Drat

I started doing my taxes yesterday. I like to do them slightly early and file them online because I like getting my refund back quickly. If you file around the end of March, it seems to only take about 2 weeks before you have the cheque in hand.

I have a file folder in my cabinet labelled "Income Taxes" and every time something comes in the mail that belongs in that folder, anything I know I'll need to file my return, it goes in that folder right away, as soon as it arrives. Unlike other stuff that seems to go in a pile to be filed "some day".

So imagine my dismay when I started going through the paperwork and working through the steps on the online tax preparation site and realized that I didn't have my assessment form from last year's return. That's the bunch of papers that the government sends to you attached to your refund cheque. It's basically a recap of your filed return and it also has important information that needs to get plugged into next year's return, like your maximum RRSP contribution amount (not that I need to worry about that, I think my maximum amount is somewhere in the 6 figures and I don't expect to ever actually max it out!).

I can't find that form. Where could it possibly be?? If it's not in the tax folder, I have no idea where it might be or why I didn't immediately put it in the folder when it came in the mail last April like I should have, like I normally would. Given that it was delivered 11 months ago, I have no idea where to start looking for it. Sure, I have several piles of stuff to be filed and, frighteningly, still two boxes of "miscellaneous paper" to be sorted through from when I moved a year and a half ago, but this form should have been filed, not put in one of those piles.

So now I've got to start looking through those piles and/or try to get another copy from the government, which I'm sure is possible, it just might be time-consuming given they're a little busy right now. Which means I can't file my return just yet and leaves me feeling a little like this guy: