It Drives Me Crazy

Paperwork, that is.  We’ve been doing a whole lot of paperwork lately.

We’ve been working on a grant application that is due this week.  There was plenty of chasing down paperwork and crunching of numbers which had to be done.  They required a letter from the pastor attesting to our incredible character.  But I am the pastor.  So, they had us ask an elder to do one on the church letterhead.  The problem with our 2010 tax return, which has not been submitted due to the adoption refund, came back to haunt us so to speak.  We had our CPA fax us a letter explaining why we were not sending them a copy of our 2010 tax return.

Everything seemed to be resolved until I went to look for my 2009 W-2s.  I have the tax return, but somehow misplaced the W-2s.  Thankfully our CPA come to the rescue again.  He scanned them and e-mailed them so we could include them in the application for the grant.

Please pray that our hard work is worth it  besides the sanctifying work that was (hopefully) done in our hearts.

This morning I got a less pleasant call from the CPA.  The scanner had issues with some of the receipts we sent for our aforementioned adoption refund.  I would have to re-scan some things.  I would have to identify the exchange rate so he could know some of the amounts spent in China.  We also had to conjure up a copy of the decree and its translation.  More angst.

Then we came across the “donation certificate”.  It may be called a donation, but without it we aren’t bringing the boy home.  $3,000.  This may make our task much simpler (please, Jesus, please).  Then Amie found a letter that served as a record of the financial transactions with the adoption agency.  That amount was well over $9,000.  This put us well over the maximum for the adoption refund.  Instead of sorting through all the other receipts for postage, consulate fees etc.  all we may have to send is those 2 things along with the decree.

Big sigh of relief.  Maybe.

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Inching Closer

"I think it's coming"

Seems like it has been forever since I’ve updated this blog.  We’ve been busy with other things including our IRS return.

Yes, the IRS apparently isn’t sure what to do with the Adoption Tax Refund in terms of documentation.  When we initially filed for Eli’s adoption as a tax credit, we provided proof of the adoption and a total of the receipts.  Our accountant has run into issues with other clients.  He is not filing ours until he knows exactly what they need so we won’t lose unnecessary time with correspondence going back and forth (where it will sit in an IRS office for 5 weeks before being opened).  Before we left on vacation I scanned ALL of our receipts from the adoption and e-mailed them to the accountant.  Yes, that was exciting.  Part of me wants this to be simple.  Part of my does not want my labor wasted.

In light of the delayed return, we will have to investigate an adoption loan.  They are often at 0% interest since they are just rolled over into other loans instead of for profit.

Last time we were adopting, alot happened while we were on vacation.  We will see what happens this time.  The process was mired in translation.  The translator had a higher priority to get documents done for an upcoming trip to the Congo.  With the increase in adoptions, they are hoping to hire at least one additional translator.  The trip must be complete because 2 families have received referrals.  One was a 12 month-old, and other was a set of twins.

This means  we are now #4 on the list.  So, depending on how fast the translator works, we may be in business before the end of vacation.  Stay tuned!

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