Taxman's comin'

[dslartoo]

Doing my taxes online (yes, yes, shut up, I know I should have done them before this). The tax software asks me to check the box if one of the following applies:

-- PHILLIP is blind.
-- PHILLIP was permanently and totally disabled in 2008.

This amuses me. How, exactly, would I be filling out a web-based form to do my taxes if I were blind?

Yes, I suppose someone else could be doing the taxes for me. It still amuses me.

-- END OF LINE --

[[The Oracle would like to know whether you owed the gub'mint this year or if they owed you.]]

Comments

[packbat.livejournal.com]

You could be using a screen-reading software.

Oracle: Paid US$200 to the state, US$50 to the feds. But this is after the deductions they've been taking all year, which added up over three thousand between them, so I call it fairly minor.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Screen-reading software does nothing (as far as I know) if the webpage's design is based entirely around Java applets or Flash objects (and this one was). No text for the reader to read! I LOL'd.

Love your icon, by the way.

cheers,
Phil

[packbat.livejournal.com]

It's a ceruleanst special. :)

[ahtrap.livejournal.com]

had my taxes all but done two weeks ago, using the tax cut software except for wanting to check out a way to try and defer paying some of it. In the meantime, as in Thursday night, after meeting with the guy advising me on that stuff, my computer gets hit by a virus and knocked out.

So, basically, I've been doing it by hand today. Fortunately, it's not that complicated. The Federal version comes out pretty much the same, owe a bit, but the state portion, the old fashioned way seems to have delivered me a significantly bigger refund than I recall seeing on the computer, which means that overall, I'm getting a little bit back.

Wonder if I screwed anything up....

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

I usually do mine by hand but this year because of the relocation (and the fact that Georgia has state income tax but Texas doesn't) I had to do them with some software. Not much fun.

cheers,
Phil

[mydeepbluesea.livejournal.com]

Oracle:

The Fed owed me, and between the states I lived in, it evened out. I can't wait to move back to a place w/ no income tax....

-JMP

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

I thought DC was one of those. Figured the polly-ticians wouldn't want the gub'mint taking their hard-earned (ha) cash.

cheers,
Phil

[mydeepbluesea.livejournal.com]

I live in Md, doll; they're big on taxes. DC does do taxes though, which is part of the reason why they're so insistent on getting representation in Congress; the license plates say taxation w/out representation.

[ladycoldfire.livejournal.com]

The state and the IRS love a single mom. I gots paid. However since I started my sole proprietorship this year they might not be as kind next year. I already owe state sales taxes every month

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

What sole proprietorship would that be? I missed something.

cheers,
Phil

[ladycoldfire.livejournal.com]

That would be the small business I finally made legal this year. MotherMoonGEms. Should be going live on the Etsy store in a week. Been doing lots of custom orders for co-workers in replacing the oversized shoelaces on the mandatory security badges with lovely jewelry to use instead for the ladies!

[verdragon.livejournal.com]

Paying, of course.

My mother insists is a good sign, because I got paid well this year.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

'Tis a good sign!

Yes, I am reading your other blog too. :)

cheers,
Phil

[ashtreza.livejournal.com]

Hey, did you get my email or am I one (or more) iterations behind on your current contact info?

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Did, but didn't answer it until tonight because I was trying to find my damned mic. Found it this evening. :)

cheers,
Phil

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Actually, a guy on my Fiends List develops software for Microsoft that allows blind people to use the computer exactly as the sighted do. Accessibility software goes back decades.

Tell the Oracle I intentionally over-withhold to cover any possible taxes due on unanticipated writing income. That means I generally get a nice fat check each year. This year it was desperately needed just to stay alive.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

I know accessibility software exists, but my (admittedly limited) experience with the various packages out there has led me to believe most of it is crap. Also, most websites are nearly entirely visually oriented these days (the one I was using was done mostly through Flash, which the accessibility software won't do a thing with since there's no actual text to read -- only Flash objects).

Poor design? You betcha. Still made me laugh, though.

cheers,
Phil

[sarbah77.livejournal.com]

Money from the state, owe the feds. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite a 1:1, but oh well. Close enough.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Hm. Close enough for government work, they say.

cheers,
Phil