A day off from school, HA!

Today I didn't go to school. "Why?" you might ask. Today I had to go deal with my 2006 Russian taxes. Yes thats right 2006 Russian taxes. Last April I sent in my taxes and did everything correctly but by the deadline in July I had heard nothing about going to pay. I was told to simply not pay. Then this fall I was told I had to deal with it. So with the help of a Russian I have been working on my taxes. Olya, my friend, has been going back and forth to many different offices trying to figure out what to do. About a month ago I went with her and refiled for the on the day of the second deadline. Still we heard nothing. I did recieve the Russian equivilant of a social security number. Just recently we heard re had refiled incorrectly. Yesterday I went with Olya to give her power of attorney over my taxes. We went to two different notaries neither of which would give Olya power of attorney. Today we took one last shot at the tax office. Finally we made it into the head office to get some straight answers. After going to 7 offices I finally filed. Praise the Lord! It's not done yet. My taxes are paid but the fine for paying late is 60% of the price of my taxes. So now I have to apear in court to dispute my case to try and lesson my fine. I will get a letter in the mail telling me my court date! I can't believe it. This should be interesting. At least we just had a lesson on the Russian governement and legal system.