Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ Category

Utterly Taxing: An Expatriate’s Filing Saga

A few months back, my mother had a bit of trouble getting through New Zealand customs when she came to visit. “Where are you staying?” asked the customs official.  “I don’t know,” said my mother. “Well, why not?” she pressed. “Because my daughter lives in a tent,” she replied with what can only be described as pride. Read the rest of this entry »

“So,” my Mother said, chuckling over the phone, “does this mean you’re going to become some kind of …tax expert?”

Parents are cute.

I had recently informed my mother that my quirky perspective and light speed typing skills were being used for good, not evil. Given my past history with finances, not to mention my complete lack of math or business capabilities, she was finding the whole thing rather amusing. Read the rest of this entry »

Last I wrote, things had begun to look up, but a day or two later, my optimism was replaced by a new brand of the old scrambling panic and hysteria, the very  kind of panic that accompanies the horrifying realization one has zero time left to do something  of utmost importance. Like, say, your taxes.

We have all heard the saying ‘Time flies when you’re having fun,’ but I personally do not believe this is the only scenario in which Time speeds up. I believe Time also flaps his wings and flies extra fast when he knows you are running late. Jerk Read the rest of this entry »

When I made the decision to spend a year living and working in New Zealand, I gave it a lot of thought. I thought about my plane ticket, obtaining my visa, what to pack, what I wasn’t allowed to pack, and what I was required to pack in strange and frustrating ways. Once I arrived, I thought about money, where I could get the cheapest curry, which clothes I could afford to ‘drop’ from my backpack to avoid developing a hunch, and how insanely cold it is to sleep in a tent in the forest when it’s raining.

But I never thought about filing my US income taxes.
Like America and everything I had left there, taxes seemed far, far away, a requisite act of a world I no longer subscribed to. Read the rest of this entry »