As published in the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Thursday Jan. 3, 2012 Edition Offers... Read More »
Articles from July 2011
Preparer Regulation Update
WebCPA reports that Congress is having hearings on IRS oversight of tax preparers. David Rothstein, a research fellow at the New America Foundation, testified on behalf of the think tank as well as the National Community Tax Coalition and Policy Matters Ohio: The data from this past tax filing season confirms that an extremely high…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Regulation of Tax Preparers97.5% of American Taxpayers Won’t Cheat on Their Taxes
Caroline May of The Daily Caller says that while Americans may complain about paying taxes, a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that the vast majority are honest on their tax returns: Economists Sara LaLumia of Williams College and James M. Sallee of the University of Chicago investigated whether…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Tax CrimesTIGTA Reports on More IRS Screw-Ups
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has issued another report on IRS inefficiency, which, no doubt, will be met by the Commissioner’s demand for more funding (see Related Posts, below). TIGTA reports that some taxpayers received multiple refunds for their First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit claims, while others changed the acquisition date of their homes on their…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Credits, IRS ProcedureAccountant Tries to Deduct Value of His Own Services
Are you sure we don’t need to regulate unenrolled tax preparers? Here’s the story of an accountant named Mondello who tried, with a straight face, to take a deduction on his income tax return for the value of his services (Mondello v. Commissioner, T.C. Summ. Op. 2011-97 (July 25, 2011)): Petitioner operated his Web site business…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Court Cases, Deductible Expenses, Taxes 101Great News for Innocent Spouses: IRS Eliminates 2 Year Rule
Paul Caron reports that yesterday the IRS released (IR-2011-80) Notice 2011-70 which abandons the rule that requires innocent spouses to make their claims for relief within 2 years from the date IRS collection activity first began: The IRS today announced that it will extend help to more innocent spouses by eliminating the two-year time limit…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Innocent Spouse Relief, IRS Procedure, NewsIRS Broke the Law 32,000 Times in Issuance of Tax Liens
WebCPA reports that an estimated 32,552 taxpayers may have been harmed because the IRS did not follow legal requirements to notify them and their representatives of their rights related to tax liens in a timely fashion, according to a new government report (emphasis is mine): The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found…
Read Full Article Categorized in: IRS Liens and Levies, IRS ProcedureIRS: No More Mister Nice Guy
The tax gap – the difference between what taxpayers’ should pay to the IRS every year and what they actually pay – is estimated to be about $300 billion a year. Karen Hube writing for the Washington Post confirms what we have reported here: The IRS is stepping up its enforcement activities (emphasis is mine):…
Read Full Article Categorized in: IRS Audits, Tax CollectionsNotice of IRS Levy
A levy is a legal seizure of your property to satisfy a tax debt. Levies are different from liens. A lien is a claim used as security for the tax debt, while a levy actually takes the property to satisfy the tax debt. If you do not pay your taxes (or make arrangements to settle…
Read Full Article Categorized in: UncategorizedObama’s Ransom Note
Joe Taxpayer posted this provocative editorial cartoon under the title “A Ransom Note?”
Read Full Article Categorized in: SatireThree Democrat-Promoting Non-Profit Groups Lose Tax Exempt Status
The New York Times reports that three tax-exempt advocacy groups that were denied tax exempt status by the IRS were all units of Emerge America, an organization devoted to cultivating female Democratic candidates for local, state and federal government office: The I.R.S. denied tax exemption to the groups — Emerge Nevada, Emerge Maine and Emerge Massachusetts — because,…
Read Full Article Categorized in: NewsNewsflash: Americans Favor Tax Increases on Other Americans
Tax-increase zealot Bruce Bartlett of Capital Gains and Games has once again published poll results that say that most Americans believe we should increase taxes as part of a deficit reduction plan. According to Bartlett, the question polled by 14 separate surveys was: Can/Should the Budget Deficit Be Reduced with Spending Cuts Alone or Should There…
Read Full Article Categorized in: NewsIRS Fails to Notify Taxpayers and Their Representatives of Tax Lien Filings
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reports what tax practitioners have known for years (emphasis is mine): After filing Notices of Federal Tax Lien, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must notify the affected taxpayers in writing, at their last known address, within five business days of the lien filings. However, as noted in previous…
Read Full Article Categorized in: IRS Liens and Levies, IRS ProcedureRapper Ja Rule Gets 2 Years For Failing to File Tax Returns
Kelly Phillips-Erb reports that another hip hop rap artist has been convicted of tax crimes: Rapper and actor Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, was sentenced this week to more than two years in federal prison for failing to file income tax returns between 2004 and 2006. He had faced up to three…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax CrimesTaxing Sale of Jeter Ball is a No Brainer
A lot of people are making a ruckus because the IRS says that the value of what Christian Lopez, the fan who caught Derek Jeter’s 3,oooth hit, which was a home run, is taxable, but it’s much ado about nothing. Here’s David Logan of Tax Policy Blog: On July 9th, Derek Jeter became the 28th…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Gross Income, Taxes 101A Return to 70% Top Tax Rates?
Senior Fellow of Stanford’s The Hoover Institution, Michael Boskin, writing for the Wall Street Journal says that we should Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate (emphasis is mine): President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax Policy, The Economy