2011 was an interesting year, tax-wise. And by “interesting”, I mean there is now a large sign on my back yelling “audit me”. I went from filing a 1040EZ every year to starting a company that was originally designed to be a wrapper around a few hundred dollars in Google Adsense revenue, but inexplicably became a bona fide consulting company. 1099s, business expenses, travel expenses, home office square footage deductions, self-employment tax, etc, etc. And that’s on top of the two actual employers I worked for during parts of the year. I’ll be owing, big time. (Hypothetical IRS: “Why weren’t you making scheduled anticipated tax payments like a good little business taxpayer?” Me: “Hey, it surprised me as much as it did you.”)

An actual conversation with a tax advisor in November:

“Do you have any employees?”

“My company’s logo is a dinosaur riding an atomic bomb, Slim Pickens style.”

“So, no then.”