Tax Day was April 18th this year! 3 extra days to ask for an extension...?
This year I tried to be proactive and began asking grandma about her taxes in February. Every time I asked her she would answer in the same way, "oh yeah, I was thinking about that this morning" and "it shouldn't be that hard, it's the same as last year" I would ask her if she needed help with it or was she going to take it down to the Senior Center and have them do it for her as she had in the years past. Yes, most likely was usually the answer to that question.
Fast forward to April 11, 2011 I get an email from the woman upstairs letting me know that grandma has yet to file her taxes and with things the way they have been with her memory I should step in immediately to make sure they get done. Also, seems like there was nothing filed for 2009! I stopped to think for a minute and then came to the realization that of course her taxes weren't filed for 2009 she had knee surgery and was pretty much out of commission and her taxes weren't even on my radar last year! Even though I seem to remember her driving herself to the senior center for her b-day but my memory may be off...
Sunday, April 17, 2011 I decided to drive out to grandma's house and surprise her because I had been calling her every other day to plant the seed her her head that this needed to get done, and everyday "oh yes, I was thinking about that just this morning..." I got to the house not really knowing the mess I was walking into and if I was going to be able to find what I was looking for. Turns out YES! It' took about 20 minutes to filter through some paper piles in her office but then I found a bright yellow folder titled TAXES. In there I found information for both 2009 and 2010. You can imagine my excitement. I showed it to her and we discovered that she had the sense to file for and extension in 2009 but apparently never got around to actually filing or paying. I took all this information to my tax guy and try to get this situation taken care of.
For 2010 grandma owes federal taxes not something I would be happy about but apparently she owes every year. I sent her the vouchers with the amount owed and asked the woman upstairs to print them for her and make sure she wrote the checks. I also called her to explain that this needed to be done today, Monday! Later that afternoon I got another email letting me know that she "is tired of all this" she didn't want to pay the taxes and had asked what could happen if she just didn't pay them. OH BOY!
I called her and explained that she could make smaller payments so it didn't feel so overwhelming all at once. I haven't checked back in with her since Monday but I'm almost positive the thought has left her mind and she never wrote the checks.
So what do I do now? She owes 2009 taxes also. What if she just doesn't pay?
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