Life skills
Who is responsible for informing teenagers and even those in their twenties of all the things they need to know to survive?
I know my own son needed lots of help but the person who told him stuff was me. He is getting on top of it all now finally at the age of 23.
But now he has a problem which is not related to his responsibilities but those of his partner. They have to fill in their tax return as a couple this year. But, she has never filled in a tax return! So now he cannot fill his in until she rectifies her situation.
She says, “No-one ever told me I had to”. I can believe that. Schools do not teach life skills. She also says that since she never earned much having been either on austudy or the dole with a few jobs in between, why should she fill in a tax form. Quite apart from her logic , she is still obliged to hand one in and has done herself a disservice anyway because any tax she has paid from a job, she has never got back.
So she rang the tax office and got answers she couldn’t understand. I might add that she is a second generation immigrant to this country and her parents have often been unemployed. They seemed not to have ever told her either.
So I guess I’ll be ringing the tax office on her behalf!
October 10th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
It turns out that she doesn’t have to catch up with her tax returns because she would never have earned more than the amount set for those who do not have to fill them in. She has missed out on any tax she could have got back though.
They will fill one in for this year as my son has tax owing to him.