Tax Day

After having been warned for the past 2.5 months that this day was coming, I felt pretty prepared when my Inhabitants Tax form came in the mail yesterday.  I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to pay it right away.  If even a SINGLE ALT didn't pay their taxes, NO ONE would get their reimbursement in the July pay period.

So during my lunch break today I went to the bank and paid it.  It was 176,000yen.

For those not up on the yen-dollar conversion, a yen is roughly a penny.

Now, I had been previously told that the amount would be between 1man and 9man (man = 10,000yen).  9man is pretty steep.  My tax bill was almost twice that.

But I paid it nonetheless, because if even a SINGLE ALT...yadda yadda.  But it still stung.  Payday is a week away.

So when I got back to the office, I sent an e-mail about the sticker shock to the head ALT.  I had heard from other ALTs that their bill was less than 2man, but they didn't live in Takefu, so...

Quite soon after I sent my message, my phone rang.  It was the head ALT.  "You didn't pay that tax bill yet, did you?"

Uh, oh.

Yeah.  Clerical error of some sort.  So I'm broke now, and they're trying to figure out how I can get my money back.

Today was not a good day.