It has been ages since I have had a roller coaster ride of emotions like today. And most of them revolve around money. The almighty dollar, pound, euro, franc, yen or rupee, or lack thereof.
I have started a new job. But I really have to wait on federal authority to come through before I can leave the office. And to get that I have to be deemed ‘fit and proper.’ Whatever that means! But I did have to undertake some sort of assessment which apparently I passed. And the stoopid internet here is sooooooo slow. It is bizarre that twitter, facebook, my bank and Centrelink have been the quickest pages to load today and the work page, my blog, and several news sites have been the slowest.
So yesterday is my first payday. I am salary sacrificing 5% of my income to superannuation because then my employer kicks in another 10%- 9% compulsory, plus 5% from me plus 10% from them will add up over time, especially to someone like me who currently has less than $5,000 in super to my name! Plus there are other deductions like social clubs and memberships which I am cool with.
But as I have discovered, whilst it looks like I am getting a substantial amount more than in my previous job, I am in the next tax bracket and I have a HECS debt so I am losing quite a bit to the tax department. Yes them… I will get back to them!
I am trying to tell myself that with the car and phone incorporated into my package then in essence I am a lot better off, but seeing cash in the bank…
Then this morning I received what was meant to be my final pay from my old job. Except it is a little wrong- they haven’t paid my holidays owed to me. But that’s cool! I can deal with that. I also received my fortnightly money from Centrelink. And whoa! Upon lodging my 07/08 tax return on time I have received some back pay. So I am all excited and happy and dreaming of paying off my credit card once and for all and then even getting a motorbike and then I find a nice looking bike online and I think that at last I might be able to afford it…
But I have an appointment with my accountant. I knew I had a tax debt with the ATO. When my ex lost his job and therefore we lost the house that came with it, I sold a whole lot of shares, bequeathed by my grandfather to me and bought the house I now live in. What I didn’t reckon was the capital gains tax bill. Well I knew there would be one, but it is 3 times what I anticipated. And now because I have lodged that tax return late they are slapping on over 11% interest over 3 years.
I gave my accountant my budget and my list of assets and liabilities. She then said that the ATO have said that based on my history of late lodgements they are not going to wave the interest charge or fines etc.
My accountant doesn’t know what will happen because really I can’t afford to sign up and say it will be paid off in x number of years. I can pay off bits and pieces, but in reality I am a single mum caring for 2 children with no support from their father.
Then I got my accountants bill which basically has taken what Centrelink gave me this morning. So no bike, or credit card paid off or anything. And every tax return for the next 50+ years will go to the ATO.
MIML™ has been wonderful and has tried to put thing in perspective. He thinks I can pay it off much sooner rather than later. We have planned to go to Hong Kong in June for a fortnight. I saw last night the airfares have come down dramatically so I am going to just book them before I can convince myself that I should be giving the money to the tax department. And I will try not to feel guilty about it.
Oh and the glass half full way of looking at it- the interest charges are tax deductable. So my tax returns will be greater and go towards paying it off sooner. Or something. Sigh.
