It’s Friday night and instead of sipping on a cocktail at happy hour, I am sifting through tax regulations.
My volunteer gig for this spring is with the Dallas Community Tax Centers – a non-profit which provides free tax preparation services to low and moderate income individuals.
I worked with a similar VITA program in Minneapolis.
Taking advanced tax law classes at night after work was very draining. It made me rethink my perennial flirtation with getting a second degree.
The busiest part of my winter is always after the holiday season ends – my clients are ready to start ambitious projects, we have an all-team meeting in Minnesota this coming February, and tax season is rearing its ugly head.
I’m volunteering with a community tax center again this year. That means that I am joining a hoard of accountants to provide free tax services to low-and-moderate income individuals in the Dallas area.
I know it’s time to post when I get the concerned “are you alive?” emails from readers. Well, I’m still here, and it has been a hilarious couple of weeks.
Let’s start with the most cliché shot of Minneapolis ever: the stone arch bridge:
Cee Cee Russell at the Gay 90’s:
There are some hardcore bikers at LA Fitness. I want to buy a vintage canary yellow moped and park it next to this:
Technology failed me during these past two weeks. This is how I started the morning:
If you soften your gaze and back away slowly, the fail whale will appear.
Blue screens lit up my work computer throughout the weekend and the beginning of the week. I also caught some version of the plague Saturday night, but meetings and computer repair issues brought my germy-body to the office on Monday and Tuesday.
At times the sinus pressure was so great that my right eye would start pouring as I talked to coworkers. I’m pretty sure they wanted to swat me away with a Lysol wipe.
Minneapolis had a heat wave this week. Temperatures climbed to the low 50’s. Roadways and sidewalks became visible. It didn’t hurt to be outside anymore – in short, it was gorgeous.
And then we got a President’s Day blizzard.
I put in a lot of commuting miles this week.
My mornings usually begin at 8 a.m. in a St. Paul courthouse because I clerk at the St. Paul Public Defender’s office. I spend my time observing clerks and attorneys interview clients and prepare for bail hearings because my student certification has not gone through yet.
I only had one question for the IRS:
I call the IRS’ practitioner priority line. Hold for about 30 minutes. Get transferred.
I hold for 10 more minutes. Get transferred again.
Reach a third person who gives me a number.
It’s 8:40pm. I am in a classroom full of accountants and professional tax preparers. An IRS agent is two seats down.
What a long, exhausting day.
I tried to call the IRS for a clinic client three times today. The first two IRS agents refused to talk to me because I don’t have my CAF1 number yet. They wouldn’t let me fax my power of attorney and special order, claimed not to have access to fax, and it was just ridiculous.
