History Recap / TheSimpsonsS9E20TheTroubleWithTrillions

** There is is no way Ned would be able to file his taxes that early. If Ned was doing his personal taxes, which is what it is implied he is doing, then he would have to wait until finishing up with his business taxes to figure out how much he personally owned to the IRS. However, that doesn't include any other deductions when doing an itemized deduction (as he puts casher ribbon under personal expense) and most of the paper work from the IRS, mortgage companies, insurance, credit card companies, etc. wouldn't be in the mail until the first few weeks of the year, this was more true in the pre-internet days. The earliest Ned could do his taxes would be in the middle of January, if the only thing he had was his W-2 from his job and doing a standard deduction. If he had to do his business taxes, he would still have to wait for paperwork from the IRS, vendors, other business, the mall, and others before he could even think about filing.

-->'''Lisa''': That was ''last'' year's taxes. You have to pay again ''this'' year. \\
'''Homer''': No, because you see, I went ahead and...yearwise, I was counting forward from the last previous...DOH!

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The United States Post Office is closed on New Year's day, Ned wouldn't be able to mail in his tax forms.
** Not Necessarily; Plenty of Post Offices keep the lobby open so people can access their PO Boxes and the indoor mailbox. It's the counters that are closed.
** Also, there is no way Ned would be able to his taxes that early. If Ned was doing his personal taxes, which is what it is implied he is doing, then he would have to wait until finishing up with his business taxes to figure out how much he personally owned to the IRS. However, that doesn't include any other deductions when doing an itemized deduction (as he puts casher ribbon under personal expense) and most of the paper work from the IRS, mortgage companies, insurance, credit card companies, etc. wouldn't be in the mail until the first few weeks of the year, this was more true in the pre-internet days. The earliest Ned could do his taxes would be in the middle of January, if the only thing he had was his W-2 from his job and doing a standard deduction. If he had to do his business taxes, he would still have to wait for paperwork from the IRS, vendors, other business, the mall, and others before he could even think about filing.

* CrazyPrepared: Ned always files his tax returns ''every'' New Years.

** Also, there is no way Ned would be able to his taxes that early. If Ned was doing his personal taxes, which is what it is implied he is doing, then he would have to wait until finishing up with his business taxes to figure out how much he personally owned to the IRS. However, that doesn't include any other deductions and most of the paper work from the IRS, mortgage companies, insurance, credit card companies, etc. wouldn't be in the mail until the first few weeks of the year, this was more true in the pre-internet days. The earliest Ned could do his taxes would be in the middle of January, if the only thing he had was his W-2 from his job. If he had to do his business taxes, he would still have to wait for paperwork from vendors, other business, the mall, and others before he could even think about filing.

** Also, there is no way Ned would be able to his taxes that early. If Ned was doing his personal taxes, which is what it is implied he is doing, then he would have to wait until finishing up with his business taxes to figure out how much he personally owned to the IRS. However, that doesn't include any other deductions and most of the paper work from the IRS, mortgage companies, insurance, credit card companies, etc. wouldn't be in the mail until the first few weeks of the year, this was more true in the pre-internet days. The earliest Ned could do his taxes would be in the middle of January if he would only had his business and nothing else. If he had to do his business taxes, he would still have to wait for paperwork from vendors, other business, the mall, and others before he could even think about filing.

* BlatantLies: Homer frantically instructing his family after stuffing his last-minute tax return with bogus deductions.

* IntimidatingRevenueService: Homer is forced by the IRS to become a spy for them or face criminal charges for his badly-made tax forms (ironically he may have prevented this by just not bundling all of the forms together into the shape of a football).

* LimitedWardrobe: Lampshaded. Principal Skinner tries to flirt with Edna Krabappel at the post office, asking "Is that a new green sweater?", to which she says "[[WomanScorned Until you're willing to file]] ''[[WomanScorned jointly,]]'' [[WomanScorned back of the line, Seymour]]!", which also serves as a CallBack to the events of "Grade School Confidential", when they publicly announced they were breaking up to avoid scrutiny (but continued dating privately.)

* VengefulVendingMachine: A rare example in which it's a good thing. Burns and Smithers, [[OhCrap much to their horror]], discover Homer trying to purchase a soda with the trillion-dollar bill as they get the plane ready, but the machine just keeps rejecting the bill.

* ZillionDollarBill: The trillion dollar bill meant for the reconstruction of Europe after WWII, but pocketed by Mr. Burns.

** Mr. Burns simply gives the dollar bill to Fidel Castro, who is an extremely corrupt man. When Mr. Burns asks him to give it back, the president just asks what, taking the money away and putting Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Homer on a meager raft in the middle of the ocean.

-->'''Homer''': Shut up, shut up! If I don't hear you, it's not illegal!

** Mr. Burns simply gives the dollar bill to Fidel Castro, who is an extremely corrupt man. When Mr. Burns asks him to give it back, the president just asks what, taking the money away and putting Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Homer on a meager rack in the middle of the ocean.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: The trillion dollar bill is practically the poster boy for this trope. While a trillion dollar bill sounds like a cool idea, [[AwesomeButImpractical it would actually be impossible to spend because nobody, no matter how strong their economy, would ever be able to make change from it.]] Not to mention if you lost it, your country would go bankrupt.

* LimitedWardrobe: Lampshaded. Principal Skinner tries to flirt with Edna Krabappel at the post office, asking "Is that a new green sweater?", to which she says "[[WomanScorned Until you're willing to file]] ''[[WomanScorned jointly]]'', [[WomanScorned back of the line, Seymour]]!", which also serves as a CallBack to the events of "Grade School Confidential", when they publicly announced they were breaking up to avoid scrutiny (but continued dating privately.)

* OutOfCharacterMoment: When the family is being asked by government agents what would Homer do with the ZillionDollarBill he's been accused of stealing, Marge says that the money should go to the kids' college fund... only for ''Lisa'' to reply "Who needs college? Let's buy dune buggies!" '''''Huh?''''' This coming from the girl who, after helping put Mr. Burns back on his feet, refused her rightful million dollar advisor fee out of moral disapprobation for how he did it.

* AbusiveAdvertising: The Duff ad in Cuba with Che Guevara has the slogan "El Duff-o o muerte (or death)".

* AbusiveAdvertising: The Duff ad in Cuba with Che Guevara has the slogan "El Duff-o o muerte (or death)". Justified, as it's in a Communist country known for murdering its dissidents.

* LimitedWardrobe: Lampshaded. Principal Skinner tries to flirt with Edna Krabappel at the post office, asking "Is that a new green sweater?", to which she says "[[WomanScorned Until you're willing to file]] ''[[WomanScorned jointly]]'', [[WomanScorned back of the line, Seymour]]!", which also serves as a CallBack to the events of "Grade School Confidential", when he broke off his public relationship with her. (They’re still privately dating, however.)

* LimitedWardrobe: Lampshaded. Principal Skinner tries to flirt with Edna Krabappel at the post office, asking "Is that a new green sweater?", to which she says "[[WomanScorned Until you're willing to file]] ''[[WomanScorned jointly]]'', [[WomanScorned back of the line, Seymour]]!", which also serves as a CallBack to the events of "Grade School Confidential", when he broke off his relationship with her.

* HiddenInPlainSight: The expositional video about the Trillion dollar bill is stored in a photo booth and can easily be accessed by saying the word "Cheese". App and Manjula stumble upon it after Homer and the government agents leave.

!!Tropes:

-->'''Homer:''' Okay, Marge, if anyone asks, you require 24-hour nursing care, Lisa's a clergyman, Maggie is seven people, and Bart was wounded in [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]]!
-->'''Bart:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Cool!]]

* HiddenInPlainSight: The expositional video about the Trillion dollar bill is stored in a photo booth and can easily be accessed by saying “Say Cheese”. App and Manjula stumble upon it after Homer and the government agents leave.

* TemptingFate: While showing the big lines of people who waited until the last day to file their tax returns, Kent Brockman isn't worried because he'd previously sent his tax data to an accountant. Said accountant then shows up and is just as worried as everybody else.

** Barney reminds Homer of the telemarketing scam he ran in "Lisa's Date with Destiny", as does Carl of his moonshine distillery from "Homer vs. the 18th Amendment".

* EagleLand: Burns believes that performing such a blatantly treasonous crime as stealing the trillion-dollar bill (and going against orders given to him by the government) is a showcase of his patriotism (as he puts it, he's just keeping the money away from a country that doesn't deserves a hand-me-down that would make America poorer). He later says that bribing a jury in order to prevent being put in jail for said crime is also "the American way" and Homer even salutes him and says "God bless America!"

* AbusiveAdvertising: The Duff ad in Cuba with Che Guevara has the slogan "El Duff-o o muerte (or death)". Considering that it's on a communist nation that executes prisoners...