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Some thoughts on Tax Time and Handwriting

by Fiona MacKay Young

I have just gone through getting everything together for my taxes for the past year, and realized there must be something in my writing that would show why I am having such a hard time getting everything together.  Here is the conclusion I have come up with.

To have all your tax documentation filed neatly and readily accessible would appear at first glance to require good attention to detail, shown in closely dotted “i”s, and organizational ability, shown in an equally split lower case “f”.  I have both of these, so why are my files such a mess …. or in some cases, totally non existent?

Logical, careful thinking, shown in rounded ‘m’s and ‘n’s would help and I don’t have it.  My predominant thinking processes are keen comprehension, shown in needle like tops to my ‘m’s and ‘n’ and investigative thinking which shown in inverted ‘v’ formations for those two letters.  The investigative thinking could be beneficial but basically I don’t bother to accumulate information but trust my ability to “wing” it at the last moment.  Yes, that fits me and certainly doesn’t sound like any accountant I’d want to deal with.

Being analytical would also help but my baseline “v” formations which would show this trait, often curve into softer “u” formations of empathy, so I analyze only when it suits me.

Although, as I mentioned, organizational ability is present (please note the word “ability” as this doesn’t mean I use it, only that it’s there!) I am also easily bored as is shown in lots of imagination (large upper and lower loops), intuition (shown in gaps between letters within script), and my concentration although excellent when I’m interested in something, can become pretty non-existent when I’m not.  Concentration shows in the size of the writing.  Small writing is good concentration, and the larger it gets the less concentration there is, until you get to extremely large writing which is scattered thinking.  I never reach the scattered stage, but I certainly go to the point where I much prefer variety.

Precision and accuracy, persistence, determination and honesty I can also claim as mine, and are all great traits for an accountant.  So in effect, should I become interested in the subject, which is 99.99% unlikely, I could become a not too bad accountant.   

But on reflection I think the main cause of my problem shows in my ‘t’s and ‘d’s which are extremely short showing extreme independent thinking.  I really don’t care what one is “meant” to do, what the “rules” are, I like to do things my own way (and yes, that’s also why I’m an entrepreneur), so once a year at tax time when I have to buckle down and become a tow-the-line citizen it hurts!    

But the Tax Department doesn’t much care what handwriting either you or I have, so whether you, like me, have a hard time getting everything together to file your taxes in time, or whether you are organized months ahead, I hope you receive a huge refund cheque – which even for reluctant tax-filers like myself, definitely makes it seem like less of a chore!