Free Tax Advice

To put things in context, the following took place shortly before my recent re-connection surgery. For those of you who are interested, it went well and things are working out ok . And often. And after six months, I can face the correct wall.
Hey, that’s a big deal.

Well, it was inevitable. after many long, long months of masking, avoiding, hiding out, staying away… a friend came by our dinner table and asked if he could join us. Since I’ve known him and his wife for a long time, and knew they had both been vaccinated, I said sure. My table mates concurred. The next night, his wife called. You got it. He got sick the next morning and tested positive.

S#@t !

So the next morning I went to get tested. Too soon, they said. Come back Friday. Even though I had no symptoms and had been self-testing daily (more later, keep reading) I wanted to make sure that I didn’t carry the bug to possibly pass on. I am a nice person after all.

Two more days of self isolation and I went back for the test. A very expensive test. Well, the test was free, but the facility is right in front of Costco. I mean, you are already there, so, you might as well go in and look around, right? Thankfully, the test was negative, so, back to being a real person again.

Oh, the free tax advice. All the literature I read about Covid-19 says you may lose your sense of taste and smell. I read the two most reliable taste testers are bacon
and twelve year old single malt scotch. Since I don’t want to cook, I chose the latter. Because of the seriousness of the situation, I tested daily. Actually, several times a day. I mean this is important stuff, right?

Now, being a conscientious taxpayer, I called the IRS.I explained my situation and asked if the testing material was tax deductible. Unfortunately, the agent explained that in order to be considered tax deductible, the testing material had to be less than 1 week old. Therefore, my forty dollar bottle would not qualify.

Since it appears that frequent testing will be necessary, I am considering setting up a “Go Fund Me “. If anyone knows how to do it, please let me know.
—
Fred Prout