We meet with our CPA next Friday so in an effort to be on-the-ball and efficient I started gathering our tax info a month ago. I dutifully took the prep booklet he sent and attached the supporting documentation to each page so when we get to his office, hopefully we’ll have the answer to each and every question.
Okay – so that’s not exactly correct! I attached the documentation to “almost” every page – and I was doing great until I came to an involuntary sale of a piddling stock I received as a gift over 10 years ago. The sale was completed in late December 2007 and the check dated in 2007 but the envelope was postmarked in 2008. Now I could delay my records search and try to foist it onto the 2008 return except for the fact that I just knew it would be a loss – which it was!
But in the meantime I had to do some digging because the company merged with another in 1999 and then did a reverse stock split in 2001 – nothing like being complicated for just a few bucks. Thankfully the Internet is full of info such as the stock prices for the old and new companies plus a nifty little worksheet to help me calculate my basis so my tax info is now complete, I had a loss on that transaction and best of all, I found my prescription sunglasses while searching my paper records. Just finding my shades was sufficient to make me feel a sense of accomplishment.
I’m so proud of myself I’m going to treat myself to some book time – I’m well into Jeffrey Archer’s new book, “Prisoner of Birth” – and so far it’s his best of the best.
