SOL March 1: Taxes

            I met with my H&R Block accountant to get my tax forms filled out and filed today. With multiple 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions (all from having worked at many jobs), as well as continuing some freelance work in my semiretirement, I’d rather have a professional go through my documents, ensure I fill out the right forms, and make sure I get all the deductions I’m entitled to. The man who’d been doing them has now retired himself, but the woman doing my taxes today was not a stranger.

           I’d met D.M. two years ago when I started getting letters from the IRS saying that I owed lots more money than I’d been led to believe on my 2019 return. Remember doing your taxes for 2019 that first year of Covid? It took a bit longer to get all my documents, and we all got automatic extensions. By the time I called H&R Block, J.D., my regular accountant, was no longer in the office. (Turned out he’d had Covid early on and wasn’t available that tax season.) I was assigned a new person, but we couldn’t meet in person (Covid). I left my documents at the office, then got some e-mails asking questions, which I tried to answer. Then I picked up what I needed to pay what I owed and my return was e-mailed. 

            It took two years for the IRS to discover something didn’t add up. I started getting letters in the summer of 2021 about that 2019 return, and J.D. doesn’t work outside of tax season. I e-mailed the person who’d done my 2019 return, but he never responded. So I stopped by the office and said I needed help. Eventually I got an appointment with D.M. She was great!

            It took several weeks and numerous meetings and even phone calls to the companies holding my retirement funds to discover exactly where the mistake had been made. At first it looked like the IRS had made the mistake. D.M. called the IRS, thought she’s straightened it out, but I continued to get harrying letters from the IRS. Finally, we figured out where the mistake actually happened — that substitute person in 2020 filling out my 2019 return saw two documents from the same company with identical amounts of income and just assumed they were duplicates, when they weren’t. Didn’t anyone ever tell him “never assume; it will make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” An amended return was filed and everything was fixed.

            This year, when I called H&R Block to make my appointment I learned that J.D. was no longer there. But I am so glad I got assigned to D.M. She knows me, she’s organized, she explains everything. Now all I have to do with write a couple of check in mid-April, and my tax season will be over.