IRS

My most recent, and to be honest current, search and journey of discovery is one relating to financial matters. I worked in Charlotte until April of 2003 so I will have to file a tax return for last year. Normally, this means about an hour of quality time entering information into Yahoo’s tax program. It is a fairly automated process and has been a good experience over the last few years. Almost everything is imported, I list my charitable donations and then the government sends me money back. Single and living in the country makes the process go by quickly.

The 2003 return promises to be more of a challenge. During 2003 I got married to (and I’m quoting the IRS here) a “nonresident alien.” Alissa tends to hate it when I call her that because normally it comes along with the humming of the ET theme song. Sadly, I have a great relationship with Alissa’s family so I can’t even kick in any mother-in-law jokes here either.

Oh, and in 2003 I moved out of the country and found another job. Apparently, the IRS still wants a little piece of that action so I’ve gained myself about three more forms to fill out. It appears that I will not take a bath in taxes because I spent most of the year unemployed. Oh, I knew there was a blessing in that somewhere.

My single status with the government is gone too. I can either file jointly or separately with my wife. While the US government won’t let her work in the US they will happily allow me to declare her salary and pay joint taxes. I’ll file married-separately thanks.

My departure from the US was very organised but I may have missed a few key check marks on my action plan. One major mark is that I never actually told the state of North Carolina or the US that I have moved. My search this morning is to find out who I need to tell. The IRS supplies a couple forms but who else needs to know?

And the search begins….