In an earlier post, I talked about how simple my Federal taxes are to do, despite the 109 page instruction book. I enter four numbers, do the math and basically I’m done. I don’t say this because I support of the current system. My taxes are easy to do because I don’t qualify for any of the thousands of deductions or tax credits the system offers.
But I failed to mention one thing I had to deal with this year.
Last year was my first full year of receiving Social Security. When I signed up, I inadvertently (one of my favorite words) failed to check the block to have income taxes taken out of the payments. So I ended up owing a lot of money to the government. So much that I might also incur a penalty.
Following the instructions, you just go to IRS Form 2210 to determine if you owe a penalty. Right off the bat, you know this won’t be easy. The instructions say:
“Because Form 2210 is complicated, you can leave line 79 blank and the IRS will figure the penalty and send you a bill. We will not charge you interest on the penalty if you pay by the date specified on the bill.”
My interpretation:
“You are too stupid to figure this form out.”
They may have been right.
When you bring up Form 2210, you see right away it is a four page form. The instructions for the form are a separate document that is nine pages long. After spending 15 minutes doing the Form 1040, I spent TWO HOURS agonizing over the Form 2210. I’ll know in the next few months whether I got it right or not.
The point I’m trying to make is paying your taxes shouldn’t be his hard for an individual.
One other thing. I pay taxes on my gross salary, then they take out Social Security. When I turn 62 and start drawing Social Security, they take taxes out again. Didn’t I already pay taxes on this money?