First I went to the hospital for my physical therapy. The therapist is really nice. Everyone was talking about flooding locally and in other areas.
Then I called H & R Block for an appointment for Mom, in a town around 30 miles away, because she had spent several days sighing and groaning over her taxes and ended up calculating that she owed over $4,000! I went nuts for half an hour looking for a certain document Mom claimed to know nothing about, finally grabbed what I could, and when we got to the office the guy there immediately found the document right with the other things! Another document was missing and he said if I couldn't find it and email him a copy we would have to go to an office and request a copy and they wouldn't give it to me alone--Mom had to go in person. By that time, that office was closed for today, and we have stuff going on Thursday and Friday and it would be closed on Saturday, and tax day is on Monday.
The meeting was really hilarious. Mom didn't understand the simplest most basic things, such as the forms and what they were for, and started sorting not only through what we brought but items on his desk, and he said, "Hey, get out of my stuff." He would ask her the simplest question such as date of birth and she would rattle on about random details and he said, "It's like talking to my mother!" Finally he got the date of birth out of me. He did the best estimate he could without the other document and said Mom owed NO taxes!
I regretted that we did not seek professional help ten years ago--I know she's overpaid thousands, if what he says is true--but at least we've put a stop to it. Even with getting all documents to him, we will have to go in person again before filing but they are open on Saturday.
When we got home I ransacked the living room and Mom's room for two and a half hours. When I turned up the envelope but not the document itself, I got worried and emptied the wastebasket, which turned out to be lucky as some items in there didn't belong in the trash. Finally gave up, went online, and found somehow my sister had obtained a copy of the document, so I sent it to him saying I guess Mom didn't have to go in person after all! Fairly flattened at this point.
