Wednesday, April 30, 2008

IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO

As I have blogged here before - the various “maximum” tax rates are not always what they are “advertised” to be.

The maximum AMT tax rate is supposed to be 28%. The maximum capital gain tax rate is supposed to be 15%. However, as you will see from the comments below, taken from an explanatory note sent to a client with his finished returns (a GD extension) - “it ain’t necessarily so”.

You were once again a victim of the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). While the ‘advertised’ maximum AMT tax rate is 28%, because of the “phase-out” of the AMT exemption you actually pay a flat 35% tax on all of your AMT taxable income.

For each $1,000.00 of additional income you reduce your AMT exemption - and increase your ‘Alternative Minimum Taxable Income’ - by $250.00. $1,250.00 x 28% = $350.00. So $1,000.00 of income costs $350.00 in ATM – hence 35%.

While we are told that qualified dividends and capital gains are taxed at a maximum 15% rate, under AMT in your situation this becomes 22%. $1,000.00 of capital gains reduces your AMT exemption by $250.00. The $1,000.00 is taxed at 15% ($150.00) – but the $250.00 is taxed at 28% ($70.00). The $1,000.00 cost you $220.00 in additional tax ($150.00 + $70.00) – hence 22%.”

Perhaps the most unfair example of this concept is the case of Social Security benefit recipients. In many situations, as I have explained in client memos over and over again, “for every $1.00 in additional income you are taxed on $1.85”.
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So a Social Security or Railroad Retirement beneficiary in the normal 15% tax bracket could pay an effective 27.75% tax on additional ordinary income and 17.75% on capital gain income! As taxable Social Security increases AGI, which could affect many other deductions and credits, the effective tax cost might end up being even higher in some cases.

You should keep this in mind when doing projections and estimates of the tax consequences of financial transaction you are considering.
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TTFN

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

THE APPLICATIONS ARE IN THE MAIL!

The NJ Department of the Treasury has announced that the Division of Taxation will begin to mail out NJ Homestead Rebate applications to senior citizens and disabled homeowners this week.

Those in Bergen, Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Union, and Warren counties should have the application in their hands by the end of this week. Applications will be sent to residents of the other counties during the week of May 5th.

The deadline for seniors and the disabled to submit their application has been announced as June 2, 2008 – but based on past years’ experience this deadline should eventually be extended through October 31, 2008.

Rebate checks for seniors and the disabled will begin to be mailed out on or about July 31st.

The current proposed FY 2009 budget calls for reducing the NJ Gross Income threshold for receiving a NJ Homestead Rebate from $250,000 to $150,000. Corzine wants to take the rebate away from homeowners with NJ income of more than $150,000.

Those with incomes of $100,000 or less will continue to receive a rebate of 20% of their 2007 real estate tax – capped at $2,000, but under the proposed budget those with incomes of between $100,001 and $150,000 would receive a 10% rebate – up to a $1,000 maximum. This is down from the 15% rebate of the first $10,000 of 2006 real estate taxes that was paid to this category of income in 2007.
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It appears that NJ has given up on the idea of applying the rebate amount directly against a homeowner's real estate tax billing - so that the homeowner actually pays less tax rather than having to wait for a rebate check. This method pretty much negates the basic purpose of a tax rebate check - the fact that the voter receives an actual payment directly from the State so he can exclaim, "Look what Corzine has given to me!" and, hopefully for the Democrats, act with appropriate appreciation at election time.
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A tax rebate has nothing whatsoever to do with easing a homeowner's tax burden (or stimulating the economy for that matter) - it is a purely politically motivated gesture to buy votes. NJ had to raise the sales tax by 1% to pay for these rebates - so how is the average NJ taxpayer or homeowner any better off?
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The idea behind the current federal rebate program is no different.

TTFN

Monday, April 28, 2008

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF “DON’T ASSUME”

The following story is true. The name has been changed to protect the guilty.

My client, let’s call him Alfred Wiedersehen, has twin children who turned age 3 in 2007. Both attend a pricey preschool.

Alf had opened up a Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) for each of the children in 2004. In 2007 he took a distribution of $2,500 from each of the ESA accounts to help pay for the preschool costs. The trustee of the ESA accounts issued two Form 1099-Qs (Payments from Qualified Education Programs) to report the distributions.

While most tax benefits associated with education apply only to post-secondary education (i.e. college or other education that takes place after graduating from High School), with a Coverdell ESA qualified expenses can be “either higher education (post-secondary) expenses or elementary and secondary education expenses”. It can be used for “tuition for any public, private, or religious school that provides elementary or secondary education (kindergarten through grade 12), as determined under state law”. However, pre-elementary education expenses, such as the cost of “pre-school”, are not qualified expenses.

I asked my client who told him he could make a withdrawal from a Coverdell ESA to pay for preschool education. His answer was “I just ass u me-d it (emphasis on the last syllable)”. Those are his exact words, taken from his email response.

Once again we learn that, as Felix told Oscar on THE ODD COUPLE sitcom, when you “assume” you make an “ass” out of “u and me”! Actually in this case only you (the client) and not me.

The moral of the story – don’t assume! Before doing something that involves income taxes check with your tax professional.

What happenned in this case is that each of the children had to file a tax return and report taxable income from the Coverdell ESA. While they did not have to pay federal income tax because of the amounts involved they did have to pay a 10% premature withdrawal penalty on the taxable portion of the distribution.

It was not an expensive mistake, but the penalties and my fee for preparing the two returns represent unnecessary expenses that could have been avoided.
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TTFN

Sunday, April 27, 2008

THE REBATES ARE COMING! THE REBATES ARE COMING! PART II

The IRS will begin to distribute the “stimulus” election year bribes tomorrow – Monday, April 28 – four days ahead of schedule.
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About 800,000 tax filers will have their rebates directly deposited into their bank accounts per day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The IRS will take Thursday off, and continue with 5 million payments on Friday.
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Taxpayers who requested that their 2007 federal income tax refund be directly deposited to a bank account will have their "stimulus" rebate also directly deposited to the same account(s).
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According to a Treasury Department spokesman the payments will be going out ahead of schedule because of a new computer program that updates records daily.
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More than $110 billion in rebates will be distributed to some 130 Million taxpayers (and “non-taxpayers”) by July – all of which will come directly from the budget and therefore increase the federal deficit.

Make sure to make a note of the amount of the rebate you receive, or keep the check stub, so you can tell your tax professional what you received next year.

TTFN

Saturday, April 26, 2008

HEY DUDE, WHERE’S MY CHECK?

Haven’t received your 2007 federal income tax refund yet.

Don’t call your tax preparer (I can't do anything). Go to
www.irs.gov and click on Where's My Refund?.
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You should have your copy of the 2007 return in front of you when checking on the status of your refund. You will need to enter your Social Security Number, Filing Status (i.e. Single, Head of Household, Married Filing Joint) and the exact amount of the refund as claimed on the return.
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You can check on the status of your refund seven days after electronic filing a return. For a paper return you should wait four to six weeks after mailing the return.
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The system will advise you if a check has been mailed or if the refund was directly deposited.
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You should know that if your refund is directly deposited you will not receive a confirmation from either the IRS or your bank. You must check the bank activity or balance online, or check out a bank statement, to see if the refund was received.
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If the system tells you that your return has not been received then you should contact your tax preparer to obtain a duplicate return.
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To check on the status of a state income tax refund you should go to the website of the state’s appropriate Finance, Revenue or Taxation department. You can start by going to, for example,
www.state.nj.us or www.state.ma.us. Just substitute the "nj" or "ma" with your state's initials.
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I expect that once the first round of “stimulus” rebate checks have been mailed out there will be a similar method to check on the status of these checks at
www.irs.gov.

TTFN

Friday, April 25, 2008

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to Joe Kristan of the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG for having surpassed the 500,000 visitor mark!

I have only 64,000+ since my December of 2006 return to Blogger - so I have a long way to go to catch up.

Keep up the good work, Joe!

STUFF

A few items of note.

* You can sing along to the TAX FREEDOM DAY song with Joe Kristan at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG.

* An update to The Tax Book reminded me of a Revenue Ruling from the end of 2007.

In Rev Rul 2007-72 the IRS states that amounts paid by healthy individuals for self-initiated diagnostic tests and similar procedures are deductible as medical expenses, even though no symptoms currently exist and it was not prescribed or recommended by a doctor or other health professional.

The example used in the update is of a home pregnancy test. It is deductible even though it is used to test the “healthy functioning of the body” and not to detect disease.
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* Recently the House passed the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act of 2008 by a vote of 238 to 179.
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The bill repeals the controversial IRS Private Debt Collection program, which has been criticized for spending $75 million to collect just $35 million for the IRS from three private firms that take a 24 percent cut of the taxes they collect.
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Good move!
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* The IRS has issued a special reminder to retirees, disabled veterans and others who normally do not file a tax return that even though April 15 has passed there is still time to submit a 2007 form and get a “stimulus” rebate check.
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People who normaly do not have to file a tax return but have at least $3,000 in qualifying income should file a simple
Form 1040A. Qualifying income includes any combination of earned income, nontaxable combat pay, and certain payments from Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Railroad Retirement.
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According to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, “Don’t worry if you did not file a return by April 15. If you meet the criteria, you are still eligible for a stimulus payment. The quicker you file, the quicker you’ll get your payment.”
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The reminder applies to all taxpayers as well, not just “non-taxpayers”. The IRS further pointed out that you “must file a return by October 15 to receive an economic stimulus payment this year”.
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TTFN

Thursday, April 24, 2008

A BELATED HAPPY TAX FREEDOM DAY!

Yesterday, April 23rd, was Tax Freedom Day 2008.

According to the annual Tax Foundation calculation, on average Americans had to work 113 days (Leap Day February 29th - not counted) to earn enough money to pay for all federal, state and local taxes.

It is three (3) days earlier than the past two years, when Tax Freedom day was April 26th, but the same as 2005. The earlier date is due to a slowdown in the economy and the recently passed “stimulus” package.

Federal, state and local governments will take, on average, 30.8% of our income this year – down slightly from a year 2000 high of 33.6%. Tax Freedom Day 2000 was May 3rd.

TFD was created by Florida businessman Dallas Hostetler in 1948. He calculated the annual holiday until his retirement in 1971, when he turned the copyright over to the Tax Foundation.

In determining TFD the Foundation divides the total tax payments for the nation by its projected total income. It is assumed that we begin working on January 1st earning the same amount each day.

The Foundation also calculates the day by individual state. It comes as no surprise that New Jersey’s Tax Freedom Day comes out #2 on the list - May 7th. This is only one (1) day behind Connecticut (May 8th) and two (2) days ahead of New York (May 5th). Alaska has the earliest TFD at March 29th.

The Tax Foundation reports that we work 74 days to pay federal taxes and another 39 days for state and local taxes. Housing and “Household Operation” costs take 60 days and Health and Medical Care costs 50 days.

Click here to view the Foundation's complete Special Report on Tax Freedom Day.

TTFN

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

THE SINGING CPA

Regular visitors to TWTP know that I am a frustrated Weird Al" Yankovic – or more appropriate for my generation Alan Sherman (My Son the Nut, My Son the Folk Singer – HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDAH) – from my Tax Season Carols.

Clients are also aware of my dabbling in this art from the greeting messages I leave on my answering machine during the season.

For example –

* Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly.
I got a pile of 1040s up to my thigh (or eye as the season progresses).
Can’t rest during tax season time!

* I gets weary,
and sick of taxes.
I’m tired of 1040s,
but feared of extensions.
So, like Ole Man River, I keep on rolling along!

* The sun comes up – I work on taxes.
The coffee cup – I work on taxes.
There are so many 1040s still waiting to be done.
Can’t wait till there is only one!
(Actually I am at my desk working on 1040s before the sun comes up!)

It appears that I am not alone in my dabbling. I received an email of introduction on April 6th from Steven Zelin, who is known as “the Singing CPA”. What surprised me most was that the email was sent on April 6th – when most tax professionals are just beginning to start pulling their hair out. I was truly surprised that he had the time to do anything other than 1040s on April 6th.

Steve writes and performs funny songs about taxes and accounting, most to the tune of popular favorites.

There is, for example, TAX BUSTERS, obviously to the tune of GHOSTBUSTERS:

If there’s something strange on your tax return
Who you gonna call – Tax Busters!

Don’t be afraid of no tax
.”

Actually I had been toying with a similar ditty – but I had not gotten past “We ain’t ‘fraid of no IRS”.

He also has TAX DEDUCTIBLE – to the tune of the Nat King Cole classic:

Tax deductible.
That’s what you are.
Tax deductible.
Just like my car
.”

And then there is:

Young man, there’s no need to pay tax.
I said, young man, let me tell you the facts.
I said, young man, if your accounting is lax
There’s no need to go to prison
.”

He is singing not about going to the YMCA but to his CPA!

And perhaps my favorite – THE ACCOUNTANT, to the tune of Kenny Rogers’ THE GAMBLER:

You gotta know when to debit, know when to credit,
Know when to shred it, and know where to sign.
You never break any rules; you just bend them with your tools.
And keep your figures focused on the bottom line
.”

It appears that for the past 5 years, Steven Zelin has entertained New Yorkers who mail their tax returns at the last minute at the main James A. Farley Post Office. Those who rush to make the midnight deadline can hear his live act.

You can check out Steve at his website at
www.stevenzelin.com or listen to samples of his parodies at cdbaby.com/cd/zelin3.

TTFN

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

WHERE THE FAKAWI?

What usually happens at the end of the tax season is that I am so sick of 1040s that I need to get away or go mad. I head off for my annual recuperative trip to Ocean Grove – but when I return relaxed and refreshed I have lost my motivation to continue with 1040s and the GD extensions drag on.

Last year I waited a few days before leaving for “the Grave” and got some of the simpler GD extensions done before going away. However, when I returned my motivation was gone and the GD extensions dragged on.

This year my cat’s illness caused me to postpone my annual visit to the shore – and I somehow got a second wind! For the first time in my 37 tax seasons I have decided to continue to work on 1040s through the end of April – and take off in May!

I have been doing good – completing two to four GD extensions per day. As expected, many of the returns I start end up being transferred to “red files” – as more information is required. I have been both emailing and postal mailing my request for missing information to clients, and have been completing the returns as the information is received.

I am obviously not working at tax-season pace – but if I can manage to complete and mail out at least two GD extensions per day I will be very happy. I hope to have only “red files” remaining by May 1st.

So if my posts are spotty for the next week know that it is because I am working away on the GD extensions.

TTFN

Saturday, April 19, 2008

THE REBATES ARE COMING! THE REBATES ARE COMING!

Here is an update on George W’s “stimulus” election-year bribe.

The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 provides for a special “credit” on your 2008 income tax return. The rebate checks that will begin to be mailed out in May are an advance on this 2008 tax credit based on the information reported on your 2007 federal income tax return.

I must point out that the rebate check is not an advance on a 2008 tax reduction, as was the case the last time Congress issued rebate checks. It is a direct credit from the government and comes out of the budget and not a future refund. These rebate checks will increase the federal deficit by billions of dollars.

The amount of the rebate check is based on “qualified income”, tax liability, dependent children under age 17, and Adjusted Gross Income.

The minimum rebate is $300.00 and the maximum rebate is $600.00 per taxpayer, with an additional maximum of $300.00 per dependent child under age 17. A married couple who qualifies for the maximum will receive $1,200.00. I married couple with 3 dependent children – one age 10, one age 16, and one age 18 – will receive $1,800.00.

You must file a 2007 tax return – form 1040A or 1040 – in order to receive a rebate check. If you normally would not have to file a return because your income was under the filing threshold and you had no income tax withheld you must file one for 2007 to get a rebate check. A taxpayer whose only income is Social Security must file a 2007 federal income tax return to get a rebate check.

A dependent, regardless of age, who files a tax return will not receive a rebate.

To get the rebate you must have at least $3,000.00 in “qualified income”. Qualified income is earned income, such as W-2 wages and net earnings from self-employment, and Social Security, Railroad Retirement or Veteran’s disability and survivor benefits.

Non-taxable combat pay is included in qualified income.

The rebate is limited by tax liability. If you have sufficient qualified income but a “0” tax liability you will receive $300.00. If you have qualified income and a $437.00 tax liability you will receive $437.00. If you have qualified income and a $1,000 tax liability you will receive $600.00.

The Child Tax Credit is not counted when determining net tax liability for purposes of calculating the rebate amount, although other tax credits are.

Because the rebate amount is based on tax liability, a couple with no earned income but at least $3,000.00 in Social Security who have a tax liability in excess of $1,200.00 will receive the full $1,200.00 rebate. A retired couple with at least $3,000.00 in Social Security benefits but a “0” tax liability will receive $600.00.

The amount of the rebate check will be reduced, and ultimately phased-out, if your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) exceeds $75,000 for an individual and $150,000 for married couples filing a joint return.

The rebate is reduced by 5% of the amount that your AGI exceeds these threshold amounts. For example, an individual with qualifying income and a tax liability in excess of $600 who has an AGI of $79,600 will receive $370.00 ($600.00 less $4,600 x 5%).

The basic rebate is totally phased-out at AGI of $87,000 for individuals and $174,000 for joint filers. However if dependent children under age 17 are included in the rebate than these amounts will be larger.

As I mentioned in the beginning the credit for which the advance rebate is issued is on your 2008 tax return. While the advance is based on 2007 tax return information, the actual credit is based on 2008 information.

When you file your 2008 federal income tax return you will calculate the credit based on 2008 information and subtract the amount of the rebate check that you have received. Since the amount of your 2008 qualified income, the number of dependents under age 17, your Adjusted Gross Income, and/or tax liability before the Child Tax Credit may be different from 2007 you could actually receive an additional rebate on your 2008 return.

Let us say as a married couple you receive a $1,073.00 rebate check this May. However, when you file your 2008 tax return the actual credit you are entitled to is $1,500.00. You will receive an additional $437.00 on your 2008 return, which will increase your 2008 refund or reduce your 2008 balance due.

If it is the other way around and you got a $1,500.00 rebate check in May of 2007 but are only entitled to a $1,073.00 credit on your 2008 Form 1040 you get to keep the $437.00 overpayment! You will not have to pay this amount back on your 2008 tax return. As that Russian comic would say – “What a country!”

The last set of rebate checks resulted in over 8 Million errors on 2001 tax returns. I will bet you that this new rebate will beat that number.

The IRS has an excellent
Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator on its website. You can use this to determine the amount of your check.

The first set of rebate checks will be going out in May. These will be for individuals who filed their 2007 federal income tax return by the April 15th initial deadline. Those who file an extension will receive their checks later in the year. Click here to see the Stimulus Payment Schedule.
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If you requested direct deposit of your Form 1040 refund your rebate check will also be directly deposited to the same account.

Rebates will not be issued to non-resident aliens. You must have a valid Social Security number to receive a rebate.

When you receive your rebate check do not rush out and buy something you don’t need. Use it to pay down your credit card balance or to invest. How about depositing it in a ROTH IRA for 2008? Or opening a dividend reinvestment account with IBM, GE or a utility stock?

You should be on the alert for tax rebate scams such as telephone calls or emails claiming to be from the IRS that ask for specific sensitive financial information. The IRS will not call or email taxpayers about these payments nor will it ask for specific financial information!

While we are on the subject here is a related item of interest - The IRS couldn’t afford to send out the 2008 estimated tax payment vouchers and envelopes this year – but they could waste millions elsewhere. TAX GIRL tells us where in her post “Why Didn’t IRS Just Buy Super Bowl Commercials?”.

So, any questions about the “stimulus” rebates?

Fellow tax bloggers – did I miss or “mis-state” anything?

TTFN

Friday, April 18, 2008

AS THE CONGRESS TURNS

While I was visiting my folks at the home in Ocean Grove yesterday Senate Finance Committee Chairman Democrat Max Baucus and ranking Republican Charles E. Grassley introduced the Alternative Minimum Tax and Extenders Tax Relief Bill of 2008.

The legislation would extend the option to deduct state and local taxes instead of state and local income taxes, the above-the-line deductions for educator expenses and tuition and fees, the ability to make a tax-free direct transfer from an IRA to a qualified charity, and residential energy tax credits for two years - through tax year 2009.

On the AMT front, the bill increases the personal exemption amounts to $46,200 for individuals and $69,950 for married couples filing jointly for 2008 only. The proposal also allows the use of personal credits against the AMT, which is not allowed under current law. I guess they have given up on completely eliminating the dreaded AMT for the time being.

The lawmakers did not explain how the cost of the bill would be offset. The Finance Committee will take up consideration of revenue offsets in the near future.

Click here for a summary of the bill.

THAT WAS THE TAX SEASON THAT WAS

The United States is the only country where it takes more brains to figure your tax than to earn the money to pay it.”

A “thank you” to Edward J Gurney for recognizing that fact.

To paraphrase the Stephen Sondheim number from FOLLIES – I got through all of the tax season (my 37th) and I’m here!

First off, let me join Dan Meyer of TICK MARKS in offering congratulations to fellow working tax professional tax bloggers for surviving another tax season.

I ended the season by filing 38 GD extensions – a bit more than last year. About half is made up of returns where I received absolutely no “stuff” and was asked by the client to file an extension, returns that were not “in my hands” by March 31st, and returns for which all the information necessary to complete the returns was not “in my hands” by March 31st. The other half were workload-related - but they were returns that I received at the end of March, most during the last 5 days. And many of them will require additional information. Only one set of returns was “lost in the shuffle” this season – and they are already completed and in the mail to the client.

And of course there are at least a half dozen returns where the client has filed the Form 4868 himself/herself, or not, and will send their “stuff” to me when they get it together. I got one of them in the mail on April 16th.

I am pleased that the workload-related GD extensions were all for “last minute Charlies”. It means that I kept on top of things during the season, especially the “red files” - completing them as the missing information was received.

In the past I would tend to put off “projects” (involved returns) till the end of the season and work on the more “normal” returns first – going for volume. Unfortunately as the end of the season approached I was still backed up and many of these projects ending up extended, as I did not want to rush through them at the last minute or I just did not have the energy to go on. This year I completed the “projects” as they arrived – so there were none hanging over my head as it got closer to April 14th.

As for the LMCs – as I began work on them on Friday, April 11th I was frustrated to find that every return I started, including those that I would have expected to be "simple", proved to be somewhat "involved". Each one had one or two "quirks" that would require research, multiple questions, and other detail work. None could be completed with what I had been given – so I would go on to another. But there was not a "basic" return in the bunch. Oi vey - my head was spinning. It was at that point that I “ran out of steam” and decided that was it for the season.

I have always estimated that I do 400 sets of returns each year, but have never actually sat down and counted. This tax season I had a sheet taped to the end of my desk and I recorded the number of returns completed each day. Between the end of January and April 14th I did 345. With the outstanding GD extensions I do believe that I will make the 400 mark.

A “set of returns” could be anything from the simple one-page NJ TR-1040 tenant rebate application and/or a “0” liability 1040A filed solely to get George W’s “stimulus” rebate check (last year it was the special form to request the telephone excise tax refund) to a federal return with multiple supplemental forms and schedules and multiple state income tax returns that takes a full day (12+ hours) to complete. In the case of a married couple filing separately I count that as two (2) sets of returns.

My major complaint of this tax season was not with clients but with the Internal Revenue Service. For some unknown reason the CAs (the “C” is for “cheap” – and I was initially much more harsh in the next initials) at the IRS decided not to send out the 2008 estimated tax package this year. I know of only one client who actually received the pre-printed vouchers, envelopes and instructions as per usual. At first we thought they were just late, but when they never arrived I had to waste extremely valuable last-minute tax preparation time typing up and mailing out 2007 federal estimated tax payment coupons for my clients.

The NATP TAXPRO Weekly email newsletter had the following entry on the subject:

The IRS has discontinued mailing paper Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, vouchers and envelopes to your 1040-ES clients who file electronically. 1040-ES filers who file a paper return will receive only one mailing instead of quarterly mailings.”

None of my clients file their federal returns electronically – as I prepare all 400 sets of returns by hand each year. To my knowledge they had always received only one mailing per year and not “quarterly mailings”. They did not receive the promised "one mailing".

I noticed that even though I had ceased posting for the tax season THE WANDERING TAX PRO remained popular. I have now exceeded 63,000 visits since moving back to Blogger in December of 2006.

And, despite the fact that I clearly stated I would not be reading or responding to ASK THE TAX PRO questions during my “hiatus” I received more submissions during the past 2½ months than during the regular year. I have “stockpiled” those submissions that were appropriate and will be setting up the weekly ASK THE TAX PRO WEDNESDAY as a separate blog once I have “recovered”.

I am truly glad that the season is over. I can now get on with more normal matters like bathing, sleeping and doing laundry - it will be nice to allow the sun to rise before me and to wear clean underwear each day again.

I had planned to leave for my annual post-tax season trip to the Jersey shore yesterday – but my elderly cat’s illness (at least she waited until the end of the season to get sick) has caused me to postpone, and I am not sure what I will do yet. I will devote today to quarterly payroll tax returns and this week-end to GD extensions that I can complete in “one sitting”.

I am still waking up too early in the morning (hence I am writing this post at 5:30 AM). And I am still doing tax returns in my sleep – actually dreaming about preparing specific tax returns. I guess it will take a while to “wind down”.

TTFN

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

THANK GOD IT'S OVER!!!

TAX SEASON'S OVER!

MY FACE IT HAS A BIG SMILE.

AND SO I'M OFF TO THE SHORE - 1040's NO MORE.

AT LEAST FOR A WHILE.