FORMS, FORMS, and MORE FORMS

AHH!  I finally finished the end of the year FORMS - payroll taxes, our accounting system (antiquated so it doesn't fill out the forms for you - including 1099s and W-2s) the personal tax information spreadsheet documenting all of the money spent and for what for the last year!!  OH and there was a new one this year from the CENSUS department of the "getting larger all the time" Federal Government!!  An ECONOMIC CENSUS - asking all kinds of information from this small business manager - EIGHT PAGES worth!!  It was brave enough to put a "comments" square so I informed them that they were duplicating the IRSs work.  Why do two sections of the Federal Government need to acquire the same information?!

Of course, just last evening my "other half" was looking at data for various towns/cities in different parts of the country and comparing it to the information for "our" town.  They had all kinds of information about the cultural mix, the businesses in the town, who used what form of transportation, the median income, the number of "non-employed" AND whether they were retired, disabled, or just out of work - which was reported anyway - the number of people per household, and whether they had health insurance or not!!  Perhaps that data was entered via the CENSUS Bureau and I had just MISSED out on being asked previously.

So the last item on my business agenda for the day was to make out a check for one of our employees - she needed to be paid as her son had to put down money on some tooth repair!  My "better half" takes care of entering the payroll tax changes each year into the above mentioned antique bookkeeping program and he wanted to double check the percentages before I did the first checks of the new year - Never a bad idea as it messes up the whole year if wrong!! 

I wonder how many small business owners file for divorce in the first couple of months of the new year when all of these GOVERNMENT forms and changes have to be done "before February 10th~!~!"?  You would think that after 53 years of knowing this really nice fella that I married I would know that when he looks at a problem, he has to go back to the beginning of time and all I wanted was to be able to write ONE LOUSY payroll check TODAY, if you please!!  When I lost my cool and stomped off to find the needed IRS booklet I guess that he decided that I needed to write the check MORE than I needed to solve the problem in our antique accounting system!  When I returned with the needed booklet and it was properly marked and compared to the numbers and percentages on the computer screen, he told me I could have the computer back and do the check!!   How does he put up with my "lets just get it done!" attitude when he would balance everything to the penny and find out WHY it was out of balance to start with!!?

I would sooner clean toilets than do bookkeeping!~!