I Hate Minnesota

[billroper]

The Dodeka taxes are finally done, including the Minnesota S-corporation return that I have to file because we sold CDs at Minicon in 2006. We don't owe them any money; I just have to spend several hours proving it every year.

It's getting to the point where not selling CDs at Minicon looks better and better.

Edit: It's not the people of Minnesota that I hate, it's the crazy government there.

Comments

Government anywhere really

[tesral.livejournal.com]

We're from the Government, and we're here to help you. Scariest sentence in English.

Are you making Conclave of Confusion?

Re: Government anywhere really

[billroper]

Should be at both.

Re: Government anywhere really

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I had a friend who played a cleric and used that as his "Fear" spell.

Re: Government anywhere really

[billroper]

Strangely, I'm both amused and frightened by that... :)

[madfilkentist]

Someone we both know, but whom I will refrain from naming, recently told me that Corporations Are Evil. You're being punished for the evil deed of making filk CD's available to people.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"It's getting to the point where not selling CDs at Minicon looks better and better."

Wouldn't it be easier to just ignore the damn form?

B

[billroper]

I'd love to ignore the form, but when you do things like that, you tend to annoy the government by being in violation of the law. As a matter of policy, I try to avoid violations of the law that annoy the government. :)

On the local expressways, for instance, the speed limit is 55 MPH. The "annoy the government" violation seems to start somewhere north of 70 MPH. I try to make sure they aren't annoyed.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And just as "'annoy the government' violations start somewhere north of 70 MPH" even though the speed limit is 55 MPH, I'll bet that -- similarly -- "annoy the government" violations start somewhere north of not filing that form if you only sell CDs one weekend a year at a science fiction convention.

As you say, it's not "being in violation of the law" that matters, but "violations of the law that annoy the government."

B

[billroper]

Well, I already know that if I don't deal at Minicon in a given year and don't file a sales tax return showing zero sales, that they will send me nasty letter and threaten penalties and all manner of unpleasantness.

So the Minnesota Department of Revenue appears to be quite easy to annoy. daisy_knotwise spent some time on the phone with them yesterday where they were quite clear on "I must file this form and it won't take very much time at all."

Obviously, they've never read the instructions for that form. Just sorting out what they want on each line took hours.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

How in the world did they get your address in the first place?

B

[billroper]

When Minicons used to be large, they attracted the attention of the Minnesota Department of Revenue. As a result, you can't deal there without a valid sales tax number. To get the sales tax number, you have to give them your address.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Somehow I expected that Minicon idiocy was at the root of this.

So you're saying that if you stop filing the form, Minnesota assumes you're still selling in the state and then duns you for the form. That -- sadly -- makes sense.

B

[daisy-knotwise.livejournal.com]

I think we'd have to file a "not doing business in Minnesota anymore" form if we stopped.

GHR

OH spells it out for you. . .

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

Ohio is weirder. I've taken driver's license tests in 3 different states, and only Ohio says explicitly in their learner's manual that for highway speeds, the rate table for points on your license are as follows:

15 mph or greater above speed limit: 3 points
10 to 15 mph above speed limit: 2 points
5 to 10 mph above speed limit: 1 point
Less than 5 mph above speed limit: 0 points

When I first came here, the Highway patrol would preferentially stop not only those with out-of-state plates, but also those with out-of-county tags, because they would put you in the back of the cruiser and insist that you pay them with a credit card before they'd let you go (they didn't take cash or checks). That way you had to come back to their county courthouse to get your money back.

As for Ohio taxes, when I moved into the state in a January, and filed my Michigan state taxes with my federal taxes in April, Ohio came after me insisting that I obviously, simply MUST have had Ohio-earned income that I was going to go to jail for not reporting. Reciprocal agreements were ignored. I was supposed to know about this from the back pages of the OH state income tax form that I hadn't met yet.

Then again, lots of government representatives, when I said, "I just moved here, how do I do this here?" would reply, "Oh, just do it in the same way you did it last year." (As lifelong residents, they had no clue as to why anyone who wasn't born here would be here.)
If I had done it the "same as last year," I'd have had to drive back out of the state.

[birder2.livejournal.com]

Minnesota taxes are why I am still living in Illinois even though when I retired I thought of moving back to MN, which is the home of my heart even though I only lived there for 6 years.