“The best thing that money can buy is freedom from worrying about money” — Unknown
In November of 2007, I got this gut feeling and thought in my head, that I needed to go see a CPA about my taxes. This thought made me wonder what was happening and I felt slightly nervous. But, as I have learned in my life, I do not ignore any intuitions that come to me.
So, I called and made an appointment with a local CPA. I usually had my “accountant” husband do them, but we were separated at this time. When I arrived at Bill’s house, I thought he had a good name for a CPA who does taxes!
We met and proceeded to investigate my taxes. I had no idea where the taxes were stored, and I believe all the information was on my husband’s computer. I would always ask questions and always get vague answers. I wanted to know if we were finally getting a tax return. As a teacher and without my husband working, I thought it would be easy. When I asked questions about the date we filed or if we would finally get a tax return this year, I felt I was being left out of information. My husband would use tax jargon I didn’t understand, but I assumed everything was okay.
Bill first called the state of Utah for tax information. The lady who took our call asked for my name, social security number and went to find out any news. We sat there for a long time. This was nerve-wracking. Finally, her voice came on the call and asked if we were still there. She said it took a long time for her to search because our taxes hadn’t been turned in for twelve years! I about fell off my chair, and my heart was racing! I couldn’t believe it. Bill was asking all the right questions as I sat there in shock. It boiled down to a $300.00 dispute. Apparently, my husband thought it was better to fight the IRS over a $300 charge. She told us that it was too bad the $300 wasn’t paid. I lost thousands of dollars in tax return money.
Then, she went back to check on the Federal Taxes. Again, it took a long time before she came back. She said, Uh, you haven’t turned in your Federal Taxes for three years and you were up for an audit because of it. This freaked me out. I was signing tax forms that my husband completed, but didn’t send in? I was confused and scared. Bill started talking to her about the “Innocent spouse” Clause. When we got off the phone, Bill acted as shocked as I did, but we immediately got started filling out forms to protect myself from this calamity.
It was November and close to Christmas. I waited until January to ask several questions to my husband. I wanted to see if he told me the truth or lied. Every time I asked him a question, I watched to see if he acted nervous. Did he twitch, blink his eyes, or twiddle his thumbs? None of those things were apparent, but I realized that he was an excellent liar. I told him I knew the truth and that I had been to a CPA. His eyes got huge, but he seemed more annoyed than remorseful.
I was shocked to think I’d been lied to about taxes, so what else was he lying about? I would find out later, how deep the lies went. The onion blocking my eyes was being peeled away a little at a time.
The takeaway from this story is:
1. Don’t ignore your debts even if they seem small. Pay them.
2. Trust, but do it with skepticism and caution
3. Always listen to your intuition