Wednesday, September 15, 2010

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’ – WEDNESDAY EDITION

* Check out my piece “IRS Sets New Rules for Tax Preparers” at MAINSTREET.COM.

* OOPS! An item that missed Saturday’s BUZZ installment – “Dead People Need a Place to Live Too” from Joe Kristan at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE blog.

* Professor Nellen adds her voice to the debate on the regulation of tax return preparers in “Regulating Paid Tax Return Preparers” at 21st CENTURY TAXATION.

She makes an excellent point when she correctly says –

If Congress and the IRS want to reign in these unscrupulous preparers, they really need to (unfortunately) add a very large penalty to the tax system to be imposed on taxpayers who file a return they paid someone to prepare and did not get that preparer to sign the return and list his identifying number. Such a penalty would keep taxpayers away from unscrupulous preparers who would then go out of business.”

* Check out the WALL STREET JOURNAL’s article on “Tax Wars: Washington Is Bracing for a Historic Battle Over U.S. Tax Law. Here's What You Should Do Now”.

* Kay Bell reminds us that the poor souls, with poor timing, who purchased a new home when the first homebuyer credit (actually not a credit, but an interest-free loan) was in effect will need to begin to repay the loan on their 2010 Form 1040 in her post “Homebuyer Tax Credit Payback Chaos?” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

Kay expects, as do I, that as the entire credit/loan history has been full of trouble, and tons of fraud (i.e. the almost 800 dead people who claimed the credit) the payback will be no less chaotic.

* A special thanks to Kay for mentioning the BUZZ in her post “Week-End Tax Round-Ups”.

* Like, in addition to TWTP, I also write on taxes for MAINSTREET.COM, Kay Bell, in addition to DMWT, also writes on taxes for BANKRATE.COM. She has an extensive explanation of “What To Do If Bush Tax Cuts Expire” there.

* Just as my BUZZ is a “must read” for a Saturday morning – so Bruce the MISSOURI TAX GUY’s “themotaxguy.com/reads-from-last-week-12” is a “must read” for a Sunday morning. I had never heard of a “Virtual Assistant” until I read Sunday’s installment.

* “The New Threat To Your IRA: An IRS Crackdown” by Ashlea Ebeling at FORBES tells us that “The IRS is cracking down on violations of the picky rules around IRAs”.

* From YAHOO FINANCE (via BANKRATE) – “5 Little-Known Facts About Social Security” by Marilyn Bowden.

How Broke Is Social Security? Here are some answers -

According to many studies, the Social Security trust fund will be able to cover its retirement and disability obligations for the next 30 years or so, after which there will be a shortfall of about 22 percent. The Senate Special Committee on Aging figures funds will fall short in 2037.”

* I feel your pain, Trish McIntire. I wish all my clients would read her post “Tax Maid” at OUR TAXING TIMES.

* Trish follows up with a contribution to the discussion on tax preparer regulation in “Take A Snap-shot”.

* And Bill Perez reminds us that today is the due date for 3rd Quarter estimated tax payments in “Reminder: Estimated Tax Payments Due September 15th” at WILLIAM’S TAX PLANNING BLOG.

I am off to PA for the rest of the week. There will be no BUZZ installment this coming Saturday.

TTFN

2 comments:

Chris said...

I know more than my fair share of new homebuyers who are ill prepared for repaying the homebuyer credit.

I stressed when buying my home in 2001 but in hindsight it was the best decision I could have made.

FinCar said...

Thanks for keeping me updated. Checking on the currents makes me aware and enables my personal financial decision to be more specific and relative to the status.mersp