The Tax Man Leaveth

Well, not really.  I mean, not completely.  He never goes away altogether.

About a quarter to a fifth of our clients extend, some individuals going all the way to October 15th, and some corporations all the way to September 15th.  We have a number of corporations whom have year ends other than December 31, so their deadlines are staggered throughout the year.

Non-profit returns, called 990s, are due May 15th, and we have a number of those.

We do a great deal of general ledger, payroll and financial statement work, and that's year round.

And we have special audits that we perform throughout the year, with the summers sometimes being particularly heavy.

So, as I write this on April 15th, I know that it's not fully over.

But as constant as it is, there is some relief.  For me, there is not as long of hours, and there is not as much brain wattage used.  This significantly reduces my stress, and allows me to better pursue my own interests - family, theater, reading, writing and writing projects - particularly fiction.

There are a number of fiction projects that I am itching to get back to.  History of the Trap needs just a tiny bit more review and then it will be ready for publication.  Crowley's Stories: Swamp's Edge is about two thirds complete, and I am anxious to get my head back into that story.  When Crowley Stories is complete, I intend to concentrate on short fiction and try to achieve my dream of being published in a science fiction magazine.

I have decided to two track my writings,pursuing both some self-published items on Create Space (Amazon), and also starting some queries.  I'm told it's possible to self-publish AND still look for a real publisher, so that is my current plan.

I do intend to party and take some time to unplug this weekend, create a short mini spring break.  And maybe I can finally learn my lines for the play - that would probably make everyone happy.  I don't know whether we'll get out for a trip or not - I would love to go to a great middle brow Italian restaurant, but we would have to go out of town to do that.  The lawn looms like the big time consumer it is, but I may have to get the lawnmowers fixed first.  I suffer from a huge case of mechanical incompetence, made significantly more difficult by an even worse case of mechanical indifference.  Machines should work.  I don't care how.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  As I write this, there is still about 0.478% of tax season left.  Granted, there is little time to start a return at the point of the process that I am at (I am the first stage, and there are several stages after me), but I still need to wait it out.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait