Dr. Frank's What's-it

When I worked as an independent contractor and didn't have taxes taken out of my checks, I was told that I had to save all my receipts. I never did because I can't really be bothered with being responsible enough to hang on to a little piece of paper. Anyway, when I went to get my taxes done, all I had to do for gas was fill out a mileage book. I'm sure for food and stuff, you need to have a receipt, but for gas, you don't. You just have to keep track of your mileage, how much gas you got, how much it cost and the the date you got it. I don't know if that's something you could do or already do...

While we're wishing, I wish that when you paid a parking lot or garage (like I do every day) that you would get something, besides some miserable little ticket to stick on your dash, that would display the date and how much you paid. I could write that shit off as a work expense!

I'm going through the same hell Doctor, only it's only in my nightmares so far because I'm so lazy I haven't actually started physically compiling all the receipts yet.

Also, after your recent post about I Don't Need You Now, I threw Revenge into my CD player and realized that I love the following line from S.A. Girlfriend:

"almost too sharp but not quite"

let me know if the IRS accepts Amy80's method of work-related expense claimage. I'll tell them I drove a million miles last year and they owe me big time.

I have a wallet full of reciepts! They never make it to a filing system! Good Luck in Hell see ya there! ;)

Do you guys get those receipts that just turn completely black? This has a happened to me quite a few times. They seem to be printed on regular white paper, but the portion where the ink should be just turns totally black, and covers up the entire side of the paper. I'm not sure what causes this, but I have always suspected that it has to do with me leaving receipts in the car, and the ink somehow melts and spreads across the paper.

Regarding receipts and mileage: 1) Business related meals and entertainment expenses require the following to be proved: Date, amount and location. While these items can be derived from the receipt the following must also be substantiated: Reason for entertaining or brief nature of business discussion that took place and the name(s) or other information about the person or persons entertained to establish a business relationship to the taxpayer.

For claiming auto expenses, taxpayers may use the standard mileage rate (37.5 cents per mile in 2004) or actual expenses (gas, oil, maintenance, repairs, insurance, registration etc) prorated for business use. In either case you need to have written documentation of mileage to determine the percentage of business use of your vehicle. Once you adopt a method (actual, standard rate) you must continue to use the same method for that vehicle.

The IRS accepted it. They even gave me money back for doing it that way. I went through H&R Block and the person who did my taxes told me to only use one of the mileage books. I was worried about it really working so H&R Block signed off on my taxes. That way, if I ever get audited, H&R Block is responsible for any mistakes. But, that was 4 years ago and I've never heard anything from the IRS.

MELODY CHESTS'S TIP OF THE DAY:

Keep your income level under $6,000 so you don't have to file anything. I've only done my taxes once in the ten years since I should have started filing. Someday someone somewhere somehow might add up the freelance checks I've gotten and realize I owe a few grand, but by then I will have muscles built up so big that no prison bars could hold me. excuse me while i eat this egg and do a push up.

I second the motion to ban the disappearing ink receipts. That kind of paper should only be used in situations where it's absolutely necessary, like for the minutes of Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force.

ewwww why havent they invented some sort of tax or reciept robot to do all this for you. the least they could give you is a helper monkey.

Some advice from personal experience, Don't EVER get creative or clever with you f'ing taxes. hating paying taxes is fine, dickin' around with it will end in tears. And the bitch of it is, the longer it takes for them to catch your clever ass, the more you think it's all behind you and you've moved on, the more the interest has piled up on what the IRS feels you owe them. The really bad part being that, when you're dealing with the IRS (as I found), unlike most branches of the legal system, the burden of proof is on YOU. You heard right, you are guilty until YOU prove your self innocent. Good luck kids. Don't spend your 30's chompin' away at yet another debt.

Mike is right. Even if THEY screw up, it's up to YOU to prove it.

i hear you about the disappearing receipt thing. that really pisses me off. home depot receipts are like those magic ink papers for which i've lost the stupid marker for because i probably tested it one time and it didnt write so i just threw it out!

the funny thing is that you could probably associate a 7-figure dollar amount to the money home depot keeps every year because people can't return things for which they don't have their receipt.

Oscar: That's thermal paper, for a thermal printer. And yes, it turns black because it got hot.

(They don't use ink; the print-head in the printer makes hot spots which turn the paper black.)

Thanks, Sigi. That explains it.

What a swell idea.

238281: Hey, does anyone know where I can find a list of gas stations with low prices in my area?