Saturday, January 31st, 2004 11:45 pm
No, I'm not playing Fluxx, more's the pity. Fortunately, though, the death was only the thirty-pound lead-acid battery in my UPS.

This means I can't use the computer in the family room, which I suppose is a boon because there is no heat in there, so for the first time in quite a while I've been warm for a significant portion of the day. There's no longer any REASON to go into that room!

As a result of being exiled to the rest of the house, I actually opened my paper mail. This is always a bad idea. This is a particularly noxious type of bad idea in late January, when all the tax gobbledygook is showing up. Boy did it ever show up, too. Great steaming fetid piles of it. Here's one example. Apparently, according to my previous unlamented employer, I do in fact have income in 2003. W-2 income. There's rather a surprising amount of it, considering the fact that I departed that company's payroll on a joyous day in late 2002. Immediately I started grousing: one thing worse than having zero income for an entire year is paying a bunch of tax on it! If this mess weren't related to me, I'd find it laughable. I am guessing the IRS won't see the humor.

I spent more than an hour with a bunch of papers and folders. To the best of my knowledge, they are reporting gains from stock sales as W-2 income (wages and tips). I wish they'd gotten together with the broker, who has reported it as 1099-B income (capital gains). I'm ten percent calmer about it now that I know where the number must have come from. Now I am paranoid that it has been reported twice (once as wages and once as gains) and thus I won't be able to avoid getting it taxed twice.

So in an effort to relieve my frustration, I go shopping. Clicky clicky; there's a new UPS battery on the way. Shipping charges for a thirty-pound monstrosity are large. I wonder if I can deduct this charge on my tax return, somewhere near the little "paid for help with my taxes" box, because the death of the battery definitely did make me start doing my taxes.
Sunday, February 1st, 2004 12:38 am (UTC)
There is a way to correct this, with an ammnded w2 or 1098, I'de actually suggest contacting the IRS in regards to the situation; they are quite helpful and nice.. (and they even helped me get an extra 2k out of the government last year)

-Tom
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004 12:33 pm (UTC)
I had to do the amended W2 thing years ago, when an employer who was six months behind on paying me claimed as of April 15 that they'd been up to date. Since I was cash basis, not accrual basis, the fact they owed me money made not a whit of difference to my taxes unless they'd paid. I never did get the amended form out of them, but I filed the (forget the number) Taxpayer Explanation of Discrepancy, and the IRS was completely fine with it.
Sunday, February 1st, 2004 04:15 am (UTC)
mine died somewhat recently too, and was pointed at Batteries Plus.
they had what I needed, and they also take the old batteries when you're done.

Perhaps they have a location near you for next time:
http://www.batteriesplus.com/locator_CA.html
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004 12:36 pm (UTC)
Scotts Valley's closest, a bit of a drive, but might be worth it. Thanks!
Sunday, February 1st, 2004 04:45 pm (UTC)
Regarding th stock sales ... and presuming it had to do with stock options ... something you might want to double check ...

There's the option price (purchasePrice), the value at time of exercise (exerciseValue), and the value at time of sale (saleValue). You should overall be reported on (saleValue - purchasePrice). It *might* be that you have two reports that are (exerciseValue - purchasePrice) and (saleValue - exerciseValue), which should work out to the same thing and would also be correct.
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004 12:28 pm (UTC)
Nah, unfortunately, they both did it "right" (saleValue - purchasePrice). They don't match exactly, because one deducted commissions and fees and the other didn't, but besides that...

Ah well.
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004 08:44 am (UTC)
Who knew you were a Looney games fan? ;-D

Z
(2002 Fluxx Tournament Finalist)

P.S.: Does the shipping make it worthwhile to buy locally -- or
is it too late?
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004 12:30 pm (UTC)
Fluxx TOURNAMENT? Something about the concept of a tournament for such a chaotic game tickles my funnybone. :-)

Too late to buy locally this time; the order was in before I posted this journal entry. Finding a deep-discount battery source actually made it worthwhile buying over the net. But next time, if I find a place nearby with good prices, I'll go pick one up in person.