11/07/11 - 7:24 a.m.

I'm a little tense right now. I just realized I under-declared my income on the tax return I finally filed in October. It's only about $350, so it shouldn't make more than $90 worth of difference in the final total. I guess I'm more angsty about what the IRS might do.

Although I know the answer to that. Once, years ago, I made a similar mistake -- and then sent me a letter with the updated balance. In fact, they did the same thing again this year -- and once a few years before. And both those times, they were wrong about the difference, and I had the documents to prove it. (They ended up owing me money.)

But, yeah, the take-away is, obviously, I'm worried about what they'll do if they find that I under-reported the income. Even knowing from past experience exactly what they'll do. I've got to stop letting the IRS almost get me so worked up.

The real accomplishment is I filed the return, and was at least pretty close to my total income -- which (as a freelancer) is self-reported anyways.

They should appreciate my efforts to stay compliant with the system...

Besides, I'm going to think of this as a learning experience. "Yes, there is an error on my tax return. It's floating around in their system right now. Wooooo!!!!" It's like an episode of Fear Factor. I'm making myself face that fear, and it'll help me re-assess my whole relationship with the IRS. The consequences for imperfection aren't jail time or armed thugs on your doorstep.

This is the universe telling me to adopt a reasonable level of concern about the IRS - but not an irrational level!