Oh joy! There are only eight more pressure-filled days of punishing paperwork before income taxes are due. Because of the W-2s, 1099s, figuring of formulas, tangled tax credits and must-be-documented deductions, the April 15 tax deadline earns my title as "The Most Dreadful Rite of Spring" - when compared to the gem and mineral show, the professional golfers’ match play championship, the rodeo, spring training, blooming wildflowers or allergies.

For as tedious as taxes are for us individuals, it’s even more so for businesses. Corporate tax returns are so complex, big companies have full-time staff to crunch the numbers.

For an entire year, these specialists run through a marathon of financial spreadsheets. We individuals, however, typically sprint to the finish line in less than a week because we have the luxury of procrastinating.

To this day, my favorite tax tale involves a $21 million check.

Frank, a business acquaintance of mine, was a tax accountant for a large, local company. I happened to be in his office one day during tax season when he told me his company practiced "aggressive money management."

This was at a time before certain interstate banking regulations were tightened up, tax laws revised, and before electronic money transfers became standard business operations.

Since I "do words, not numbers" for a living, I asked Frank for an example of his firm’s "aggressive" style. Smiling, he reached inside a jumbo accordion folder and pulled out an envelope.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Slowly, I opened the envelope. Inside was a $21 million check, payable to a government entity. We sat in silence as I counted the zeros over and over.

"… four… five… six… Hey! There’s a typo," I blurted out, "you spelled my name wrong on the check!"

Certainly, I was wowed to hold a $21 million check, but the "aggressive" financial significance was lost on me.

"Sorry Frank, I don’t get it."

A few times a year, Frank’s business paid a variety of enormous tax bills, all with lots of zeros to the right of the dollar sign. These payments amounted to tens of millions of dollars. For these transactions only, the business kept a bank account in an obscure little town in rural North Carolina.

Since the bank was so far away and the checks so large, the company squeezed out a few extra days of interest before the checks were cashed. This technique was called "playing the float," a common practice among businesses at the time, Frank explained.

Plus, the North Carolina bank was so small, unrefined and provincial; it would not electronically transfer funds of this enormous amount.

"That’s why we picked it," said Frank.

Someone had to physically go to the bank and show appropriate credentials to cash the check. Plus, it took all day to get there and another day to get back.

So twice a year, the government entity would send someone to pick up the check in person. A government employee would have to fly to North Carolina and rent a car to drive to the rural bank to cash the check.

The process often enabled Frank’s business to earn an extra four or five days of interest.

This procedure also included a shrewd element of timing. Usually, the check would be ready for pick-up as late in the week as possible. Since no one wanted to travel on a Friday or over the weekend, the courier usually waited until Monday or Tuesday to fly out.

"Aha! The longer the delay the better," I said. "But really, what kind of money are we talking about?"

Frank pulled out his calculator and walked me through Finance 101.

"It is a big deal, let me show you why," he said.

Frank’s business was earning more than 8 percent interest on its deposits at the North Carolina bank. That generated some $4,700 a day in interest, "every single day" he emphasized.

By the time that one check was cashed five days later, the business had earned an extra $23,500 in interest.

"And you do that twice a year?" I said.

"Exactly, for a total of $47,000," Frank said. "And that pays the salary for one person in my department."

This is a true story, drawn from Roger Yohem’s 25-year career in corporate communications with Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, Tucson Electric Power and Southwest Gas. The names are changed to protect the guilty. Yohem’s column looks at the lighter side of "challenges" in the business world and appears the first and third week of each month in Inside Tucson Business.