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        Tax season
        2020.02.05 21:55:02 CET
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        It's tax season again. I made the final tax payment for 2019 and now
        have to prepare all my documents to submit the calculation to the tax
        authority. This is a boring process - it should be a pretty simple
        process given I have a single source of income, but that source
        actually pays in cash and equity. Equity in the US, in US Dollars.
        This complicates the whole thing.
       
        Oh and 2019 was the first year in which the tax authority instead of
        paying me back my tax credits (what I overpaid in 2018) just used it
        as credits for future taxes. I think I might have overpaid again and
        will try to adjust it in 2020.
       
        Until 2019 all my taxes were paid at source - meaning I never go to
        see the money, my employers paid the tax authorities directly, little
        by little, month by month. This will be the second year that I get
        paid gross monthly salaries and have to make a single payment (well
        actually two) for the whole year. So I see all that money
        accumulating during the year and then have to say goodbye in a single
        transaction. This makes paying tax a lot more explicit. It's painful.
        It's not revolting only because here I can see what taxes are paying
        for. If I were in a country where corruption and misuse of public
        money are common I would be livid. It's easy to understand why many
        governments are not in favor of this model of tax payment.