The sad part of trading is paying taxes (not because of taxes themselves)

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tax

Let me make this clear right off the bat: I am not against taxes at all.

To me, taxes are the cost of living in a healthy society and I am pro living in a healthy society. I am against taxes badly spent that is for sure, we should all pay our fair share, but we should also always demand them to be better spent.

Paying taxes to live in a good society has the same logic as paying taxes for living in a condominium. I would pay for a good neighborhood even if I do not use all of its amenities, like the pool, or the gym, or if I don't go outside at night (it is good to live in a well-light neighborhood).

With that out of the way, I always get confused when it is time to pay taxes because it is complicated. I don't like accounting and I am quite bad at it. I pay an accountant to declare my taxes for me since I only have to declare them once a year, and since I study and pay for private healthcare I get some deductions and reimbursements, there is no way I would be able to get those tax refunds if I declared it myself, I would probably forget about it.

This month, however, I did some day trading and ended up in profit, which is good. The issue is that the profits from day trading must be declared and paid on the following month after the earnings. I have invested all of my earnings from those trades in illiquid assets, which I can't easily sell, like some investment funds that take almost 1 month to liquidate and return me my investment. Everything was going down and I was excited to put this money to work.

Now I have to pay 20% income tax on those earnings, and I am cashless, almost everything I have is invested in something. I will probably sell some stocks and use that to pay those capital gain taxes, but I am addicted to hoarding assets! I love to buy but I do not like selling!

That is kind of an issue for me since I live almost cashless, almost everything I have is invested. I have posted about it before that I became way too good at saving money for my own good. I need to learn how to live with cash, need to learn how to leave my money sitting in my account, in case an emergency happens (like having to pay taxes). It is hard though because I hate the feeling of leaving my money just sitting idly...

This is a good problem to have, of course, I have investments and I was in profit and now I have to pay taxes, but I have to deal with my hoarding feelings and accept selling something, just need to decide what to sell...



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3 comments
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Not sure if my two cents will help. When you calculate the tax and lodge a form. You will get a bill to pay at a date.

Because you have no cash to pay at that time, could you call your tax office to ask for a payment arrangement thereby delaying having to pay for all the tax raised.

Then you would also not have to sell assets and just have to come up with a way to make cash outside of your investments.

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I don't think this applies to Brazil though. Anyways, sounds like more headache.

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It will only be a bigger headache if you liquidate assets that are growing in value just to pay for debts that could be delayed.

And life is all about effort, you have nothing to lose by asking your tax office and everything to gain if you are able to delay.

Only you can decide of course and I hope you are able to do what is right for you.

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