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May 27, 2008

On Acronyms and the IRS

Acronyms are pretty cool.

Some pretty faithfully match the words they're comprised of:
SCUBA - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
TLA - Three (or Two) Letter Acronym

Others a bit more of a stretch:
MDX - Multidimensional eXpressions
DNA - Deoxyribonucleic Acid

And a few don't come even close:
IRS - Blood Sucking Bastards

Me? I'm just a wee bit bitter that they 100% robbed me of $1068 this year - and that if I don't pay THEM (the robbers/thieves) then, ironically, I go to jail.

Early 2008 I filed, retroactively, as an S-Corp for 2007. Congress specifically instructed the IRS BSB to allow these late filings. And, happily, they accepted my election without issue.

Only, all during 2007 I was paying estimated personal taxes. To keep things simple, let's say that was $15k. Meaning, that at the end of 2007, the IRS had $15k of my $$ in their grubby little hands. By changing to an S-Corp, the way I pay taxes as a corporation radically changed - and instead of paying quarterly estimated taxes, I now need to pay monthly withholding taxes (i.e. the kind of tax you pay to an employee).

The problem, by retroactively becoming an S-Corp for 2007 the IRS was expecting (let's say) $15k in withholding taxes. I didn't have that. As far as they were concerned, I was Wesley Snipes.

So they fined me.

Yeah, I could get an expensive lawyer and fight this - but I'd lose way more than what I've already lost.

Yeah, they're a gigantic bureaucracy, and I'm not surprised that I got screwed this way.

But by the same token, they're immoral. No other business or organization would operate this way. (If you had a $15k tab with the hospital, and owed $15k ... I'm sure they could figure out how to make that just work.)

I asked that they review my records, and note that I always pay on time, and abate or remove the penalty. They sent me a trial-size package of Vaseline, and told me to pay up. Blood Sucking Bastards....

UPDATE: After contacting the IRS... it looks like they're still trying to decide whether I have to pay the fines or not. i.e. they haven't yet processed my letter asking them to remove the fines. (Hmm... maybe I should take this post down while they're considering... )

Posted on May 27, 2008 | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 05, 2008

An Open Letter to My Keyboard

Dear Keyboard,

There's really, never, ever, ever, ever, ever a time when I don't want the NUM LOCK key off. I have a keyboard with a 10-key because I like those keys.

And I don't use that side of my keyboard as a drink-holder. Ever.

So, I'd prefer it if we could work something out where my 10-key always worked. Cuz having the ability to turn off my 10-key/Toggle NUM LOCK is tantamount to having keys that turn off 'right hand' or 'left hand' keys - i.e., totally useless.

Love,

--Mike

No, really: When did 'they' decide that a 10-key was just too much for some users to handle? What was the conversation like?

"Dood, this 10-key thing is nice, but it's just too much power. Stop the insanity and give people a way to turn that thing off for the love of all that's holy - otherwise someone will shoot their foot off with that thing"....

Posted on May 05, 2008 | | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 01, 2008

Another Open Letter to Microsoft

Dear Microsoft,

I know you're busy formulating a hostile take-over of Yahoo right now. So you're probably swamped. And since I think your proposed take-over Yahoo is a swell idea - and a great way to improve your image after the whole vista-capable debacle, I've been giving some thought to some of the great things you can do once you convince Yahoo that this will be a great experience.

For example... you could use Yahoo's search-engine functionality to keep track of all the documentation, white-papers, and KB articles that you keep MOVING around on your damned site.

Me? I LOVE getting the "We're sorry for the inconvenience...." 404 page that you use to tell me that you willy-nilly just removed a resource that I was looking for - because it tells me that you care. Other people might get crabby about that though.

And here's the thing, people are linking to these resources - quite a bit too. Heck, I figure I bump into 2-3 of these little 'love notes' every day. But hey... I get you, you're saying that I don't really need access to documentation, white papers, and to KB articles. Cuz if I did, you wouldn't keep MOVING and DELETING those resources from your site.

But hey, like I said, I know you're really focused on that Yahoo buyout - so'z you can be more focused on providing people with a stronger and more friendly 'intarweb' experience...  I know I'd really like to see something like that from you - so good luck on the buyout as all our hopes and dreams are resting on it!

--Mike

Posted on May 01, 2008 | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)