Your tax cents at work

The only sure things in life are death and taxes and the government making the latter as confusing as possible:

James Howarth has a question about small change for the IRS.

The Detroit defense attorney received a letter in November saying the government was due 5 cents. The Detroit Free Press reported Saturday that that Howarth was notified to pay "to avoid additional penalty and/or interest."

Howarth said a second letter told him he's due 4 cents, but he would have to request the refund since it's under $1.

He says he's not sure whether or not that means he now owes the IRS a penny or if there's been a nine cent turnaround on his taxes, but either way, someone is eventually getting a pathetically small check.