“Inside this book, you'll get the skinny onthe basics like filing status, claiming dependents, and determining exemptions.You'll also find helpful information about how to deduct expenses associatedwith raising kids, including the costs of medical care and child care. Erbtackles a number of tricky credits and deductions including the ever popular,and much maligned, earned income tax credit.”
* CFO.COM reportson a recent survey that reinforces what we in “the business” knew full well – “Small Businesses Spend More Time on Taxes”.
“Sixty-four percent of the 350 NSBA {NationalSmall Business Association – rdf} memberssurveyed said they spent more than 40 hours dealing with federal taxes in 2011,including calculating payroll and self-employment tax, filing reports, andworking with their accountants. Forty-six percent of respondents spent morethan 80 hours.”
The article alsoexplained –
“Indeed, the majority of respondents saidthat when it comes to tax compliance, the administrative burden is a biggerchallenge than the tax bill itself.”
And –
“On the whole, respondents ranked incometaxes as their most significant administrative burden, followed by payrolltaxes and sales tax.”
* Bill Bishoff,SMART MONEY’s “The Tax Guy” offers good advice on “Making a Tax-Smart Family Loan”.
From my point ofview, the smartest thing you can do is not do it at all. The Bard had the right idea.
*In case you are interested, TAX PROF Paul Caron provides a map of “State Income Tax Collections Per Capita”.
*MISSOURI TAXGUY Bruce McFarland posted “A Letter From a Bookkeeper” and “How I Answered the Letter”.
Iagree with most of what Bruce suggests. I do, however, think there is no legal responsibility for a tax preparerto be a “whistle-blower” if there is no clear and identifiable presence ofintentional fraud, as seems to be the case here.
Oncethe preparer, or potential preparer, explains that there are errors on a returnhe/she has not prepared, and states that an amended return should be filed,that is as far as it goes. The preparer,or potential preparer, has no obligation to prepare the amended returns, orverify that amended returns are filed, and no obligation to notify the IRS thatamended returns should be filed.
Butif, in the course of an actual audit (certified or otherwise) or detailedreview of the company books, a preparer discovers actual intentional fraud oran intentional significant understatement of income that is a different story.
Thisexample is one of the reasons I decided years ago not to accept any new"entity" business clients (partnerships, corporations). Too much potential agita. I am happy limiting my practice to 1040preparation.
Bruce,what do you think?
*RGI.COM’s “Fact Checker” gives us the truth about “Obamacare Sales Tax on Houses?”.
Ididn’t realize this garbage was still being circulated.
*None of my clients experienced the FU explained by Amy Feldman of REUTERS in“Avoiding Panic from Roth Conversion Glitch”.
Itappears “a glitch between some of the taxsoftware programs and the IRS” resulted in “a lot of taxpayers who converted their traditional IRAs to Roths in2010 receiving IRS notices that they owed more taxes (and penalties)”.
Justanother tax preparation software FU that I did not have to deal with – since in41 tax seasons of preparing 1040s I have never used flawed and expensive taxpreparation software.
Sorry– I couldn’t resist.
*George M Cohan does it again. Ken Berry,I expect not the actor, wants you to “Give Your Regards to the 'Cohan Rule'” ina piece at ACCOUNTINGWEB.COM. Herefences a recent Tax Court decision that proved this 80+ year rule, from Cohanv. Commissioner, 39 F.2d 540 (2d Cir. 1930), is alive and well.
Ihave discussed George’s rule here at TWTP on several occasions in thepast. As Ken explains – “In the landmark decision, Cohan waspermitted to deduct certain business expenses, even though he didn't have allthe receipts needed to back up his claims”.
However, a “talkingpoint” within the item is important to remember.
“There's no substitute for accuraterecordkeeping. Good records can ensure that you're able to deduct all theexpenses that you're legitimately entitled to claim.”
*Senator Orin Hatch of Utah is taking a poll at his website. He wants you to “Please tell me your thoughts about tax reform.” Click here to respond.
*Check out an online live interview with the yellow rose of taxes – Kay Bell ofDON’T MESS WITH TAXES. Click here towatch. And click here to see my commenton one aspect of the interview.
* This week’s “MondayMap” from the TAX FOUNDATION shows “State Government Spending Growth from 2000-2010”.
New Jersey was #3on the list with a 62% spending growth. Surprisingly Oklahoma was #1 at 74%. New York and California were in the mid-teenswith 41% and 42% growth.
*Be sure to check out Bruce McFarland’s weekly “McTax Hangout” – which turnedout to be an interview with Seth David of Nerd Enterprises.
THE FINAL WORD:
A review by ClaudiaPuig in Friday’s USA TODAY of Adam Sandler’s latest time waster “That’s My Boy”excellently describes pretty much all of the actor’s movies, and,unfortunately, many of the so-called comedies produced today.
“’That’s My Boy’ is puerile, mean-spirited andcharmless. The laughs are almost alwaysat someone’s expense or involve incredibly vulgar jokes about bodily functions.”
Wit, and truehumor, is indeed rare in today’s comedies.
I completely avoidanything starring, or produced by, Adam Sandler. Actually I find it a good policy to avoid anymovie that stars anyone who has been a regular on “Saturday Night Live” –except for the original cast of the first two seasons and, occasionally, EddieMurphy.
TTFN
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