Sandy at First Gen American has proposed another Coffee Talk. This is when she presents a topic and as many bloggers as possible jump in on the same day to cover it from their unique point of view. This month’s topic asked what our tax return would say about us to an eccentric entrepreneur – would it help us secure our dream job?
My Tax Return is Boring
Here are the only things I can deduce based on our tax return:
- My husband and I work a lot since we show regular income as well as extra income from my online endeavors and my husband’s sports officiating.
- We pay very little interest on our mortgage and do not donate more than $8000 a year – we still take the standard $11,800 deduction since it is higher than everything we could itemize.
- We invest for our future – we show Capital Gains and Losses from our stock portfolio.
- We have no kids or other dependents.
Like I said, we are very boring people on paper.
What I Wish Our Tax Return would Show
If a crazy dude offered me a dream job and wanted to take a look at my tax return, here is what I wish he could figure out:
- I wish the amounts we show for my online business and my husband’s sports officiating could be highlighted with little stars and smiley faces drawn around them to show that those jobs make us happy.
- I wish you had to enter the amount of hours you work.
- I wish he would know about the random things I buy for random people just to make everyone’s day a little better. There just isn’t anywhere to write down random acts of kindness. I usually splurge on these once or twice a month.
- I wish he could see more than one return and know that my husband and I both quit our day jobs and are working completely from home now. His dream job would have to be something absolutely amazing to outrank our current situation.
Last Thoughts
My tax return just isn’t a good way to judge me as a person or potential employee. It is just financial info on paper but it leaves out the depth of my life. It leaves out our reasons for investing for the future – security and our quest for financial independence. It doesn’t show how content we are in life right now. It never even mentions the highest valued parts of our lives like our support network of family and friends.
For an employer, it only shows how much income we make and a few investments. It doesn’t actually show how hard I am willing to work on something that I enjoy. My 100 plus hour work weeks are never even hinted at. The pure joy at having my own business isn’t mentioned. It doesn’t have a place where I can mark how highly I value my reputation or any other key values I hold dear. There are no spots to indicate personality traits like “helpful”, “reliable”, or “energetic”. There isn’t anywhere to write in references or to point out the people in my life that would vouch for me.
Overall, I hope nobody ever asks to make a decision about me based on my tax return.
How about you? What does your tax return say about you?
Interesting thought. Our tax return also shows regular income, plus side business income from about 7 sources. I would say that shows that we have an entrepreneurial spirit and that we are not opposed to taking risks. We also donate a large portion of our income, so that would show on our tax return. Other than that, we are also fairly boring on paper.
Wow..first, thanks for participating and I always love how wildly different writers view an exercise like this. It’s always so fun.
I think your tax return speaks volumes about your ingenuity and ability to multitask. Since you pay estimated taxes quarterly, it also shows your hockeystick like business growth in the last year. I would definitely hire you based on your tax return alone.
My tax return used to be so much more interesting when I had rental property and businesses. I think my goal is to either have a Romney or Buffet typ of return (all capital gains/dividends income) or strive to be one of the 1%. Would it be more interesting? I would find it more interesting!
Just as an aside, and I am pretty sure this will never happen, and I am sure you already know this, but if any prospective employer asks to see your tax return: RUN FAR AWAY!
Other than a simple credit check for responsible positions, your personal financial situation isn’t anybody’s business but yours.
(But I do get the point of your post, and I thought it was interesting!)
My tax return would make me sound boring. School, work, no rental properties and hardly any giving.
I posted about what my tax return says about me. Agreed, there isn’t that much you can really read off of a return. BTW I laughed at gharkness’ comment. Which employer would want to see that? It’s hilarious. I agree! Wouldn’t work for a guy like that.
Interesting topic!!
Our tax return would look…sketchy. But there is always MORE to the story than some numbers on a piece of paper.
Here’s why someone might think we’re sketchy:
It looks like we make NO money via our jobs, but have a fairly high mortgage payment, compared to our income, which is still almost ALL interest. So we take a lot of deductions. They would also see that we give to charity (generosity) and that we contribute to retirement funds (attempting responsibility!). They would probably wonder how we pay for it all. Are we house poor? Do we get help from someone? Do we charge all living expenses to credit cards?
What they can’t tell from the numbers:
) Luckily, in July, my company started using a different insurer, so our health insurance costs have dropped almost 50%. Much better than the old $900/month plan! However, we’re still paying ~$500/month for a 2 person plan. I also contributed 6.5% of my income to my 401k in 2011. Unmatched, but whatever. That’s also pre-tax.
I really make a lot more than my W2 says, but it goes to health insurance and retirement. My W2 says I make $12,000 less than my yearly gross salary. I pay craaaaaazy high insurance premiums, which are deducted pre-tax. (If you don’t remember me, I’ve posted about this here before
My husband was in a very bad accident 8 years ago and received a settlement after suing the employer of the person who injured him, as they were on the clock when he was hurt. While he received part of the amount as a lump sum, he also receives a check for a certain amount of money (with a 3% annual “raise”). He’ll get this for the rest of his life. This is tax free. We use part of that monthly sum for the mortgage payment, and live off the rest of it, plus our earnings.
He works in a very low-paying field, and because of his accident, the higher paying jobs that are available are now out of the question. Right now, he hasn’t re-enrolled in his company’s 401k yet (he was temporarily laid off), so he has no payroll deductions, yet still makes less than me after you figure in my deductions. Eventually, when he signs back up, his income will be even LESS, making us look even sketchier on paper!
Our tax return says that we are fortunate that the current tax code is what it is..
We get a large deduction for mortgage interest and have 3 kids
If you want to spice it up… take my 2 kids.
Crystal, most are boring but for this year I hope you end up having to pay over $250,000 in taxes-now that’s a good year for being self employed
Couldn’t disagree with you more Crystal! Seem as boring as possible on paper and avoid someone (i.e. IRS) taking an interest (read: AUDIT) in you
My tax return would show that my husband is a grossly underpaid public servant and that I clean out my closets twice a year to donate the excess to charity in hopes of a tax write off!
Love the blog, especially the fact that you fully disclose what is in your stock portfolio.
It is sad that you are taking the standard deduction — I myself am single with a home and I get a decent amount of benefit from ownership, but I can only imagine how that mortgage would appear to me if it didn’t offer any tax benefits.
Look on the bright side — now if you pay down your mortgage, you are netting (interest rate) not (interest rate – margin rate)
That I now live and work in the same state! Makes life / filing so much easier. Love the idea of RAK being on taxes as well as happy faces.
Ours used to show how frustrated we were by the tax code! All of the tears and sweat stains on the return!! Just kidding, but I do gnash my teeth every year at tax time.
My return would scream that this guy needs to figure out how to reduce his tax burden.
Ha, my tax return shows I’m a humble student… but, it does show recent awards like my photographic equipment. Wohoo! maybe next tears will show some income from stock photo or video, too.
I especially like your last full paragraph. Your tax return can never reveal your passion, but we see it every day in your work!
That I hate paying taxes.
. Nothing too exciting..that I make interest here and there, have some capital gains (mostly losses these days!), etc. I love your idea of smiley faces!
My tax return would show that I make more money than 99% of the people in this country, but give away much more than the average American.
I really enjoyed all of this feedback, sorry the week was so busy. Here are my late responses.
@First Gen, thanks! Now I have a backup plan.
@krantcents, good goal!
@Rabbit, I am so glad your insurance is a bit less now! I do remember the comment you left on one of my insurances posts before – it led to another post, lol.
@Jai, no.
@Steve, that would be awesome!
@Evan, oh, I didn’t mean to imply that I wish my tax return was more interesting. I would just never hope a job would depend on it.
@Drew, I am happy we take the standard deduction.
It means our mortgage interest is really low and you are right, we are getting the full 4.5% benefit of paying it off early. 
@Jason, apparently Jai (a commenter above) has a couple of kids that could help you out.
@Thad P, thank you. Really.
@I Am 1 Percent, glad you give.
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[...] It is tax time again here in the United States and it is time do figure out exactly how much cash you have to pony up to the United States Government. Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff has a great post on her taxes and how she wished her tax return looked. [...]
[...] Budgeting in the Fun Stuff: My tax return and me [...]