Deep in the heart of taxes

God bless him, Tom did my taxes today. I won't embarrass myself by telling you how little I made, but for some reason, this year when my earnings were the lowest by far since I left the monastery, doing my taxes was the most complicated.

That is because the money I earn from the Carmelite Institute makes the tax system consider me self-employed, which adds page after page of boxes to check or not check. I also wound up doing an itemized account of my medical expenses because they were so huge this year, but as it turned out, that didn't help any.

In the end, I was due a few hundred back in a refund, but because of the whole self-employed thing, we decided it was safer for me to apply the refund to next year's taxes, just in case I get in trouble for underpaying. Not really for underpaying in total, but underpaying because it is not spread out over twelve months. Since this year my self-employed income will include whatever I make on books, it is best to be careful

This is because the Institute, despite my requests, does not withhold anything from what they pay me. I have always included what I make from them on my income tax in the past and paid tax on it. This year, because I am trying to provide the government with the whole paper trail of my puny finances, the Institute gave me a 1099 form. But that means (since they also sent it to the IRS), the teaching is no longer considered a part time or sporadic job, but instead I am considered self-employed.

At least I did not have to pay any additional federal taxes this year like last year.