Britain or Bust

In general, there are two types of tax filers in America: ones who file early because they know they’re due a refund and ones who file late because they know they owe Uncle Sam. For as long as I can remember I’ve been the former, but things are changing and it is most unwelcome. We got a shock when our expected refund dropped by $1000. We originally thought it was a mistake in the software so we waited for updates which unfortunately did not include anything that gave us a different result. So we tried another software program online and cursed ourselves for buying the first which was a different one from previous years. Still, same result but this program at least shed light on the reason we dropped so significantly: no child tax credit because your child is too old. Ugh, too old? He is 17 and still young enough to be called a child in my book but there you have it, Uncle Sam says it’s so.

Of course, I knew our good fortune would not last forever but I never thought the end would come so quickly. I always assumed that as long as we could claim him as a dependent (to age 24 I believe as long as he is in University) then we would be eligible for the tax credit. This revelation might be easier to swallow if it came as a result of a pay rise which knocked us out of income range, but we are not that fortunate I’m afraid. So a year that has been tough enough on our budget gets even tougher. And one thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze at when you are paying for dental work on said child, saving for said child’s college education (which is just around the corner by the way) and trying to save for said child’s trip to Scotland where he will meet his grandparents for the very first time. It wouldn’t surprise me though if Obama raises the age limit as another effort to give hurting Americans some relief but even then we will probably fall thru the cracks because it will take some time for the bill to take effect and then said child is a year or two older.

So, we’ve suffered another set back in our planned trip to Britain and it is further threatened by discussion at work that some employees will be made redundant or at the very least lose some pay. Of course, I count my blessings as well; we don’t have it nearly as bad as some others do. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle. In the past, I’ve always found that somehow, some way the money turns up when you need it. Here’s hoping history repeats itself.

The Tax Deduction – He’s got some nerve turning 17!