I know, I know -- you've got better things to do with your time.

So here's an incentive to make it worth your time: If I offered you a little part-time job that paid about $140 per hour, would you be interested? I think so.

Well, that's how you should look at task of filing an amended tax return. Do math:

You discover $1,000 of unreported deductions on your return from Year 2000, 2001 or 2002. So you do research, prepare proper forms (or have your accountant do it), and send them off to IRS.

If you are in 35% tax bracket (say, 30% federal plus 5% state), you will get a $350 refund for your efforts. And even if it took you 2.5 hours of paperwork drudgery, Uncle Same just paid you a cool $140/hour. Not bad, eh?

To file an amended federal income tax return, here are links to necessary forms:

Form 1040X -- in pdf format: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf

Form 1040X -- in "fill-in" pdf format: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-fill/f1040x.pdf

IRS instructions for Form 1040X: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040x.pdf

You should also file an amended state return (assuming your state has an income tax). For a link to a database of all state income tax forms, check out: http:/ axes.yahoo.com/stateforms.html

Don't forget: if you're able to find $1,000 worth of unreported deductions on one previously filed return (resulting in tax savings of $350), there's a good chance same situation exists for other 2 "open" years.

End result: $350 x 3 = $1,050 in total tax savings . . .

. . .Hmm, mmm, good! Now that's a tasty little morsel!

- Variable expenses. All rest of your monthly household expenses, which change some in dollar amount from month to month, such as entertainment, phone expenses, and groceries.

You may need to do some research.

To reveal these expenses may require going through your records. We suggest that you review your cancelled checks for past three months. Make a worksheet with primary expense descriptions. List dollar amount from each check under one of headings. Similarly, examine your past three months of statements from each credit card account you use to pay household expenses.

> Family Balance Sheet

This part of Current Financial Situation worksheet shows two additional aspects of your family financial situation:

- What you owe (debts or liabilities) E.g. Your mortgage loan balance.

- What you own (assets) E.g. Your house, autos, furniture, etc.

Be honest. If you kid yourself about your monthly debt payments before you launch your business, cold, hard reality will only add to your psychological stress later.

> The Business Burden

When you look at your monthly family income, you should consider what will happen financially if you quit your job to pursue your business full-time.

Your expenses will not decrease much, but your income sure will. The difference between family expenses and family income other than yours can be called "business burden." What this means is that unless you want your family's lifestyle to change dramatically, you must produce enough revenue from business to cover shortfall between expenses and other household income.

Every month that you do not produce enough sales to cover this amount, you must borrow to keep family going. This is why I call this "business burden".