Doing the Tax Return Shuffle

Picking up the phone to contact a government department or agency is never going to be fun, is it? You know even before you dial that it will be a loooooooong wait in the queue, that Doris who answers your call will probably have to transfer you to someone else and they won’t be able to find your file on their system. Then again, I’m not telling you anything new, am I?

I decided that today would be tax return day.

Shudder.

A necessary evil but because I need to get my hands on that refund, PRONTO, I sucked in some deep breaths and went to download etax2012.

Windows only compatible? Well that’s very crappy indeed. I have a little eeeny, teeny Windows laptop (to remind me of why I love Mac

) but it can’t connect to a printer so what was already going to be a painful chore became even more so. Groan! Off I trudged, paperwork in hand, over to Mum and Dad’s to bludge their PC and bandwidth.

Would you believe it was actually going very smoothly indeed? Until I needed a piece of elusive information that only a Doris from Centrelink would be able to provide. Bugger.

50 something minutes on hold and it was a Dennis, not Doris, who took my call. Luckily he was a pleasant-sounding young man and I don’t believe in shooting the messenger, BUT my mind wandered and raced with thoughts of what could possibly be going on in a public service office whilst I’m sitting there for almost an hour drowning in elevator music waiting verrrrrrrry patiently (well not really) ………

Do they play office cricket with screwed up bits of paperwork that folks like me have signed and returned (again!) in the pre-paid envelope? ….. while I wait on hold.

Do the Doris-ladies have to wait for their french-tips to dry? Are they plaiting each other’s hair, whilst the man-operators play cards and smoke cigars? ….. while I wait on hold.

Has there just been a big delivery of donuts for morning tea break? …… while I wait on hold.

Who knows, but seriously folks, a wait of time equivalent to back-to-back episodes of The 7.30 Report and hardly as interesting indicates to me that office manicures should be banned or more telephonist headsets purchased and extra Doris’ (or Dennis’) employed.

The good news out of this trauma is that I’ve now lodged my tax return and the better news is that the refund shall be in my account soon! Ahhhh, but the not-such good news is that it’s all pre-spent and the thrill of a flush bank balance will be extremely short lived.

Have you done your yearly tax return yet? Is it something that you get done ASAP or do you leave it until the last minute? Here’s hoping that it was painless for you