The Pack Rat

Date: May 8, 2004

      I am unabashedly a packrat.

      If it comes to me in the mail - it goes in the tax file.

      At the end of the year - or sometimes after that with an extention - I go through every single check, receipt, and piece of paper in the file for the year.

      I do this pack-ratting by tossing every thing into a lateral file drawer reserved for that purpose.

      EVERYTHING.

      The other thing I do is --- KEEP ALL EMAIL sent and received.

      Ergo - whenever the IRS decides to audit me - I have everything - including a CPA who does the actual meeting. (I never do.)

      Besides, I file what can be called a "conservative" return - I do not list everything. So --- I could if I wanted to.

      I have been audited before - one year the CPA (a different one) made a mistake - I owed $300. All the rest of the times - nada. I am not one to cheat on my taxes. I am also not one to wish to pay what I do not owe.

      Fair is fair.

      So - I am under audit - because - although this is a nation of entrepreneurs, the IRS does not like Schedule C. Where you have work and income outside of the salary you receive. Or this year, when the majority of my income is form consulting, also a Schedule C.

       I was warned that I would be audited - because I burned Jettison (all copies at Banta storage for which I was being charged) and the Extreme Troy calendar (ditto) and Jettison posters and I ordered the film destroyed. I was paying over $100 a month. Enough already!

      This is a legitimate write-off according to my CPA - hence the trigger.

      Having been warned, I had a rolling file cabinet with amazingly well-ordered files for once and I kept them handy. They had all the essential stuff in them.

      There was, however, a back-up box of misc things - and the IRS wanted to see them too.

      It had managed to wander.

      It was not in the attic - but the missing Regency Reference books were! Voila! They are now downstairs in the office area.

      It was not in the spare room (some other stuff was).

      It had to be --- in that God-Awful mess called storage. And I have two very big units! $250/month units. (Come to thik of it - part of one could be written off. I haven't done that.)

      I called for help - a babysitter for my younger son - and my older son arrived.

      After hospital duty, we all assembled, I left them set-up and I went to storage. I brought something to drink. I expected a LONG, LONG search.

      Since I use whatever box handy for the misc papers, I had no idea what I was seeking.

      I went into the newer unit. I crawled over bicycles and found boxes and boxes of books. And papers from 1999. And 2000. Need 2001. Not too many creepy things - it hasn't had time.

      This unit has the room to sneak into the back and I did - scribbling on boxes I could poke into and identify. Mostly - books I have read. I could start a used bookstore. And may someday. And I am always upset that my books are not around me. Seeing them shoved in boxes and shelved is not pleasant for me.

      The second unit it must be.

      Groan!

      But I am a smart woman. I forget that sometimes.

      There, at the right side of the door of a very crowded and a "you will not get to the back unless you unload the front" unit, right on top, were the boxes I was seeking.

      I also counted 20 boxes of Jettison plus returns (48 per box new) and 3 boxes at 75 each of the Extreme Troy Calendar plus about 100 returns (excess stock).

      Believe it or not - I actually had a call from Amazon this year - they had sold a copy of Jettison and needed one shipped to them.

      I can oblige.

      My next book is going to be an eBook. Much better. No stuff hanging in storage. Easy to track. No business license. (Needed for direct selling only by the way - not thru Amazon because they collect the taxes and the license is so the city and state know to come after taxes. Even as low as $3 they will hunt you down!)

      So of approximately 15,000 copies of Jettison, approximately 1000 remain alive in storage. Maybe as many as 300 Extreme Troy calendars.

      Before the execution (slash and burn), I had given away posters, books and calendars at the 2001 Romantic Times Convention.

      That's called PR. For when I re-emerge with a new book. As soon as my son is better.