Taxes. Ughh.

     We mailed out federal and state of Michigan tax returns out on Monday, April 15^th, the deadline for filing taxes. Only problem was that this was our second try on both this year. We had to file amended returns to correct our initial tax filings we made back in February.

    Our initial federal return sailed through apparently without a hitch as we got our refund promptly. But our state return seemed stalled. I checked on-line to find it was “under review.” Oh, oh. Not good. Sure enough, when my refund came, it was over a thousand dollars less than expected. A letter of explanation came too saying that I had calculated my senior deduction incorrectly.

    But I didn't. My mistake occurred when I put my senior deduction on the wrong line of the tax return. The state of Michigan gives seniors two ways to calculate their old age deduction for lack of a better term. I took the one that gave me the bigger refund, but entered that amount on the line that gave me a smaller refund.

    That's not the only amount I put on the wrong line, I also put my total tax liability on a line that asked “allocated share of tax paid by an electing flow-through entity.” The state corrected that one in my favor on their own. But the other mistake they corrected their way, not in my favor, costing me $1,000.

    The letter of explanation sent by the state said I could file an appeal or amend my return. But which one should I do? I called their help line. It's an automatic help line where you give them the information on your tax return after which they say you can speak to a customer service representative. So I entered all my information, and they told me the amount of the refund sent and the date—which I already knew—then the recording said, “Thank you. Goodbye.” There was no live customer service help.

    With no help on their so-called help line, I tried on-line at a state of Michigan website where I entered my tax information, then I asked “do I appeal or amend?” to which I should receive a response on-line after seven business days. After seven days, my response appeared. “Resolution provided,” it said. I thought, great, my missing refund was on its way to the bank. But then I clicked on a prompt that offered further detail. That detail told me the amount of the refund sent and the date—which I already knew—with no answer to my question of whether to appeal or amend.

    So I went ahead and amended my state return. In doing so, I discovered that I had under-reported my gross adjusted income by $1,000. I misread a 6 for a 5 on my W-2. Can I just say that 70-year-old eyes and seven-point type on an IRS withholding statement are not compatible. But this meant I had to amend my federal return as well.

    I amended both returns and after a thorough examination that included re-doing all my calculations, I gave them to my wife Wendy to give a quick check of her own. “I'm 99.9 percent sure I have everything correct,” I said. But I didn't. She found another error. Good thing I had purchased a bottle of white-out.

    I'm creating a new word for myself for the next time I do taxes. The word is FORCUS,. The meaning is “Forcing oneself to focus.”