Friday, April 11, 2008

Highlights from Tax Season, Part 1

In just four days, your IRS tax return is due....and my season at H&R Block comes to an abrupt end. Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of the 350+ tax returns I have prepared this year:

  • Oldest Client: 97 years of age. Spry, too.
  • Youngest Client: 14
  • Biggest refund I filed for a client: $10,700
  • Number of refunds I filed over $8000 (including the one above): 4
  • Biggest debt owed the IRS on a return I prepared: About $2400
  • Number of women who told me they planned to use their tax refund (or their half of it) to pay for their divorce: 2
  • Largest withdrawal from a retirement plan, without having any federal taxes withheld: Over $26,000. (Note: Don't ever do this.) Thankfully, the client was old enough not to have to pay the early withdrawal penalty. Same client couple had over $4,000 in gambling winnings. Hmmm.....
  • Largest refund filed in the office this year, to my knowledge: $24,000
  • Largest debt owed to the IRS on paperwork I witnessed: $8800
  • All clients on the same day: One couple had a baby die several days after its birth (in 2007); a woman came in to file a tax return for her mother who died last month; a client came in whose father and brother died last year in a house fire. Another client had lost a son to a car accident several years before. And another client came in to finish and sign her paperwork, started a few days earlier, whose husband (a police officer) committed suicide in 2005.
  • Most children claimed as dependents on a return: 6

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