oh really.

Big US Accountant company which did my taxes while I was an expat for company J: Dear H, our German partners would like for you to release your US 2003 W-2 to them. Due to data privacy, we need your consent.

H: Dear US Accountancy, why would this be? My 2003 taxes were done and closed years ago and your German partners did not do my 2007 German taxes, someone else did. (and your German partners are useless)

USAcct: The German government has decided to audit you for 2003. Our German partners will review and respond on your behalf, don't worry, this is standard from the German gov't.

H: Send me the German correspondance for my records, please. I am now curious as to why they would choose to audit me for 2003 at this time and would like to review it before I release data to them.

It's a little too coincedental that I de-registered on Feb 12th and now Germany chooses to audit me for the same year in which I arrived, 5 years ago.

(I loathe Tuesdays. I try to keep my head down and don't tempt fate, because usually anything bad will occur on a Tuesday.)

Q. The best way to celebrate the completion of tax week activities?

A. Falling asleep last night at 21.30 and sleeping for 11 hours straight.

i am the poster child...

for death warmed over.

Tax weekend went well. By Sunday night I was 95% complete and I had assembled a list of things I needed to check while in the office during the week, mainly that I had filled in the right numbers in the right German boxes. Papers were all assembled and ready to be copied in the office.

A few stray pieces of paper had to be tracked down and checked up, but everything is ready to go as of tonight after I completed my calendar of 'where I have been working and on what days' for 2006. Tomorrow the intelligent accountants the company provides are on-site to collect the pieces of paper, and answer any stray questions. So after I meet with my two ladies at 10.30, I can then click the button to submit all the stuff to them and hand over my papers and consider it done.

Then I came home tonight and my Gemany 2005 prepared returns were in my mailbox awaiting signature. What a wonderful time of year.

the glamorous side of expat life

For those of you sitting at home in the US thinking that my Euro life is oh so sexy...this weekend I am sitting with a pile of paperwork and filling in boxes with numbers so that I can then give it to the intelligent accountants who will put it all in order and file my tax returns for both the US and Germany. Double the pleasure, double the fun!

I don't find it hellish so much, but rather painfully boring with the filling in of mundane details like how far my office is to my home and how I get there and that each time I get a question like that, I have to research the mundane answer because I feel the need to be exact since it's my taxes and it's the government and who knows what will happen if it's wrong! (1.4 km and by car). I spent an hour on it tonight, getting assembled and at least opening everything.

I bought a lovely bag of coffee from Keyna to kick off tomorrow's marathon session.