Fudging the Figures

I've been figuring my own taxes since I've been filing 1040s. So many years of self-employment, the occasional workshop in what is and is not deductible and what records need to be kept, all have kept it down to a reasonable job. Every year I do the figures at the end of January, so I know whether I'm needing to pay more and how to budget for it. Each year I mail the return in on April 15th. Even though it's correct, I play the odds and do my best to avoid an audit by being just a tiny one in the huge herd of filers.

They choose you for audit two ways. First, weird figures can trigger one. If you don't match their averages, they want an explanation. Second, a certain number are randomly pulled each day. The odds of being overlooked for that last selection are much more in my favor on April 15th.

This year has been a problem for me. Usually the envelopes are sealed and waiting for sendoff long since. This year I haven't gotten past my Schedule Cs. When I ran through just the mileage deduction, I was already below zero. Nevermind the cell phone, the leased communication equipment, the uniforms, the DOT physical. This may not seem like a problem, but I had already contributed to my IRA, in an amount that was more than zero. That only works if you balance it against earned income. And once in, you can't take it out again, not without penalty. I figured it was time to go back into the Schedule C and fudge the figures.

In other words, claim less that I am legally entitled to deduct. Or, looked at another way, input weird figures onto my form, risking triggering an audit. It's not that I fear needing to pay penalties for cheating on my taxes. I'm trying to pay more, after all. It's the total hassle of the whole thing - time off work, investigating previous years, hauling records that are 8" thick for each year. And it's the IRS for Pete's sake! Is there anything more intimidating?

My personal politics play a part here as well. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a Liberal. This means I believe in bigger government providing better answers to society's problems than individuals either can do or can be trusted to do. Somebody has to pay for that, and I believe that the somebody has to include me. I should pay something in taxes. Sure, I'll take my legal deductions where I can get them, but as a matter of principle I should also contribute a little something at least. Sure, maybe not a lot, since I don't have it to give, but something.

The delay has been in trying to figure out my best approach. If I change the mileage part that's deductible, they might start to wonder why the change this year, especially when there's been no change in miles driven, just the amount paid by the greedy corporate folks who decided that more of my income should be their income this year when they cut my commissions. (Oh no, no hard feelings here, no sirree!) The other approach is staying with the real figures but lowering the dollar amount claimed for it. Previous math mistakes have shown me from previous years that they really pay attention to those things and correct them for you. Or should I say, for me. (You may not make any mistakes.) That puts me right back under zero income. Either way I decide to go, there must be a letter of explanation sent with the return. and that I finally wrote this morning.

That's a start. Tomorrow, I sit down and start fudging the figures.