Taxing Times

Wah, income tax is very painful to do. One would think that it gets easier as the years go by because of familiarity and past documentation. But each year seems to be just as much work as the previous. Principally because one has to track every single piece of document that is necessary for what may be no more than a single line item in the final income tax form. And having "foreign" bank accounts even if the amount of interest is miniscule just adds to the complexity especially since Singapore banks don't issue interest statements. One literally has to download and keep every single month's bank statement for eSavers accounts and then use a spreadsheet to track and add up the monthly interest payment. Not even enough to pay me for the time but never mind, you need to report so there is no suspicion of money laundering.

And as I do this year's tax questionnaire, it dawns on me that my previous years' submissions must have been confusing to the tax accountants here because my Singapore mind interpretes the terms that mean totally different things to the Americans. A home equity loan is not your house mortgage. It could be your renovation loan or what they call a HELOC, a second loan like what I am being provided by the company. HELOCs are popular here but until two months ago, I had no concept of a HELOC. Sounded so strange to my ears. And so in my naivete, I replied in prior years to Yes, I have Home Equity Loans when all I had was a home mortgage loan. I wonder if the tax accountants had done my taxes right.

Ah America! Too many flavors of financial instruments, too many choices. No wonder Wall Street pays out such great bonuses.

And so passes this wet Sunday. As the rain pelts down on the Bay Area, I squint over my computer screen and pour through all the forms and receipts and statements that I have been faithfully scanning, downloading and collating into neat little folders on my laptop hard disk. Tax filing is a year long affair in US of A.