the tax man cometh -- and, boy, is he old

When I moved to Mexico, I knew several things in my life would need to change -- or. at least, be more flexible.

One thing that would not change would be filing my annual income tax return.

Since the early 1990s, I have used Quicken (to track my income and expenses) and its cousin TurboTax (to file my income taxes). Over the past thirty years, both software programs have changed -- mostly for the better. Every December, I would purchase a new TurboTax disc at Costco in December. Because the nearest Costco to San Patricio Melaque was a four-hour drive away, I was not certain how I would file my taxes from Mexico.

TurboTax solved the problem for me. Just before I moved to Mexico, the company started offering its tax preparation services online. I was no longer tied to buying a new disc each year. Instead, I paid for the service each year when I filed my return.

My tax situation has not been very complex since I retired. It could have been very different.

I had initially planned to review contracts on a part-time basis for my former employer, but the fiscal and legal details of the plan turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. That made my taxes far easier to calculate without dealing with the problems of income earned outside of the United States and the impact that could have on my tax liabilities to the Mexican government.

Since 2009, my income tax form usually constitutes twenty-some pages with some rather arcane tables and schedules. TurboTax proved to be a very good advisor. So, there was no question that I would use its services again this tax year -- even though my particular taxable events were greatly reduced.

I received my last income document yesterday afternoon, and started the most important tax task -- pulling together all of my paperwork into two stacks. Five documents in the income pile. Eleven in the potential deductions pile.

Because I had filed with TurboTax last year, all of my personal information was pre-loaded. The program imported my income information from the original sites. It then walked me through the steps to determine if I should use a standardized deduction. Even though I paid property taxes, registered my car, and made some charitable contributions, TurboTax recommended that I take the standard deduction. So, I did.

With a quick review, my payment of a filing fee, and the punch of a button, my federal tax return was filed. And it took no more than 41 minutes from start to finish.

It was not until I printed out my return that I noticed that TurboTax had chosen a new Internal Review Service form for my filing -- a Form 1040-SR. Euphemistically entitled "U.S. Tax Return for Seniors." It is a four-page form that replaces the old 1040-EZ (simple form) with a twist. The font size is large enough to allow it to be read on the opposite side of a football field. And my eyes appreciate the gesture.

I will confess, though, that I was a bit startled to see the "for Seniors" title. My aunt once told me: "You realize you're old when the grocery clerk asks you if you want the senior discount."

That has not yet happened to me. But I think I had the same reaction when TurboTax automatically opted for the "Senior" form.

Now that my tax situation is simple enough for this new form, I did a little digging. If my tax situation remains unchanged, I wondered if it might now be just as simple to use the online IRS form to file, instead of TurboTax?

The IRS adds enough warnings to its site to scare away anyone who has doubts about using the online service.

• The form cannot be used after 22 October of the filing year.
• The site does not provide guidance about which form to use.
• The site does not provide assistance with individual tax situations.
• It does not provide an error-checking service.
• The form will perform only basic calculations.
• It can only be used for federal filings for the current tax year.
• No state tax returns are available.
• No changes can be made once the return has been submitted.       

None of that is a big concern to me. Now that I have been dumped into the geezer camp, I can use the simplest of forms. Of course, if I choose the IRS option, all I will save is the pittance I pay to TurboTax to get the services I cannot get from the IRS.*

What a brave new world the IRS has provided to us -- to ease the pain of watching our hard-earned dollars (for me, it is the largest item in my budget) being transformed into governmental services and related cronyism.

It makes me wonder why I even included "tax-filing" on my lists of potential problems when I moved here. It certainly has not proven to be an issue.


* -- For taxpayers with an annual income less than $73,000, the IRS provides another service (IRS Free File Partners) that offers more tax preparation assistance -- as well as state tax filing.