Why I decided accounting was not for me
OK, time for excuse #2 regarding blogging truancy - taxes! (no, no, this is actually interesting... don't lose me now...
wake up!) Let me preface this by saying that I am one of those strange people who typically enjoys doing his taxes - I am actually interested in what the government values (i.e. what you get tax credits for doing) and feel a bit of a warm and fuzzy feeling doing my part to pay for stuff I like, for example roads, schools, sewers, R&D, and hospitals (you know, all that useless stuff we could easily afford by paying for it ourselves). However, this year truly sucked all the enthusiasm out of me. Believe me, the only thing more fun than doing your taxes in one country is doing your taxes in two countries with three different tax codes (yes, the rules for Massachusetts and the United States are ENTIRELY DIFFERENT - not even your calculated net income is the same - woo hoo!) Turns out that, for tax purposes in 2006, I was a resident of Canada, Ontario, Massachusetts but not the United States... this year I will be a resident of Canada (despite not actually living there a single day), Massachusetts and the United States (not Ontario), while in 2008, I will be a resident of (wait for it) Canada, Ontario, Massachusetts and the United States. Now, I realize that this means I have developed the extremely impressive ability to live in two places at once (to my Hamilton friends - little did you
know I was still living in your midst, bruhahahaha!), but it does make taxes an absolute nightmare. Most of this is
actually MIT's fault - in order to reduce the amount of work they needed to do to appoint me (a "foreign scholar"), they
told me to acquire a NAFTA TN work visa instead of a normal J1 work visa, which means that the United States considers me a "resident alien" for tax purposes (I would be a non-resident alien - love that name, makes me want to run out and buy fake antennae or something - if I was on a J1 visa and therefore exempt from all the American tax silliness). Suffice it to say, if any of you ever do this kind of move, talk to me first and I can give you some pointers on these things! The best part of it all is that I did not make a single dime of income from a U.S. source (not even bank interest) and yet still have to pay taxes here on my worldwide income because "that's what the Americans decided" (makes sense to me!). Anyway, it took me forever and required a fascinating 1.5 hour conversation with the IRS (talk about a bunch of fun-lovin' people!) but I think I got it reasonably correct (we will see when the assessments start filing in). Very valid blogging truancy excuse though, believe you me.
And while we are on the topic of sad things about the United States, here's another - none of my American friends has any clue what a butter tart is... terribly sad, I must import some next chance I get.
Tomorrow: "Baseball and Classic Sitcoms!" (the theme is very clear I think)
wake up!) Let me preface this by saying that I am one of those strange people who typically enjoys doing his taxes - I am actually interested in what the government values (i.e. what you get tax credits for doing) and feel a bit of a warm and fuzzy feeling doing my part to pay for stuff I like, for example roads, schools, sewers, R&D, and hospitals (you know, all that useless stuff we could easily afford by paying for it ourselves). However, this year truly sucked all the enthusiasm out of me. Believe me, the only thing more fun than doing your taxes in one country is doing your taxes in two countries with three different tax codes (yes, the rules for Massachusetts and the United States are ENTIRELY DIFFERENT - not even your calculated net income is the same - woo hoo!) Turns out that, for tax purposes in 2006, I was a resident of Canada, Ontario, Massachusetts but not the United States... this year I will be a resident of Canada (despite not actually living there a single day), Massachusetts and the United States (not Ontario), while in 2008, I will be a resident of (wait for it) Canada, Ontario, Massachusetts and the United States. Now, I realize that this means I have developed the extremely impressive ability to live in two places at once (to my Hamilton friends - little did you
know I was still living in your midst, bruhahahaha!), but it does make taxes an absolute nightmare. Most of this is
actually MIT's fault - in order to reduce the amount of work they needed to do to appoint me (a "foreign scholar"), they
told me to acquire a NAFTA TN work visa instead of a normal J1 work visa, which means that the United States considers me a "resident alien" for tax purposes (I would be a non-resident alien - love that name, makes me want to run out and buy fake antennae or something - if I was on a J1 visa and therefore exempt from all the American tax silliness). Suffice it to say, if any of you ever do this kind of move, talk to me first and I can give you some pointers on these things! The best part of it all is that I did not make a single dime of income from a U.S. source (not even bank interest) and yet still have to pay taxes here on my worldwide income because "that's what the Americans decided" (makes sense to me!). Anyway, it took me forever and required a fascinating 1.5 hour conversation with the IRS (talk about a bunch of fun-lovin' people!) but I think I got it reasonably correct (we will see when the assessments start filing in). Very valid blogging truancy excuse though, believe you me.
And while we are on the topic of sad things about the United States, here's another - none of my American friends has any clue what a butter tart is... terribly sad, I must import some next chance I get.
Tomorrow: "Baseball and Classic Sitcoms!" (the theme is very clear I think)
