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Tax Day Was Monday

Tax day was Monday.

Did I tell you I got audited this year?  

I tend to play it extremely conservatively on my taxes out of a relatively unfounded fear of doing something wrong.  The IRS really isn’t that hard to work with on underpayment of taxes and it’s been my experience that they’ll agree to just about any reasonable payment schedule.

Regardless, my audit this year wasn’t an IRS audit; it was a Texas Workforce Commission audit.

The thing is, the only person I employ in the state of Texas is myself and I work from home.  In an attempt to get ahead of what was going to be a larger than normal 2014 tax bill, I paid myself a bonus at the end of December that year.  The bonus was setup so that virtually all of it went to my withholding.  Surepayroll processed it oddly and it didn’t show up in my various federal tax returns, state withholding reports, and Quickbooks the same way.  

Unfortunately, I also forgot I did it and during the Texas Workforce Commission audit, we spent about 45 minutes trying to figure out why there was a discrepancy.  I got to my wit’s end on the situation and wanted to find out how much I could pay to just make the matter go away.  Not a bribe, I just wanted to pay the maximum amount so I didn’t have to go through the process.

Me: “How much do I potentially owe in unemployment insurance?”

Her: “Well, let me see, your UI tax rate is 0.8% but that’s capped at your first $9,000 in income for the year”

Me: “Okay, well, we have determined that I made in excess of $9,000 a year, that’s pretty clear from my records.  Was there a problem with that tax?”

Her: “Oh, no, you paid that as scheduled.”

Me: “Okay, what else is there that I might owe in relation to this audit?”

Her: “Well, it’s just the unemployment insurance that we’re concerned with.”

Me: “Didn’t I pay the maximum I could have to pay in a year?”

Her: “Well, for you it is capped at 0.8% of $9000.”

Me: “Right, and evidently I paid that $72”

Her: “Yes, it appears so.”

Me: “So I don’t owe any unemployment tax on the remaining income for the year?”

Her: “Your rate is 0.8% and it’s only on the first $9,000 in income for the years.”

Me: “Well why are we trying to figure out the difference in income for a paycheck that was way, way past that $9,000 income?”

Her: “We have to make sure the numbers matchup with what we have on file.”

Me: “But didn’t I pay the entire amount I could possibly owe for the year?”

Her: “Well, again, your rate is 0.8% and that’s on the first $9,000 in income.”

Me: “We’ve been trying to figure out a discrepancy for the past hour on income that your department doesn’t tax?”

Her: “We just have to make sure the numbers match.”

Me: “I’ll be in my office.  Feel free to use whatever you want here in the kitchen.”

Yep, a government employee drove to my house for a two-hour audit by a commission that has already taxed me the maximum amount of money they could legally tax me for the year, $72.

$72.

I guarandamntee that lady made more auditing me than I actually pay the Texas Workforce Commission in unemployment insurance.

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