Work


15
Apr 08

Taxes…blah

$20,004.

That’s our tax bill.  Doesn’t that sound a bit ridiculous?  I can’t even pay my cable bill and I’m expected to cough up 20 large?  I really don’t understand the tax thing.  We used to have an accountant do our taxes, but we can’t afford $680 to pay him.  We have so many other accountants tell us that our taxes are simple.  Ha.  No, simple is me filling out that 840EZ or whatever it was called and waiting for my refund check.  I haven’t gotten a refund since I got married.

Our tax bill before ’05 used to be $2000 – $2500.  That’s a lot, but at least it was manageable.  Then we started making money.  Being so busy, we weren’t actually entertaining clients as often.  That means less deductions.  Our tax bill for for ’05 came up to $15, 838.  What I calculated for ’06 was $18, 762.  We also bought a bunch of new stuff a few years ago, so we can’t even take deductions on equipment.

What sucks the most is that we can’t claim the boy because I can’t find his stupid Social Security card, so I don’t know the number.  So there’s $3400 + day care expenses down the drain.  Even the house stuff is baffling.  I keep being told that all the repairs we’ve done for the house were deductible, I can’t see where.  Maybe I’m not doing the right form, but all I know is that just on materials alone, we spent a little over $10K on the house.  That doesn’t even count the other $11K we spent on labor.  I did the partial deduction since we work at home, but that only take into account 5% of that total.

So…I’m depressed.  I know that I can revisit my tax returns and I’m sure I can do some sort of payment plan, but why should I depress myself more?


6
Dec 07

Aw man!

I’m going to miss out on the Great Burrito Giveaway today! I was all set to head out the Glenbora, but this thing starts at 11 and I have to meet a client in Fallbrook at 11. Then, I have to go to Corona, Moreno Valley AND Temecula. If the sun isn’t completely down, then maybe I can shoot my site near Glendora and maybe get my free burrito.

UPDATE: I’m a moron. I’m looking at the plans and the first site I actually need to go to is in Woodland Hills on Fallbrook Ave. That’s changes things…maybe I can hit Glendora on the way to the IE.


11
Oct 07

Know who sucks?

People who can’t pay a underpriced fee of $2823.01. The first bill, for work completed in Sept. 2006, was mailed in Oct. 2006. It was cheaper than what we charge most clients and they just ignored it. I kept resending the bill and and resending the bill. Oh. The reason it wasn’t paid? No PO#. Fuckers. I finally got a PO# on Dec. 18th, 2006 and resent the bill. BTW, when I say “send”, I’m talking USPS and email.

They gave us more work in Dec. (how our total got bumped up to what it is) Rush job. Great. However, I didn’t get PO# for them until Feb. I’m just saying: If you want a rush job, the least you can do is rush payment. Right?

So, March comes and goes, with no payment. No, I’m livid. 6 months and no payment? Unacceptable. So, I get on the phone, I email, I resend the bills. Not a damn thing. I should note that since Dec. ’06, we haven’t gotten one new project from this fuckwads.

April. May. June…pissed. Not only have we not been paid, but despite emailing and leaving voicemails every week for three months, I’m not even getting contacted. So Adrian, calls up the project manager who says she’ll help. Well, we got an email reply. “Oh, you didn’t get paid? I’ll check up on that.” That’s June 25th. July 3rd, I call to follow-up. “That’s so strange, I thought you were paid.” Next breath: “Oh, the reason you weren’t paid is that we have a duplicate invoice.” What the shit is that? They have 5 invoices instead of 4 and they can’t pay us on the ones that aren’t duplicate? Bullshit. I told her to delete the extra invoice and pay us. “Okay, we should be able to clear this up next week.”

It’s Oct. 11th and we have not received payment. I actually didn’t even get any responses to my twice weekly emails and voicemails until Sept. 21, when I was lucky enough to get them on the phone. Know what they said? “Oh, I saw the emails, I just had no idea what it was regarding.” Yeah, because this is totally unclear:

August 24th:
We have not yet received payment on any of the invoices sent in Dec. ’06 or Jan. ’07. When I spoke to Danielle in July, I was told that she’d look into why we didn’t receive payment and that other invoices were to be slotted for payment. Over the last 5 weeks, I’ve left voicemails for Danielle and Ann, but those were not returned. I emailed Danielle earlier this week regarding the unpaid invoices, but have not yet heard back from her. Yesterday I left Danielle a voicemail and today I left Ann a voicemails about this issue. I’ve added them both on this email (and cc’d Susan) and hopefully we’ll hear something soon.

Or this

Sept. 7th:
Hi Susan / Ann,

Do you have any information on the status of our payment?
Thanks!

And this:

Sept. 12th:
Ann,

I left you another voicemail yesterday regarding this. Can you please contact me, so that I can know when to expect payment?

Thank you.

Yep. Totally unclear as to who I could be speaking to. So, I get her on the phone and she says that I need to email her assistant (who was cc’d on all the above emails, BTW) the invoices. Again. Then she emailed me:


Sept. 21st:
Thank you. We will review your account and get back to you on payment status.

Regards,

Ann

Well, that sounds like something’s moving right? Well, I called and left a few voicemails, which were naturally ignored. Then I emailed her back on the 25th of Sept.:

Hello,

Do you have a status on when we can expect payment for these invoices?

Of course, that was completely ignored too. Now, keep in mind, the above emails are just a small snippet of all the emails in the entire thread. Printed out, with the reposted emails, signatures and headers deleted, the email thread is 4 pages long. That should give you an idea of how many emails are involved here. Well, I emailed again today. Now, I’m just wondering…when should I just drive down to San Diego and make a scene to get my money? I’m thisclose to hopping in the car tomorrow morning. This shit is ridiculous.


6
Sep 07

Whoo-hoo!

After almost two months, I finally got my PO#s, so now I can bill for work done in June.