Taxes are a bitch!
>> Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Yeah, apparently I have to pay some back taxes this year. (Is that even how that is expressed in English?? My brain is mush).
I was shocked when I got my tax return (selvangivelse in Norwegian) to put it mildy. The amount listed there was enough to seem surreal! So I put it off (as we do with boring/terrifying paperwork), but seeing as how I have to submit any changes before May 1st, I rolled up my sleeves and got at it tonight.
Turns out it wasn't that bad once I got started. Part of the problem may be that I have never documented any of my students loans or debt from the US. This can definitely help me since I've been paying interest on that stuff for years (wish I would have documented this a lot sooner!?). And sending in that information online was fairly painless. So yeah, now we wait and cross our fingers and hope that the Norwegian IRS (Skattetaten) recalculates and finds out that they actually owe me money! ;)
So stop procrastinating if you were in the same boat as me! It's the anticipation that's the worst of it. And once you get to work, you never know what you'll find. I, for example, found some old Norwegian coursework of mine from when I'd been on my Norwegian learning journey for a little over a month! I got some good laughs out of some of my answers and I have to share them for all of your Norwegian speakers out there!
Seriously, enjoy my answers to these worksheet questions. I definitely had a good time reading them out loud to Lars!
Når kom du til Norge?
Jeg kom til Norge 2 måneder siden.
Har du norske venner?
Ja, jeg har norske venner men ikke så mye.
Spiser du norsk mat?
Ja, jeg spiser fårikål.
Har du legitimasjon?
Jeg tror ikke.
Drikker du kaffe?
Ja, jeg drikker kaffe med mange sukker og melk.
Hva liker du å spise?
Jeg liker å spise mange tinger.
5 comments:
Taxes are bitch, indeed.
I remember I had to pay back around 1000 kr two years ago, but that was nothing because I have a friend who had to pay around 15000. This year I have been lucky, tho' and get money back.
Here in Denmark, at least it's best to call them and report your income if you get a new job / raise, and ask them to raise your tax percentage, I dunno how much it is in Norway, but I bet lower than here *chuckles*
PS: I hate farikål >_>
i loved looking at your norwegian beginning sentences (my brain is mush too LOL). hilarious to see how far you have come and that you actually did have to start somewhere!!! i should do the same thing sometime (except ill probably just die when i read where i started).
i know nothing about norwegian taxes...but i do like fårikål :)
Awww. . . you were so cute back then! ;)
Just curious. . . have you been remembering to pay your AMERICAN taxes?
So, American taxes. . .
I'm guessing your parents are no longer claiming you, right? You do still have to file them when you're living abroad, although I would *guess* that you don't make enough to actually have to pay anything (I think the limit is about 95,000 USD). Needless to say, you do still have to file them!
I usually did our taxes in the US (on TurboTax) but found it to be very confusing last year with both US income for half the year and Norwegian income for the second half, in addition to selling a house, moving, etc. So I found a website "taxes for expats" and they did them for me for about $300. It was well worth it. WELL worth it. This year I used them again, just for simplicities sake. I think next year I'll be able to handle it myself again, now that I know what paperwork is required.
Whether you use that website or not, I would gently encourage you not to ignore it too long! The IRS can fine you for filing late, even if you don't owe anything, so you don't want to let too many years go by. But thanks for the reminder on the student loans--I don't think that's being taken into consideration on our Norwegian taxes, either.
I can send you a link to the tax website, if you're interested.
http://www.taxesforexpats.com/index.html
They were very quick to respond personally to emails, so if you have any questions before you "hire" them, (like: do I really need to do this?), I would expect they would be very willing to help you.
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