Tuesday is April 15, an important date for two reasons:
- It means there is only a month and a half remaining until Tube Top Month; and
- It’s the 2007 income tax filing deadline.
So, it’s time to do my taxes. This year I’m really not messing around. I worked as a self-employed consultant for part of 2007, and even when I was a full-time employee I spent a significant amount of my free time doing affiliate marketing sites that produced income. That means I’m entitled to write off a number of business expenses, including my Internet access, a portion of my cell phone bill, my hosting bills, books I bought that were related to my profession, and a portion of my rent for the months when I worked from home. In past years I haven’t done that and it was just plain stupid of me. It was like handing the U.S. Government a multi-thousand-dollar check. This year, I’ve decided that it’s my money and I want it back. People often don’t claim everything they could because they’re afraid of being audited. But you know what? I have a receipt for everything I plan to claim, and if the IRS wants to audit me, fine. They’re in the same building as my office, so I won’t have far to travel if it happens.
Gmail is great for finding business expenses. I use my paul@paulryburn.com address as my main e-mail address, but for the past year it’s been nothing but a forward to my Gmail account. Gmail is so superior to Outlook, Thunderbird, or any other stand-alone e-mail client that I’ve seen that I’d rather just funnel my domain e-mail there. So this morning I got on the search feature and searched for “receipt,” “order confirmation,” and “payment,” and found about $1,500 worth of business expenses I would have otherwise missed.
I’m going to pay for TurboTax’s online home and business edition, and get this thing filed and over with. Then I’m going to head to Midtown for the Overton Square crawfish fest. People have e-mailed me asking for details, so here ya go: It’s noon to 6 today, in that huge parking lot behind the old TGI Friday’s building. Take Cooper to Monroe and you’ll see it.
Last night I was talking to a blog reader who brought up an interesting point: Maybe I should pay for a Swamp pass for Rajun Cajun Crawfish fest, the other (and better) crawfish fest which will be held Downtown next Sunday, April 20. The Swamp is a VIP area with all-you-can-eat crawfish and other cajun food, and all-you-can-drink beer, soft drinks, and water. I’m glad to mention it on the blog, but at $45 I never seriously considered buying a pass to the Swamp.
But thinking about my expenses at the festival, maybe I should. I’m not going to use last year as a guideline, because I made a lot of side trips to a nearby rooftop and to the Saucer. At the 2006 festival, I ate a bucket of crawfish and drank 7 beers. At $15 a bucket and $4 a beer, that’s $43, nearly the cost of a Swamp pass. Also, there are no lines in the Swamp, and not having to stand in the long, long, long lines at Rajun Cajun is easily worth $2 more. Hmmm maybe I should do it. I’ll think about it this weekend, and decide Monday. Rajun Cajun is my third favorite festival of the year, behind Cooper-Young and BBQ Fest.
Hmmm… another reason why maybe I should get the Swamp pass… there will be people from Porter-Leath there, one of the most worthy charities in town. I’d like the chance to get to talk to them and find out more about what they do and how Memphians can help. I’d probably get a good blog post out of it.
Back later today, with a recap of last night (got to hang out on the rooftop of the River Inn at Harbor Town, and I finally got to try Tug’s, the new bar on Mud Island. I’ll have a beer report as well. Right now though, it’s time to pay Uncle Sam, or rather, it’s time for Uncle Sam to pay me.