|
Edited on Mon Aug-08-05 05:46 PM by trof
It's a Catch 22. We live on a small pension and S/S, which we have to supplement by taking money out of my dwindling IRA each year. Usually about $10,000. In addition to paying taxes on the pension, any money taken out of the IRA is taxed.
Last year, to pay for uninsured/uninsurable Ivan damage we had to take out three times that much. A bulkhead/retaining wall partially collapsed. 19 big downed oak trees had to be cut up and removed. The rootballs had to be removed. The upended rootballs ripped up parts of the asphalt driveway. The pier and dock suffered major damage. You can't GET insurance on any of this.
(OK, you're thinking "This rich bastard has a pier and dock?" We bought here over 12 years ago when prices were less than a quarter of what they are now. And I was working then, and pulling down a pretty decent salary. We is retired po' folks now. I have a full understanding of what it means to try and live on a "fixed income". Mine needs fixin'.;-))
OK, we can at least write off some of the expense as "casualty losses", but... You first have to deduct $100 from your losses. OK, no big deal. We're talking thousands in losses. BUT THEN, you have to deduct 10% of your adjusted gross income from your losses. The remainder you can write off.
So we have to pull 200% more out of the IRA to pay for the losses, and then deduct 10% of THAT "income" from the losses we can write off. It's ain't fair. It just ain't fair.
AND...the IRS says if you're in a residentially declared disaster area (like me) they MAY waive all late fees and interest on your return for a year. MAY.
I wrote my worthless repuke congressman to ask for help in getting the IRS to do this. There was no way I could file an accurate return last April. I hadn't been able to get estimates for most of the uninsured repairs by then, so I had no way of giving an accurate estimate of casualty losses. I STILL haven't been able to get estimates for some of it. Waiting lists for contractors are still long, almost a year after the event. And now Hurricane Dennis has sucked up a lot of those in the nearby Florida panhandle.
He helpfully replied that I could file for a 4 month extension. Well I KNOW that. But you still have to estimate what your tax will be, and pay any balance you think you might owe, or you get hit with penalties and interest. I hadn't a clue. Thank you very much Jo Bonner (R) AL.
And here's the topper. The icing on the cake. Because I had soooo much "income" from the IRA? Now I gotta pay tax on most of the S/S. KAY-RAPP!
So here I am, trying to guesstimate what all this crap is going to cost and get some kind of numbers down and send the forms in by August 15th, and I'M. JUST. PISSED!
Thank you very much for letting me vent. ;-)
|