Tax Day

I skipped school today so I could get my taxes done. There is a tax office not far from where we live, so with papers in hand, I took the bus this morning to be there soon after they opened at 9am. I got there at ten past nine and I was the tenth person standing in line waiting for help. Most places around here have the numbered ticket system so I can just take a number and sit down while I’m waiting to be called - but not the tax office. There are plenty of chairs, but no ticket system, so everyone has to just stand in line and wait their turn. I was expecting it to be hours because there are only two counters to help people, but surprisingly, everyone that works in the office must set aside their normal duties to tend to all the questions this time of year – as employees came from every corner and out every door of the office to help people. That was a pleasant surprise, especially since I wasn’t even in line for ten minutes before it was my turn.

The man that helped me didn’t speak a word of English (maybe he could, but since I spoke to him first in Norwegian, he just stuck with that.) I showed him my papers – already filled out by the tax computer. Since the banks, employers and everyone that has anything to do with money has to report every detail to the government, all the numbers were already pre-filled out on the tax form (including the four kroner – 50 cents – we earned from some profit in a co-op membership). If we had no exceptions (or questions), all we would need to do is sign the form and send it in and pay the bill that comes with the form equal to the amount the government says we owe. They make it so painless here to pay all those taxes. But I had a few exceptions that made their seamless system not so smooth. For one thing, they had no record of Tante Ruth paying us rent, nor did they have a place on the form to add that income. They also didn’t include the interest I earned on an account I set up at our friend Ole-Petter’s bank. So when I told the tax man that I had extra income to report, he looked at some other form to find the line number that rental income should be reported on, then he just wrote that line number at the bottom of the pre-filled out form, along with the amount of income (less expenses), we had. And as for the interest income, he said just to forget it because that account was in my name, and I didn’t have any other income. (Each person in Norway is allowed to earn almost six thousand dollars a year tax free.)

There is no such thing as a “joint” return here so everyone must file their own tax form. Since he said I didn’t have to file one, I asked about the amount they deducted from Kory’s tax return for his “child tax credit.” They always split the credit between the two parents but since I wasn’t going to file a return, he doubled the amount on Kory’s return. Kory earned a whopping $5,000 this year working two days a week for about four months. They held back around a thousand dollars to pay taxes, but the tax man told me today it looks like we might get most of that refunded because our income was so low. Woo hoo. When the tax man was done writing all the numbers on the form, he asked me to sign it. It was Kory’s tax form, but Kory was at work, so the man just told me to forge his signature. I thought that was pretty funny. So all-in-all it was a most pleasant experience and I’m thankful they don’t make us pay taxes on our income from the U.S., like Uncle Sam makes us do for our income in Norway.

I was back home by ten o’clock, wondering what to do with the rest of my quiet time before Kaleb came home from school, since I assumed it would take all day to do my taxes… so I decided to start planning our summer vacation. Everyone in Norway is on vacation the entire month of July and ferries must be reserved, hotels are already booked and theme parks are overcrowded. But it was a good day to start thinking about all the summer fun that lies ahead since now I know our savings account won’t be taken by the tax man. But as I sat for hours at the computer researching where to stay and what to do, I realized the dollars aren’t going to go as far as I had hoped, so the eight weeks of travel might only be six. I’m certainly not complaining, however, as I know we are very lucky to be able to go anywhere at all.

It was another beautiful summer-like day – and Kaleb came home peppy as ever. He and Tobias played together after he finished his homework and I rode bikes with both of them around the neighborhood just as an excuse to be outdoors. It reminded me of my childhood – everyone racing to see who could be the leader as we went up one street and down the other. It’s never a waste of time to relive pleasant memories.