The Book of Sifty

Us Tax return 10:41AM

Gnngh. What a pain in the arse! Just filling in my US tax return..

The form I'm using is a 1040NR-EZ - Thats the ""U.S Income Tax Return for Certain Nonresident Aliens With No Dependents"". The EZ bit implies its easy - well its easier than the normal, non-EZ, 1040NR. The information booklet is only 15 full A4 pages, rather than the 70 or so the other one manages to stretch to. But it could be a little easier.. for example heres a typical sounding instruction for a line :

Section 74 - Line 23a - Enter $2300-00 here if you are a one legged midget born in Alaska between 6:00am and 6:10am on the 22 of June 1965, you have a husband called Bob and have been working at Jims Pies and Mowers in Springfield, MA for the last 2 months, and you meet the closer connection to a foreign country exception to the substantial presence test on page 2,300. If you exclude days of presence in the United States for purposes of the substantial presence test, you must file Form 2234. This rule does not apply to foriegn government officials, spys from foreign countries or certain dual-resident taxpayers who claim tax treaty benefits and have blue eyes (for other exemptions consult the table on pages 34 to 200). If you wish to donate your entire rebate to the next presidential campaign tick the box on page 74. Otherwise goto question 2.

Okay maybe I made that up a bit. But there are so many exceptions and special cases its stupid. (And there truly was the bit about the Presindtial campaign) Really makes me appreciate the UK and NZ tax departments.. who don't expect you to file any return .. cos they know exactly how much you owe. Although being a non-resident Alien is kinda cool.. ""so what do you do for a living?"".. well..