Taxing

One small thing I started working on this past weekend was our taxes....don't ask me why. We always owe. We always write a check on April 15th. This year will be no different so I have no idea why I was so 'ready' to dig into it.

I wasn't, really....so I decided to just work on B.'s. Easy. He will get a refund back for all he's paid. Same as last year....

Only, no....that's not what happened. He's going to have to PAY Federal - I don't know about State yet. He turned 18 in January, 2009 - which means the investments in his college account that pay dividends are all taxable - and all in his name now. Bwaa ha ha.....poor kid. I haven't even added in that income yet - just his job - and he already has to pay! Bummer, dude.

Welcome to adult hood. The more you make (his income was just shy of three times what it was in 2008), the more you pay. Life lessons are hard, son.

He so wants to quit that job - and I'm getting closer to agreeing with him. They just reduced his hours and now he doesn't qualify for the minuscule health benefits they have - so they sent him a COBRA notice. So now MY insurance, where he is still insured because he's a full time student and our dependent, is asking me to pay 'extra' for his insurance - through COBRA. Huh? I'll be spending a chunk of time today on the phone with them attempting to get this straightened out. And if he has to quit his 16 hour per week job to keep this insurance crap from becoming a huge nightmare, oh well. He'd be thrilled....our budget wouldn't be but he'd love it. Maybe he can get a job on campus....doesn't pay as well but it's something. And it's so few hours, it's not usually taxable.

It's the back and forth on the hours/insurance that's a problem. It's loony to have to keep doing this - this is the 2nd time they reduced his hours and it's affected his insurance coverage....which is all the more a joke because we don't want him on that insurance anyway....it's not great coverage. My plan is FANTASTIC coverage - remember the ER visit? We paid $300 out of pocket for that visit - our annual deductible. For a $16,000 bill. Yes, that's a ridiculous amount but that's what the bill was. I'm not commenting on the issues in our health care system. I don't have that kind of time this morning.

So no additional savings for B. in the form of a tax refund. Not happening. It will be yet another member of the Majah family writing a check - and waiting until the very last minute to do that!