The IRS sent the following last month:
A "request" for her 2006 return. Aren't those Feds sweet? It's only June of 2008, after all.
Also, a "Proposed Individual Income Tax Assessment" for her 2005 return (which she also has never filed...along with 2004's, if I remember correctly).
$317 K income
$ 90 K original tax assessment
$ 40 K total penalties
$ 28 K total interest
TOTAL AMOUNT DUE: $158,000.00
Fun!
In an attempt to get her 2006 return done, I worked with the Geriatric Care Manager, Regina, who at the time was still "on the case". We delivered all the 2006 receipts and paperwork, etc., to her accountant. Even though all the building blocks were there to formulate the 2006 return, she decided she'd rather file a different year's return first (one of the years for which the receipts and paperwork are spread amongst her various real estate holdings).
She had a top-flight accountant ready to complete all the work. All that was needed was her signature. The return would have been sent to her. All she needed to have done was to pick up a pen.
I will send this information to her today. Of course, I'm tempted to put in a little note making a helpful suggestion, a reminder that her 2006 return is, essentially, already complete. But again, I must stop that knee from jerking.
4 comments:
Golly, Elise...
Your mother is forking over a fair percentage of her income to the IRS for no good reason. Can your brother get something like a limited/designated power of attorney to take care of this for her...so she doesn't blow through her money...which she will need for her future care?
Yikes. Stuff like this is incredibly worrisome. All I can think of - and it's not my money! - is what a waste it is....somebody worked for it and it needs to be preserved and grown!
Yep.
She says she trusts him implicitly. He's an attorney with a near-genius-level IQ.
But she won't sign a Power of Attorney, she won't do the legwork herself, and the Geriatric Care Manager says she is clearly mentally competent.
The very fact that she has spent $40K a year on a hotel when she has three homes is obscene. The fact that she did nothing to sell even one of these homes when the economy was good (and would not allow my brother to help her) is short-sighted and stupid.
If she won't do the right thing, and she's not mentally ill enough to be declared incompetent, we continue to be right here: a stand-off.
Only thing is, I'm not one of the people standing there with her any more. It literally became so frustrating and so futile that I had to walk away. I do feel terrible for my brother J., but by the same token, he's always been more detached from her than I. It just can't be me any more.
Elise,
It sounds like your mother deals with things by NOT dealing with them. While my n-dad never had much money, he did let some things really slide and get out of control. I used to blame ignorance, but now I wonder if there wasn't something else going on...as this usually required me rushing in to fix things. My husband thinks it has something to do with the need for creating chaos and excitement. That if everything is going smoothly, he will elevate something to a catastrophe. He observed this during visits with n-dad...in which every single visit was marked by a drama of his creation.
Nina...
In terms of dealing with things by not dealing with them...
BINGO.
Annoyances like taxes and home maintenance (whether doing them oneself, or allowing others to do them) are just for The Little People(TM).
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