Tuesday, July 14, 2009

心頭大石.二


心頭大石之二,自去年冬天一直擱在 Phil 的書桌上,那張小小的橙色卡紙,寄自德意志稅務局,我眼尾看到它便覺煩,當他仍在長石溪醫院時,我說不如由我去稅局問問,要怎麼處置它? Phil 說不用,等他出院後再去問也不晚。

上星期我們終於扣了稅局的門,偶然地,即興地。一坐下簡單訴說了自己的情況,說去年四月病倒入院後一直未報稅,稅局太太說我們得盡快報了,因為已遲了很多。於是我們箭似的又開車回家,拿好所需與不需的一大堆文件,兩小時後再回到稅局去。

德意志的入息稅 (以及其他稅項,如統一稅、教會稅等等) 是每月出糧前已被政府扣除的,所以問人家每月入息時,要分清 Brutto (扣稅前)與 Netto (扣稅後) ,差額可以很大﹗以前我一直以為稅每月自動被扣除便等如無後顧之休,呈交稅局的 paperwork 大概由公司會計代辦吧?但這次稅局一遊後, Phil 在我一再追問下說其實他十多年來一直也懶得報稅,因為從薪水中自動被扣除的稅項一般也比該付的要多,他知道自己沒有欠稅便是了,不想受報稅文件困擾。我追問那你每年大概多付政府多少?他漫不經心的說︰啊,就一點點吧。一點點即是多少呢?最後他招供說,一年大概多付二三百歐吧。我的心和口不約而同一聲「頂﹗」

終於面對心頭大石,才發現橙色小卡是 2009 年的報稅卡,2008 年的是早已被我存檔 (並忘記) 的黃色那張。再次到稅局時另一位稅局太太說以我們的情況不用急著申報,只要今年之內申報便是了,我去年替 Phil 搬出舊居時僱用過的搬運公司費用,原來也可以扣稅,而因為 Phil 病了那麼久,大概還有入息稅可退﹗

抱著大堆文件再次回到家裡, Phil 竟反常的說要馬上填好報稅表,希望趕在夏天過去前拿到退稅款項去北海旅行。但如我所料,剛填完首頁的個人資料,他又支持不住了,說 paperwork 太累人啦,改天再填吧﹗

又再天馬行空,如果可以拿回過去十幾年多付的稅款便好了﹗可以馬上飛回香港吃個夠﹗

5 comments:

  1. Benjamin Franklin reportedly said: "There are two certainties in life - Death and taxes."

    As much as I hate doing my income tax every year, there is no getting away. I understand how you feel :(

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  2. 哈哈哈, 大孩子果然是大孩子呢
    你就要著緊一點了

    荷蘭tax rate也高, 不過marcel老豆是做會計的, 每年總會左度右度, 令稅局回水, 一百幾十也好

    每年交多左二三百..........歐
    我記得去年我也只要交500左右hkd tax jar喎
    聽老媽說仲退回一些tim

    meg

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  3. haha...same here. i thot i was "tortured" enough when a big portion of my salary disappeared automatically every time. but the fact is the year-end taxing report is even tougher. i'm glad my husband does all these tedious stuff for me. otherwise i think i've already burnt the government tax building long time ago.

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  4. I read some of your diary non stop, you have strong will and kind heart to stay with your belove. May God Bless you.
    Jessica

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  5. Haricot, meg, lululu, I wish I could finish the bloody forms for him... it's a pain to go through them but an even bigger pain to see him filling them out / dragging on! X_x

    Jessica, welcome & thank you! :D We have indeed been very blessed, despite all my complaints!

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