Tax refund

My wife got an unusual letter from the Tax Office the other day. It said that they had reviewed her tax return from last year and that this letter was an 'Amended Assessment'. Since my wife didn't receive any income in the last financial year, she didn't pay any tax. This Amended Assessment lists my wife's income as $0.00 and the tax payable on that income as $0.00. This is no different to their original assessment, but just to ram the point home, they enclosed a refund cheque for 'nil'.

That's right. The government spent 50 cents on a stamp to send us a cheque for nil. Your tax dollars at work, people.

But that's not all. Yesterday my wife got another Amended Assessment letter from the Tax Office. It was identical to the previous one. Income: $0.00. Tax payable: $0.00. Another refund cheque for 'nil'. So far they are up to a dollar in postage to send us nothing.

When we deposit these cheques, I wonder how long they will take to clear.