Hey, man how's it going?
John, nice you could make it, have a seat.
So I've never done this tax thing before, I mean with a professional.
Well basically this is called the interview I ask you a lot of questions, you give me the answers.
Cool...
So John what do you do for a living?
I'm a mower man got my own lawn business, made $12,000 last year.
You married, have any children?
A beautiful daughter. Leslie, she's three.
I see and last year, it was just you and Leslie at home?
Yeah man, see my girlfriend, Leslie's mother bailed after the baby was born, we haven't seen her since. Heard she's out in California. Tattoo artist now it goes.
And you cover all of Leslie's expenses?
No one else helps out just me that's why I started the lawn business last year.
Do you work for yourself?
Yep, like to keep things casual just me and my mower 35 bucks, alone.
John, did you bring any paperwork with you, invoices, expenses?
No who needs all that stuff, I keep everything right up here.
Well John, taxes aren't casual and I'm afraid I cannot do yours unless I'm comfortable that your figures and expenses that you're telling me about are accurate.
Wow...
Since you didn't keep any records, the IRS does allow you to reasonably reconstruct these figures and provide receipts so come back to me when you have those, okay?
All right man, whatever.
John good to see you. I almost didn't recognize you, wow you did your homework...
Man, I went all over town to get copies of bills for what I spent. I dug up all these receipts. Uh, then I figured out my income and my mileage of course it wasn't that hard, cuz all my customers are regulars. Oh, I
even brought a Social Security card for my daughter.
Now we're getting somewhere. Let me go through these numbers with you...
John, these are the type of records you need to keep every year. I'll get started on your Schedule C and, by the way, it looks like you do qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit, so that should lower your tax bill.
Cool... I, I mean, thanks.