave the chair.

An hour later, when I was trying to rebuild the 1099-DIVs, I figured then was a good time to update the portfolio listing to reflect the AT&T/SBC buyout.

Do you think I could find that letter? I went through every one of those five piles, each piece of paper individually, and that letter simply isn't there! Anywhere! It has disappeared. I wonder if maybe I somehow stapled it into one of those batches I subsequently delivered to The Angel.

I went to a Mensa dinner at a Thai restaurant in Beacon this evening. I like Thai food, but I think I need help ordering. I should have just got the Pad Thai, it looked really good, but I got fancy and ordered the Twice-Cooked Beef (a "special"), and it was like a whole pile of bits of salty beef jerky. Next time, I'll have to remind myself it's the veggies and the sauces I like, so I should stick to things with lots of that, and forget the meats.

Tired. Goodnight.