TAX BOOK TRIPPING

I was sent by my wife to go and surf after Christmas lunch. My wife knew from an early stage in our relationship that the 2 most dangerous things about being in love with a surfer are:

• Firstly the surfer himself. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with a surfer who has not surfed for a week? You are entering dangerous territory. I can recall some of my wife’s words in such a period, or should I say I think I can recall because now it seems like a blur, because it was in that ‘have-not-surfed-for-7-days’ period. Through the haze it sounded something like “I think you really need to go surf”. My protest that there was no swell or something about the wind direction was ignored and I was even escorted to my car without me having to do the honors of carrying my surfbag.
• The second most dangerous thing is the surfbuddy. It is that person that somehow knows exactly how to spoil a very romantic dinner, with an update of the next day’s surf report and a lengthy discussion of which spots are going to ‘fire’.

I don’t know why my wife allowed me to go on Christmas day. it could have been the dreary puppy look in my eyes or it could have been that we are getting close to that ‘have-not-surfed-for-7-days’ period.

I met up with this surfer buddy of mine called Jan at our favourite and local spot. Let me rephrase it rather say “local” spot as our favourite spot is 65 km away rightly called the “most perfect right hand brake on the planet aka J’Bay”.

To get to our spot is a walk of 1km over sand and rocks from the nearest parking. During our walk we chatted about what most surfers talk about which is topics such as epic surf sessions, the past winter swell, which was the greatest in years, least crowded surf spots these days, surfboards (I a seriously need an addition to my quever), John-John Florence being crowned world champion again and solutions about how to surf more and work less .

"Our casual conversation ventured into less important aspects of life such as tax"

Later our casual conversation ventured into less important aspects of life such as tax returns as my surfbuddy somehow figured out that my job entails something to do with tax. Until today I am still wondering how he figured that out as I tend to steer away from subjects that could spoil a perfect surf session dished up by mother nature. I normally keep my career within the surfing community a secret for as long as humanly possible.

His problem of coming home from overseas and earning top-dollars for a number of years left him in a despicable position of unsubmitted tax returns for a number of years. He said something about a feeling of guilt, but we both know he was as scared of a South African jail as being attacked by a 8 foot Great White Shark . Our conversation steered in the direction of tax court cases as I saw a nice 4 feet waves swinging in which I wanted all for myself. I knew it would stop him dead in his tracks, after I paddled back, feeling somewhat guilty I saw the fear in his eyes and his face having turned deathly pale. I knew I had to lighten the mood by telling him about my favourite ex-novel called the Summary of Tax Court Cases in South Africa.

My favourite take-to-bed must read-book

Tax court cases is not normally my thing, but since I practice a little bit of tax consulting and had to study it, the tax-court-case-novel became part of my life. At varsity the tax-court-case-novel was my favourite take-to-bed must read-book. Not because it was facinited and compelling, but because it guided me into a deep sleep within a few seconds and easily made me forget about the upcoming tax exam.

It was the first book I packed for a surf trip and never opened the entire trip. My surf buddies scolded me about the extra weight we had to carry. The tax novel was my favourite companion: not judging me for not studying, but to simply be there next to my side, absorbing all the guilt possible. Later one of my buddies discovered that it would made a perfect cushion under his bottom whilst we discussed the past surf session. My tax-court-case-novel became such close friends of the surfing pack with bantering words like “where is that book of yours that looks like a Stephen King novel?” and “Please don’t let that girl see the book in your bag, she is a stunner”. I have since then handed over the tax-novel to my tax partner who loves carrying it around.

Are you carry heavy things around in your life?

In everybody’s life there is that heavy thing that we are carrying around. In many cases, because it absorbs a lot of our guilt. My best experiences happened when I released the heavy thing and let-it-go with all the fear associated with it.

Louis Munro 

Chartered Accountant (SA)

>Founder: Munro Accountancy Inc

>Founder: Your Moment Your Life (YMYL)

>Co-founder: Savvic Statutory Services (Pty) Ltd 

>Co-founder: The Fun Accountant

> SFM Elite + member