h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tax returns sound like a pain in the neck. What I've always wanted to know is if it is everyone in Am who has to fill them out. I mean is there a point at which you have so little money that you don't have to bother? Also, you hear (and Lil mentioned I think) about keeping reciepts and stuff. Surely you don't have to send off reciepts for every time you went grocery shopping? Or do you.

Tax police in Russia are worse than your auditors. Or even the VAT man. They come knocking down the door wearing ski masks, and carrying sub machine guns.

Just got back from my protest. Done my bit for the freedom of the press this year.

A protest? Spill the beans!

Hmm, one would think there was a point at which one had enough money to needn't bother with tax returns, but in the UK at least you are obliged to. Heavy fines ensue if you don't.

Do you? I never have. It's surely not such a palaver as the Am thing though. I mean in terms of heartache and hair tearing. My parents never seemed to get stressed about it. And nobody has ever asked me for one.

*starts feeling a bit paranoid*

*Whispers* you don't think the moderators will report me for this, do you?

The protest. Since you ask (thanks for taking the hint!). Was about the boardroom coup by which the largely independant TV station NTV was taken over by Forces Loyal to the Kremlin (this is in Russia). I'd link to a BBC article about it but (oh the irony) when I was looking for something yesterday I didn't find any articles at all (in English). I did put a summery in my journal but...

Sorry, that should be "Are you?" Familiarity with the continuous tense is obviously not enough.

{WM}

Solnushka, I heard about that protest on National Public Radio. So rest assured, at least ~some~ Americans know about it.

I've never forgotten a political cartoon showing Nixon and Khrushchev going through one of their ritual confrontations: two characters in the corner are also chatting, and one of them is saying, "You call them peasants -- we call them taxpayers."

Yes, we Americans are indeed obliged to save receipts for any items that we intend to claim a tax deduction for. This is an option, I should say. There is a form called the 1040 EZ that only requires you to fill in about 8 values, in great big boxes for each digit, 4th grade level education stuff. This form is intended to serve the needs of yer basic wage slave who has had taxes withheld from from his wages every week or month, and who doesn't own any stocks or bonds. As a rule, you don't owe anything extra at the end of the tax year and you might even get something back.

You don't have to pay taxes if your earnings fall below a certain level, but you still have to file.

The misery begins if you're self-employed. At this point, cue ox...

That sounds about right. I couldn't possibly begin to imagine why the IRS wanted to rake over every little purchase you have ever made. Must be the same in the UK. But I've never come across anyone having a tax attack before. Deary me.

*floating in, because of backlog*

Matina, could I have a Y, please...

*picks up Springie for a cuddle, and champagne bottle from fridge*

Taxes? Not until the end of this month...

...and yes, I heard/read about NTV too...

...and I do wonder why Smiley Ben is defending BBC so furiously? http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F63734?thread=106007&latest=1

Mark has determined that the upcoming British General Elections may not be discussed except in one place on h2g2. Please see http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A528103 for his explanation and for directions to the political mosh pit.

Help us out here: if you have a strong opinion about this, save it for threads attached to the URL I just gave, and save us from having gaps in our conversation.

Hard lines for you Brits, but there we are. No British politics for the nonce.

I'm back from work, which means I should attack the tax thing again, but the dog needs a walk. And after that, some other excuse.

Sol, we don't send the receipts in to the IRS, but as Lil said we have to save them in the event we are audited. And with the 1040EZ, you take a "standard deduction" which means no itemization, so throw those receipts away!

Lil, the thing I don't like about the software is that the interview is sequential. In my case, I had gathered up all the paperwork that I thought I needed, got about 1/3 of the way through, and realized I needed something else. OK, I figured I'd just skip that part, finish what I had and go back and fill the rest in later. Not so easy. Once I went back, it lost track of the where I was when I stopped to go back, so I either had to go through most of the interview again or abandon that technique. So I switched to the forms, but since the interview cleverly hides the details of what schedule or worksheet you're filling out, I had no idea where I was in the process. I suspect I've done something wrong, and I'm going to have to pour over the details to figure it out.

Not to mention that I kept painstakingly accurate details of most transactions in the financial software made by the same company, expecting the data would import into the tax software and automatically calculate some of the more painful calculations, but it didn't. It happily listed all of the transactions, but then I had to do the math myself. What's the benefit of using the computer then? It is much better at math than at laundry lists, and I'm better at laundry lists than math. We've gotten our roles reversed.

Now off to read about the Russian protest. I missed NPR this morning.

And Chris, congratulations on the acceptance. Can you talk your Dad into letting you learn to drive in the Jag? I can help with some creative justifications if you need any.

Oops. Better walk him first.

I notice Lil has aleady found http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A528103 which sets out the moderation procedure for the General Elections in the UK.

I have yet to decide how to respond. I know how I want to respond but there may be no point - I'm not going to start an argument I can't possibly win.

It should be noted that the date of the elections has not been set and they need not take place for another year so we could face a year of censorship.

Mark suggests that this should not bother those who cannot vote in UK elections but I suspect he is wrong. Suffice it to say that I would have been only too glad to attempt to answer the questions of Atelier denizens but my responses will be limited to an smiley or possible a .

*adjusts beret and tugs on antennae in frustration*

Amy the Ant

Simulpost, Lil!

d'Elaphant, Chris is 15 years old. You have to be 17 to learn to drive in the UK.

True, but who says we aren't keeping the Jag till I'm the right age?

And regarding the Elections, I'm not going to talk about them because
a) I'm too young to vote, and
b) I'm not bothered - they're all- [decided to moderate it before The Big M's do].

The only Elections I'm interested in are the h2g2 ones and the San Beta ones in July.

I'm really terrible today - I keep forgetting to put various things in the same post...


My dad just had me scour the I-net in search of places to register number plates. We found the official place, and have spent almost an hour searching for various stupid phrases like D4 AVE. Naturally, I suggested H4 XOR, but it was already taken.

Amy, perhaps you would still like to explain you-know-who's statement regarding you-know-what before the unspecified date? I'm curious about it.

Unless that question gets moderated for being too politically one-sided.

How would he feel about a plate that says SAN BETA?

He'd probably frown and wonder what on Earth the plate's talking about.
He'd also be wrong, as it has nothing to do with Earth, and is in fact far far off, but that's beside the point.

Luckily though, Mark said that we're free to talk about any other political thingy, VR or RL, just not the British stuff. But hey, whatever happens in Britain is usually boring anyway, so...

Not with our licence plate structure, Lil. The nearest I can get is to turn it into Portugese:

S 408 ETA with some creative (and illegal spacing).

Chris have you any idea what effect having a learner driver on the insurance document does to the premium. Forget the Jag - it isn't going to happen. For the cost of the increase to the Jag's insurance your dad could buy you a little car of your own (and insure it).