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comment by kleinbl00

Not the issue - thing of it is, my life gains in complexity without interoperability to Quickbooks because it's the language my accountant speaks. And without my accountant, I'm fucked. Fun example:

In 2008, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2009, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2010, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2011, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2012, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2013, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2014, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business.

In 2014, the state of California hit me for $92 in interest for not paying my taxes in 2012. My accountant gave me the direct number of an actuary at the State of California who revealed that my accountant in 2011 (different accountant) had filled out the wrong paperwork, thereby paying my 2010 $800 twice but not my 2011. Thus, I had to pay the $92, and fill out a special form that gave the state of California permission to transfer my overpayment (which they had been under no obligation to tell me about) to 2012. Without that magic number, I'd still be fighting it.

Two months later - Friday - the State of California declared that I hadn't paid my taxes in 2012 so they were going to hit me for $800 plus interest, minus the $92 that they'd billed me erroneously for interest on a payment I hadn't actually made but an additional $150 penalty for not paying. I gave this notice (as well as a scan of the cancelled check) to my accountant, who spent an hour and a half in Franz Kafka's phone tree to determine that the entire problem was that the state of California had fucked up, not my 2011 accountant, and that they were going to refund me the $92 in interest they had charged me for their own fuckup.

Fuck California, by the way, and fuck Los Angeles in particular: two years ago they sent out "AB63s", which is a form that says "since we haven't gotten any business tax from you, and since you haven't registered your business with us locally, we're going to assume you've been in business the maximum amount of time and making the absolute maximum amount of money, therefore you owe us $296,000." They sent these out to everyone who had ever done I-9 work within Los Angeles county. So you call them up, wait on the phone for two hours to learn that it's a scare tactic to get you to cough up your $9 in entertainment industry tax, which you then pay and get your business license. But since the office that sends out the scare notices and the office that actually records your business are different offices, even if you pay and get things straightened out, Los Angeles sends you out a nastier scare-o-gram saying that since you didn't respond to their last terrorist threat, they've added $136,000 in penalties to your $296,000 tax bill and if you don't pay immediately they will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

TL;DR - I need my accountant the way Avon Barksdale needs his lawyer, just because I live in this beknighted corner of the world.





ironpotato  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well I got a parking violation from a state I've never been to the other day... Oh, we're not just trying to one-up eachother...

Seriously though, bureaucracy is fucking awful.

kleinbl00  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I win. Some asshole in a towncar crossed a double yellow and knocked me across four lanes of traffic two hours ago. Just got the bike in tip-top shape.

FUCK LA.

thenewgreen  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No shit? You alright man? bicycle or Motorcycle? Either way, hope you aren't too fucked up.

kleinbl00  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Worth noting that "sideswiped by a service vehicle" happened on the bicycle last november.

Again, FUCK LA.

thenewgreen  ·  3688 days ago  ·  link  ·  

yeah, I remember that. Start knocking on wood prior to saddling up.

kleinbl00  ·  3688 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm 400 miles a week on this gig. NHTSA has calculated that motorcycle travel is 37 times as dangerous as car travel. So that's the equivalent of 15,000 miles a week in a car.

Guess my number was up.

thenewgreen  ·  3688 days ago  ·  link  ·  

In that case, statistically you've gotten it out of the way. Nice.

kleinbl00  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Motorcycle.

Put the turn signal on, let it blink once, lunged across the double yellow, totally sideswiped me. Sent the bike spiraling across I-405 at rush hour. I came off two lanes into it, bike kept spinning another couple lanes. Stood up, looked at the guy, who yelled at me "you were going too fast!" to which I said

YOU CROSSED A DOUBLE YELLOW!

Would have been a $700 ticket for him if the cops had seen it. They didn't.

On the plus side, I wasn't run over by six lanes of northbound traffic. And, thank god for crash bobbins. I'll need to replace 'em but the bike is largely intact. I'll need ~200 worth of parts to get it running again, from f'ing Nuremburg, of course.

On the minus side, yeah. knocked across 4 lanes of traffic. Amazing thing is I was only an hour late for work.

thenewgreen  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

So, just bruised up and pissed off? Any repercussions for the idiot that crossed the double yellow? Also, were you going too fast?

Glad you're alright, that's scary shit. Now that you're a dad, each accident carries more weight, no?

kleinbl00  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Speed limit on the road is 65. It was rush hour; CHP had guidelines that said "don't be going more than 10mph faster than traffic." Traffic was going probably 35; I was probably going 45-50.

I seriously hope he loses his job. He was driving livery and the point of putting on a turn signal is to say "I'm changing lanes" not "bombs away." The fact that he was from Ventura pretty much emphasizes that he isn't used to paying attention to white-liners, UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CAR ON THE ROAD.

And that's the thing: I was going straight in a straight road in the place where I'm supposed to go straight. He was CHANGING LANES across a double yellow out of the carpool lane, which is a massive ticket in California. And it's not like people don't do that. And it's not like I haven't stood on the brakes before. And it's not like I haven't dealt with exactly this problem before. But today? Yeah, nowhere to go.

Thump.

Spin.

Billing the shit out of those fuckers. New helmet, new jacket, whole nine yards. Asshole.

steve  ·  3688 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Billing the shit out of those fuckers. New helmet, new jacket, whole nine yards. Asshole.

oh hellz yes

blackbootz  ·  3689 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yea, my level of complexity is firmly in dead ass simple. Way to make me never want to open a business in California... or pay franchise taxes? Still, let us know how the program works for you if you try it.