'Tis the season where freelancers of all stripes face their comeuppance: Taxes. Most of us pay quarterly installments, and happily, Dec. 15 isn't one of those dates. But Jan. 15 is and April 15 has the distinction of offering double the fun: A quarterly installment for the current year, plus any additional taxes owed from the previous.
If you've never done your own withholding, it's difficult to convey that special, poignant pleasure we experience writing beefy checks to the state and feds four times a year.
We also get to pay an extra "self-employment tax." Isn't that special?
There are some benefits, however. Right now, for example, I'm computer shopping. Because this is the primary tool for my business, I can deduct the cost of it from my income. This reduces my tax burden, incrementally, but, hey, I'll take it.
A couple of friends have recently purchased Macs and this has me in a twirl. Given that I'm in the happy, co-dependent position of living with a PC software developer, I have in-house tech support. Migrating to an Apple would put me out in the cold when the inevitable glitches emerge. The very well-trained people at the Apple store have assured me that their clean, well-lighted place is filled with people aching to meet my needs. But this requires a six-mile drive, time, gas and the combing of hair. A. Lot. To. Ask. of the self-employed.
But then I touched the new glass touch pad. And typed a bit. The new Mac weighs three pounds less than my current machine. Three pounds in an airport at the end of a trip is the rough equivalent of wrangling a 25-pound turkey in a busy parking lot the day before Christmas. And the people in the store are so nice and friendly and solicitous, all "come into the light."
If I get a Mac, what will I have to complain about?