Paperwork Day...Uhhhgg

Studying: Revelation 13-17
Memorizing: Romans 1:1-28
Thoughts: Good

I really don't like paperwork. Crunching numbers, filling out forms has about the same appeal to me as a root canal. But unfortunately paperwork is necessary.

The beginning of the month is that time in which the dreaded "MER" forms must be filled out by missionaries. MER (Ministry Expense Reimbursement) forms categorize the previous month's ministry expenses for which one has paid out of his own pocket. If I fill out everything correctly and scan in all of the receipts just right then I get paid back for things directly related to our ministry over here. Right now that includes our language lessons, any traveling to ministry destinations, buying supplies, etc. It seems like, without fail, every time I go to do this I can't find one receipt, or the scanner can't pick up the text of a receipt well enough, or the internet won't upload my files so that I can email them in. By the time I get done I usually have a headache and I'm rather grumpy.

My least favorite time of year is, of course, tax time. For me, filing tax returns is like the big semester project that's due in college, except it's a homework assignment every American has to do (except for those who cheat and pay someone else to do it for them). Everyone knows the due date of the project, and a few Americans (the nerdy responsible bunch) have them all done nicely and neatly weeks if not months in advance. The rest of us procrastinators find ourselves staying up late on April the 14th scratching our heads and wanting to strangle the cat. Our taxes would be fairly simple were it not for the confounded 1099i forms. Several years ago I had a few pieces of choral music published for which now I receive on average annual royalties of around $15. But all this must be kosher with Uncle Sam. So when I fire up Turbo Tax and I mention that I have 1099i forms it goes into some kind of secret spy mode asking me a 1000 questions about my supposed "self employment." To top things off, one cannot file Mississippi State taxes through Turbo Tax without printing out some special mysterious form and mailing it in to the state office. Trying to find this form is a challenge in and of itself.

I'm sort of dreading this year's tax return in particular, mainly because, since we live overseas, we are in some kind of nebulous category. One person told us that since we are employed overseas we are exempt from all taxes up to a pretty hefty amount. But another person told us to be careful that we might could lose our state of Mississippi Residency thus invalidating our son Isaiah's Medicaid Disability coverage. We definitely don't want that. So, here soon I'll have another lovely headache night.

I suppose things like this make me long for simplicity. Paperwork is just trouble waiting to happen. If you lose it, you're toast. If you accidentally signed the wrong thing, you're toast too. Nothing stresses me more than an envelope filled with receipts and cancelled checks and bills with piles of numbers and small print.

I thank the Lord that there will be no taxes in the New Heavens and the New Earth.