Benjamin Franklin has been quoted: “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.”

Since I’m still alive, that leaves taxes. Ok, actually it leaves me with a mountain of forms for my tax returns (Still hoping to get some). Usually, I don’t need to fill out all of those and hope for a penny to be returned, but this year, I had to. That was due to the fact that I had to register myself as freelancer last year to bill some work I had done, which meant that I had to do a mandatory tax declaration. I wasn’t really aware of that, since filing a tax return is voluntary for employees in Germany – but four days in November changed that. What made it worse is that there’s a fixed period in which you have to file your declaration….

So “I got a letter from the government – The other day  – Opened it and read it” [Tricky - Black Steel] (Yeah, it’s quotes day).  It said that I had so far failed to file my tax reports and that I had to do it till August 22nd. A so called “Frist” (Another one of these german words that will sooner or later make it to the american vocabulary – like Zeitgeist, Angst or Fahrvergnügen. It sounds as harsh and brutal as it is. Frist can be translated as “deadline”, “period”, “respite”, “time limit”, etc. Start using it folks – you know you want to be hip!). Since after the Frist expires, sanctions can and will be used, I had to comply.

No news for anybody: Tax return forms are magical things that can not be understood by common man. They aren’t meant to be, either. I opted for the quick kill and prepared offerings to the gods…

Long story short: On the last day of the Frist, today, I handed a thick envelope to the german equivalent of the IRS – and as hope dies last, there might even be a return…

Edit: I’ve just been made aware that “Black Steel” was originally been written & performed by Public Enemy – thanks Ben.