Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I know that some days you're a hammer then the next day you're a nail but I'm getting tired of being a nail.

I just got a call from the people who did my tax return last year. Seems my benevolent government has decided in it's infinite wisdom that my claim for my trans medical expenses has been turned down. No reason given as far as I know and my tax return is now going to be reassessed.

I paid a TON of cash last year. So much that I had to borrow the money from my banker and of course they want to be repaid which I'm doing. My RRSP took a major hit when the market "readjusted" says my bank investment fellow to the point where I now have to go back to work unless I want to run out of a retirement income in the next 2 years. I'm already looking for work but not optimistic because I'm an older woman with limited current office skills.

What gets me is I paid tax on that money when I worked. I pay tax on it again when I use it. They got a ton of cash and they still are going to want more. Pretty soon there won't be any more and at the rate things are going I'll have to eventually sell everything and live on the streets! Of course that's an extreme thought but gee, enough of the hammer and nail already!

So, how's your life? (LOL)

Love,
Clare

I don't know how it works in your country, but in the U.S. we have the right to appeal the decision. You or your tax preparer should be able to cite the portion of the tax law that the deductions were claimed under and they should tell you why they don't apply. It might be you need a letter from a doctor stating the medical need for the treatment.

I had an audit many years ago and I sent them a stack of paper work documenting my claim. I didn't hear from them for a while and then they returned all my photo copies and said I was fine. As they were only photo copies, I would have been fine if they saved the postage and ran them all through the shredder. Maybe your government and mine aren't all that different.

At the age of 47 I sat in my investment managers office and was told that I literally had more money than I could ever spend in the years remaining to me.

At the time I was nearly 3 decades post everything, I had a secure well paid job, a partner whom I had been with for over 20 years, a large portfolio of property investments running into millions, which topped up my income, a well provided pension fund, a private gated home with swimming pool and grounds and luxury features in an exclusive area.

I decided to take a career break to pursue a dream of becoming a writer, and I liquidated my assets, reinvesting them in funds which would need less proactive management than the properties. That was in 2007.

Two years later, my money had all been lost in the crash, my pension had collapsed, my home had gone, my job had gone, and to cap it all my partner was dying with early onset dementia and I had literally become her bottom wiper and 24 hour solo carer!

In short I was in a very different place indeed. Facing bankruptcy I sold my last few remaining assets to buy me some time and decided to apply to medical school, on the basis that when everything is lost you might as well try something utterly crazy. Why go out with a whimper? That was 2012.

Now my partner is two years dead, and I am in my penultimate year at medical school. By the time I finish I will have no assets beyond my medical degree, so I will be working as a doctor until I am at least 80 because I cant afford not to be, but I am also about to be married to a drop dead gorgeous 21 year old!

So yeah - life has it's twists and turns, but don't give up because you never know what lies around that next bend in the road.

I'm going to wait until I get the letter and see if a medical certificate will suffice to say it wasn't a "choice" but a necessity. The worst they can say is no I suppose but at times it seems you can't get ahead.

Spoke with my last employer and found out that once you retire, there's no coming back as it is seen as a form of "double dipping" by getting a salary and pension. A change in policy in the last 2 years.

Oh well, life goes on.

Love,
Clare

Clare,  I had cause to speak to someone who knows this area. If you're in the U.S. the rules governing the IRS are much too long and complicated for anyone to really understand. When they deny you you have the right to ask what rule the determination was made under. A competent tax lawyer can then properly address it by finding an offsetting rule. I was told that their job is to deny any exemption you put in but that doesn't mean that they're right.