Column: What a FIRE Single Mom Realized While Walking the Demon's Path of Annual Tax Returns

Hello. This is Nantoka Narumi.

The annual ritual: filing tax returns. I have always handled it myself.
The content is reasonably complex, but thanks to having survived for many years,
I can now file them with my eyes closed. Just kidding.

When I was a beginner, I had the tax office staff teach me step-by-step as I filled it out,
and it was truly a struggle.
Just as I finally got used to it and was feeling relaxed thinking, 'This is business as usual,'
the divorce drama happened.
There was the real estate acquisition tax when I bought out my ex-husband's share of the condo we shared,
and the procedures for the new mortgage I took out to cover it.
And this and that...
In that unprecedented puzzle of a situation, the tax office staff and I,
put our heads together, debating this and that,
and the fact that it took us a full two hours to churn out the tax return form
is now a good memory (?).

By the way, that kind staff member said,
'I'm retiring soon, so I won't be here next year.'
I'm sorry for bringing such a megaton-level troublesome case right before your retirement.
I am still grateful to you. Seriously.

Well, unless there's a turbulent event like that,
I just process it calmly every year.

Still, that demonic collection schedule,
can't something be done about it?
For someone like me who owns a car and a home,
I file in February and pay a huge lump sum in March,
with no time to catch my breath, there's the automobile tax in May,
in June there's the fixed asset tax and the resident tax for ordinary collection,
and to top it off, the notice for estimated tax payments arrives in July.
Isn't this complete overkill?
'Stop it! Narumi's HP is at zero!'
I scream that in front of my display every year.

If I had just worked quietly at a Japanese company,
living within the super-kind design of tax withholding and year-end adjustments,
I might have been completely unrelated to this
painful ascetic practice called 'filing a tax return'.

But, while making documents and cursing, 'This is such a pain...',
I suddenly realized.
'Wait, how much is this tax?!'
I think that because I am naturally lazy,
if I had just finished with the year-end adjustment handled by the company,
I would have gone through life either never realizing how much blood tax I was paying,
or remaining indifferent and just drifting along.

However, because I was forced into a situation where I had to face reality whether I liked it or not,
I desperately researched and made full use of various tax-saving measures,
and I started keeping a close eye on how the taxes I paid were being used,
and it became a trigger for me to seriously think about national policies,
thinking, 'Are you seriously saying that?'
I am convinced of that.

That is why I face my tax documents again this year.

Click here for the article on stock compensation and tax returns ↓