I hate myself enough already, thanks
October 1, 2011 6:24 AM Subscribe
Please refer me to a NYC-area tax accountant who specializes in arts/freelance clients with horrid IRS debt and deep financial shame.
I work in a related industry and for most of us, your back taxes are just one more financial puzzle to solve, like alimony or payments on a house. They don't involve shame or anything else. So I guess I'm saying that if you run into someone who gives you shit for your back taxes, you should just go elsewhere, because that person is an asshat.
Sort of like going to a doctor- that weird thing on your butt might be shameful to you, but to your MD, it's just another butt.
That said, it is a rare tax person who isn't a little weird. I haven't met too many with phenomenol people skills. Don't take it personally.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:43 AM on October 1, 2011
Sort of like going to a doctor- that weird thing on your butt might be shameful to you, but to your MD, it's just another butt.
That said, it is a rare tax person who isn't a little weird. I haven't met too many with phenomenol people skills. Don't take it personally.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:43 AM on October 1, 2011
Shelly Jacobson runs S J Tax Associates on 19th Street – she used to be an IRS audit manager and really knows how to work them.
posted by nicwolff at 10:08 AM on October 1, 2011
posted by nicwolff at 10:08 AM on October 1, 2011
I have an accountant I quite like, as a self-employed person, if you want a referral.
Really I'm here to say: oh, it's really going to be fine. The IRS is used to it. They just want to talk to you. They're sometimes annoying and confusing but largely quite nice!
Stop beating yourself up! YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY be in a worse place than I have been with them. You're allowed to make mistakes.
I will also warn you that, as you go through this process, you will become exhausted with trying to be a "good person." It feels really endless and stressful sometimes but I promise you it's worth it.
Meanwhile? Just think of it like the government gave you a loan for a while. Wasn't that nice of them???
posted by RJ Reynolds at 1:30 PM on October 1, 2011
Really I'm here to say: oh, it's really going to be fine. The IRS is used to it. They just want to talk to you. They're sometimes annoying and confusing but largely quite nice!
Stop beating yourself up! YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY be in a worse place than I have been with them. You're allowed to make mistakes.
I will also warn you that, as you go through this process, you will become exhausted with trying to be a "good person." It feels really endless and stressful sometimes but I promise you it's worth it.
Meanwhile? Just think of it like the government gave you a loan for a while. Wasn't that nice of them???
posted by RJ Reynolds at 1:30 PM on October 1, 2011
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And a little story for you to give you some perspective. My SO used to do a little bit of freelance tech support for a husband and wife motivational speaking team. One year, around tax time, he was at their place installing some software on their computer. It being tax time and all, the conversation turned to, well, tax time. The husband off-handedly mentions that he and his wife have to sit down with their accountant in a few days to talk about some of their tax issues. My SO nods politely and says something neutral like, "Oh, really? That's no fun." And the husband says, "Yeah. Well. We underpaid our taxes last year to the tune of about $90,000.00 so we're going to have to work out a payment plan." And then he shrugged his shoulders and laughed a little bit and wandered out of the room.
So, you know, there are folks in a much worse pickle than you likely are out there in the world. Best of luck.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 7:09 AM on October 1, 2011