There is one thing we all love to bitch about the world over – taxes!
However… I just gotta say… the taxation system in India takes a certain kind of mettle, a patient and calm acceptance of the absurd as the norm, a heaping helping of humour and more!
Some may have followed my earlier follies… for those that haven’t… I have 5 tax years of refunds ‘adjusted’ against an amount the government thinks I owe it from 2009 whereas the reality is the reverse!
And this isn’t just me having a bad case of wishful thinking… This is verified with documentation proving all taxes duly paid with a refund due – including supporting evidence from the government’s own website – which paradoxically is denied despite irrefutable proof after four rectification cases.
Did I mention it defies all logic?? Accountability?? Reason???!
And the efforts to resolve have been going on for years! Not just one or two years… since 2009!
What has me excited today is my 2015 tax return was processed and this time… drum roll… they are actually giving me my refund!
And they note that there is a pending case however have elected to not ‘adjust’ this refund. Could this possibly mean they are sorta tacitly admitting they have goofed up??
Even better – I not only have the notice about my 2015 refund – I even have the money in my account?!
I have never been so excited to see $42 deposited into my bank account – ever!!
Let me chalk this up to a belated Diwali divine intervention and Thanksgiving thanks!
Does it mean the original issue is resolved? No.
Does it mean I still need to get them to fix it? Yes.
And fix the ‘adjustments’ from the other years? Yes.
But am I just blubberingly grateful that finally this year my refund was not linked to the earlier issue? Yes! Yes! Yeeeeeeessssssssssssss!!!!!!
Can we say celebration time!?
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Everyday Asia 
Ha ha! Congrats on your victory, no matter the size. 😃
I don’t underestimate my wee victory! 🙂
Wow! That must feel fabulous! Progress maybe, hopefully.
Alison
Maybe… possibly… hopefully! 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS!! (Caps intended!!)
I got a 133,000 rupee Indian tax office bill this year courtesy of the never-fails-to-fail Mumbai office of the global accounting company I got to file my return.
They quickly withdrew it as `an error” when I pointed out I haven’t been an Indian tax resident for many years.
I had, in fact, overpaid 60 rupees on earnings paid last year but attributed to the period I lived there that withholding tax was already paid on (which is why i got the accountant to handle the return).
Of course, I’ll never seen it whereas I have no doubt I would have been hunted to the ends of the earth if I hadn’t contested the accounting firm’s bill.
Good luck in sorting out the previous years’ screw ups. What a mess.
You more than anyone I know gets how these things work! 😉 It made my minor misunderstandings in Singapore as I prepared my financial report seem terribly mild by comparison! However after this baby step forward with India, I’m all the more determined to get the earlier issues resolved. 🙂
Take your refund and run! All the way to Singapore 🙂
Hahaha!! Not that it goes terribly far here in Singapore but… 😉
A small treat can go very far 🙂 Especially if it’s cake!
Yes.. cake! However I must say the daifuku I had this afternoon was positively swoon worthy. Best ever!
I believe you…. am not a fan of red bean paste, personally….
This was heaven… unbelievable
Congratulations, seems like wonders do tend to happen 🙂
Hahaha! They do some times. 😉
Will $42 get you a nice bottle of whiskey? You should celebrate 😉
In Singapore?? It will get you a GLASS of something interesting! Not even a double. ;-0
Ha, Singapore is not for me then!
Seriously not. Booze isn’t cheap… now India… crappy booze is cheap. The good stuff? Sigh… if you can even get it… its also silly expensive.
Everyone should move to Berlin 😉
Ya 🙂
Ja 😉
It’s a moral victory! YAY! Congrats!
All that matters 🙂