Sarah and I are in the midst of gearing up for our 2005 taxes. Submitting tax returns in one country just wasn’t enough fun, so this year we’ll be filing taxes in both The Netherlands and the USA. I’m happy to say that this will be the last time I’ll have to file taxes in the US, but poor Sarah, as an American citizen, is obliged to file an annual tax return with the IRS for the rest of her days. The freedom tax, I call it.
We met with a Dutch tax advisor today. What a barrel of laughs that was; lots of paperwork to collate and return to him, so that he can file the return on our behalf. Sarah’s busy trying to get end-of-year statements for her many on-line accounts, many of which don’t have up-to-date address information for her, and many of which mysteriously no longer allow her to log on. Then you find out that old 401k plans have moved to other companies, etc., etc. It’s monotonous and very frustrating work.
To top it all, the Dutch immigration authorities are giving us a hard time, concerning Sarah’s application for a residence permit. I sent them a new letter today, so we’ll soon see what their next move is.