Why didn’t somebody warn me?

Uggh. The form on which we are all obligated to report our foreign bank and securities holdings was changed at the end of last year.

I would still have a ton of work to do because we had a computer crash earlier this year that took the forms with it, but the form now requires a lot more information than it did.

Until last year, one was only obligated to indicate in roughlywhat range the maximum balance had been during the year. Now, they want the exact maximum balance*, which means no more checking of boxes. Instead, there will be excel tables and struggling with adobe forms which do not allow you to copy whole entries and then just change the account number and balance.

And then there is the German way of dealing with bank accounts. You practically never have just one account at a bank. My husband (we don’t know if he has to file and Treasury did not respond to our written request for clarification last year) has 3 or 4 or 5 at a bank, some of which serve only to receive a monthly contribution to his retirement fund and therefore never hold more than €50. One has only a balance of €0.50, but I have to add it to the form. Everything will get moved through the checking account and only  through a checking account, so there is an automatic doubling of the number of accounts. And the depot accounts don’t even seem to have their own account numbers, but need to get reported. Neither one of us can figure out the annual statements.

The UNGS was pretty frustrated last night after I insisted that he tell me what was going on in his statements when I couldn’t make head or tail of them. He suggested I give up my citizenship to avoid all this.

It is kind of crazy that a normal person of average intelligence can’t figure out an incredibly simple tax situation without help, but I’m not tossing the passport just yet. Heck, I just paid $100 for it .

FYI – The form at about.com with some explanations. Deadline is June 30th. So get cracking. And no, no you may not submit this form with your taxes. That would be too much to ask.

**I find the entire experience invasive  - and depressing because it makes it look like we have (compared to what we actually have)  loads of money, and yet, it’s mostly just the same €x,000 making the rounds of the accounts.

NYC Detritus

for Laura -

There was no way anyone was getting me into the mac store to interact with Helooooooo KITee, but at least we got a photo from a safe distance.This is why I will always be boring.

And you thought

that mapris couldn’t get any sexier. Only goes to show how little you know.

All yours for a mere €18.