The IRS - Making a Check and Listing It Twice

[MineralMan]

12. My wife and I are self-employed and always have been.

Well, I have been since 1974, but my wife has been since 1991, when we got married. Being self-employed always means you're operating from incoming check to incoming check, it seems. Our income is always variable, to some degree or another. I do not think we have ever had a year where we did not owe something to the IRS. That's why we're always filing an extension. I do our taxes in early April, so we'll know how much we're behind and can accumulate that by October. Our estimated tax payments are somewhat spotty and never enough. So, there's a minor penalty to pay each year.

It's how we live. It's awkward sometimes, but there it is. Applying for things like mortgages is always a major hassle, since our income is so variable. The last time, I think we had to submit five years of tax records.

Now, we're both on Social Security, but we still are self-employed, and still making an unknown amount of money each year. Complicated stuff, but we're used to dealing with it.