Doing Taxes When One is Tired
If the reader isn't aware, the 1040 form got redesigned this year; among other things, they've moved the signature section to the front page and other sections (like the income section) have been streamlined. There are additional schedules (beyond the typical B and D and self-employment I've used over the years, including a numeric sequence. I glanced through a blurb summary in the instructions about the new schedules. In particular, I didn't see the nuances of Schedule 1.
My taxable investments took a huge hit during the Nasdaq bust of 2000-2002, and for the most part, those were exhausted through the Great Recession. The government is eager to lay claim to a piece of your capital gains up front, but will only allow you to deduct up to a net of -$3000. This means effectively if you have no current taxable gains and you're carrying over 5-figures in losses, it could take decades to eliminate your carryover.
So I've gotten used to applying the annual capital loss from Schedule D to my 1040 form. So the instruction says something like "copy said amount to line 13 of your 1040" (I didn't notice the Schedule 1 reference at the time). But the new form doesn't include a dedicated capital gain (loss) line, and line 13 on the form occurs past the line for your aggregate income; that can't be right. I have a couple of relatives who are CPAs and thought of sending them an email.
At some point, I finally saw the Schedule 1 reference, downloaded the form, and then saw how it folded into an additional income line on the 1040 form.
I've long had an interest in human factors/ergonomics, and this kind of human error that I experienced leads me to question form/instruction design. Knowing people came into Schedule D with years of applying the gain/loss to a dedicated Form 1040 line, I probably wouldn't have thrown in a reference to the 1040 form and would have explicitly referenced a change of procedure, the need to download Schedule 1 if you hadn't already, etc. I'm sure the IRS will argue this stuff is already documented, but that's not the user perspective. I don't read forms/instructions like novels with serial reading. I come into the task with certain experiences and expectations, and the Schedule D design needs to anticipate that.
Wrestlemania is History
I haven't subscribed to the WWE Network for some time now, so much of my information on the event comes from wrestling websites.I generally didn't like the predictable match outcomes, many of them involving the babyfaces. We had seen this underdog handicap gimmick before, e.g., Daniel Bryan having to go through HHH in order to get a shot at the championship in Wrestlemania 30. So you fairly well knew when Kofi Kingston had to survive a gauntlet match and Becky Lynch had to earn her way into a possible triple threat match at Wrestlemania, it would have been a waste of promotion not to put the belts on them.
WWE had also signaled outcomes, e.g., booking the female tag team The Iconics upset win over the recently crowned Sasha and Bayley and showing Seth Rollins resort to low blows against champ Lesnar in a pre-Wrestlemania promo.
I was also not crazy about booking heel Corbin over Kurt Angle, a career-ending loss for the former. About the only heel (my favorite) to prevail was Samoa Joe's US title defense. I was also disappointed that WWE didn't build better opportunities for 3 of their best stars: Kevin Owens, Asuka, and Nakamura. I didn't care for the "winner-take-all" women's belts concept, which meant if Becky won, at least one champ would lose her belt without being pinned.
I did think having John Cena reprise his rapper persona in his confrontation with Elias was refreshing, unexpected.
Just a couple of notes about the post-Wrestlemania cable shows. I thought maybe the reason for having Becky Lynch win both belts was to unify the titles, But then having babyface Kofi challenge babyface Seth seemed really odd: another title-unification deal? And it was really odd having this "saucy Southern belle" cold-cock punch out Becky Lynch seems to rule out Lynch defending against Rousey or Flair in the near future.
The brands promise a shakeup/roster exchange next week. Almost everyone thinks AJ Styles moves to Raw. Clearly Orton, Asuka, and Nakamura need fresh opponents. On the Raw side, you could say the same for Rollins, Reigns and Nia Jax. I think we might see the split up of Sheamus and Cesaro. I have no connection to the WWE; I'm simply looking at the storyline.
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Originally I was scheduled to have an outpatient procedure Friday. That has now been canceled. The COBRA folks are operating in the Stone Age. They demand premiums up front or they'll tell your medical provider that your insurance is inactive. (Not that they tell you about premium payment up front; in fact, I haven't even gotten the paperwork from them yet. I pushed my former employer for a pdf. I was told they wouldn't cut the paperwork until after my employee insurance expired at the end of last month.) And the medical provider for all purposes dropped the surgery appointment at the first sign they saw they might not get paid. It was not my decision to schedule like this: there was a month lag from diagnosis to surgery. (I left my job in the interim.)
I don't object to the concept of payment in advance. I've done that for apartments all my adult life. But the issue has to do with the format of payment. These people, a subsidiary of United Healthcare, do not have online accounts/payments. They only accept payments by check or money order via snail mail. No bank wires, Paypal, etc.
How often do I write checks in the Internet age? Let's just say I'm using 15-year-old checks, and I've moved 6 times since I lived at the printed address. My WV landlady required checks; I think the last time I wrote a check was for a doctor's fee (after insurance), and that's because I ran into problem trying to use his Internet payment portal.
So the first time I knew there was an issue a week ago when 2 people from the provider called me saying my insurance showed up inactive and my appointment was subject to cancellation. I'm then having to call Wisconsin, trying to figure out what's going on. So their mode of "expediting" is to send one's election form and check via Express Mail (at $25). I reject that but sent it via a Priority Mail long envelope for about a third the cost. I called them Monday. At first they denied receipt, but I had the tracking number showing delivery. I get a late message Monday arguing I had made some sort of entry error on the second line of the check. (I've never made that kind of error before; I thought I had double-checked the check.) But the provider people told me the latest they could accept verification was early today. So effectively I was done because even overnight yesterday would be processed after my provider's deadline.
I sent replacement checks yesterday (I made sure it was certified), but it may be too late for my provider, because I may need to relocate in the near future. I don't know what's wrong with these providers. In 2008, I had an outpatient procedure canceled because the surgeon discovered (before I did) that my doctor had dropped me (apparently he was pissed I was 15 minutes late (traffic) to an appointment for him to discuss my latest blood test). I found a better, more convenient replacement doctor, and he recommended a different surgeon.
