Let’s take time off from re-writing the federal Tax Code for some BUZZ.
* I cannot repeat this statement often enough – as Joe Kristan warns at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG, “If the IRS Sends You a Notice Via Email, The IRS Did Not Send It”
I should have included another NEVER in last Friday’s post - NEVER respond to an email from the IRS
* Forbes.com’s TAX GIRL Kelly Phillips Erb continues her series on the history of popular tax deductions with “Deduct This: The history of the Medical Expenses Deduction”.
* Trish McIntire talks about some of the problems involved with “Taxing Social Security” at OUR TAXING TIMES.
A big problem with the way Social Security benefits are taxed. For every additional $1.00 in income earned by a retiree they could be taxed on $1.50 or $1.85.
If you are following my re-writing the Tax Code series I will be discussing how my newly written Tax Code would tax Social Security benefits – very different from the current policy.
* Another great quote from Professor Jim Maule’s (of MAULED AGAIN) ongoing battle to simplify the Tax Code. It seems I am not alone in the fight.
“A simpler income tax also can be a more transparent tax. The fewer gimmicks, loopholes, special provisions, and other warps in the system, the less likely that two people in the same situation end up paying different amounts of federal income tax. Complexity provides a shadow in which too much tax avoidance can hide.”
* Russ Fox reports on the latest update in the Roni Deutch/Tax Lady saga in “Unhappy Clients of Roni Deutch Talk to the Bee” (the Bee is a Sacramento newspaper, and not the letter “B” short for a description) TAXABLE TALK.
Russ makes the following excellent points concerning the “pennies on the dollar” claim of ads like those once run by Ms Deutch –
“As for the firms that still advertise and promise you that they’ll stop the IRS, and you will qualify to pay “pennies on the dollar,” remember that:
· Only about 15% of Offers in Compromise successfully make it through the IRS;
· It typically takes over one year for an OIC to make it through the IRS;
· Most individuals will not qualify for an OIC; and
· If you look at the fine print of the commercials, you will see, “Case not typical. Your results may vary.”
* Now you’re thinking! Over at WASHINGTON WHISPERS Paul Bedard tells us “Senators Urge IRS to Provide Taxpayers With Free Software”.
“Egged on by {Mark} Kirk at a hearing this month, {Dick} Durbin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Internal Revenue Service, wants a disinterested IRS to look into drawing up software like TurboTax and offering it free to Americans on the agency's website.”
While this would be ok by me, I would prefer that a taxpayer, or tax preparer, could go to a page on the IRS website and directly enter 1040 information and submit a calculated return, without having to download software, using the NJWebFile system as a guide.
TTFN
* I cannot repeat this statement often enough – as Joe Kristan warns at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG, “If the IRS Sends You a Notice Via Email, The IRS Did Not Send It”
I should have included another NEVER in last Friday’s post - NEVER respond to an email from the IRS
* Forbes.com’s TAX GIRL Kelly Phillips Erb continues her series on the history of popular tax deductions with “Deduct This: The history of the Medical Expenses Deduction”.
* Trish McIntire talks about some of the problems involved with “Taxing Social Security” at OUR TAXING TIMES.
A big problem with the way Social Security benefits are taxed. For every additional $1.00 in income earned by a retiree they could be taxed on $1.50 or $1.85.
If you are following my re-writing the Tax Code series I will be discussing how my newly written Tax Code would tax Social Security benefits – very different from the current policy.
* Another great quote from Professor Jim Maule’s (of MAULED AGAIN) ongoing battle to simplify the Tax Code. It seems I am not alone in the fight.
“A simpler income tax also can be a more transparent tax. The fewer gimmicks, loopholes, special provisions, and other warps in the system, the less likely that two people in the same situation end up paying different amounts of federal income tax. Complexity provides a shadow in which too much tax avoidance can hide.”
* Russ Fox reports on the latest update in the Roni Deutch/Tax Lady saga in “Unhappy Clients of Roni Deutch Talk to the Bee” (the Bee is a Sacramento newspaper, and not the letter “B” short for a description) TAXABLE TALK.
Russ makes the following excellent points concerning the “pennies on the dollar” claim of ads like those once run by Ms Deutch –
“As for the firms that still advertise and promise you that they’ll stop the IRS, and you will qualify to pay “pennies on the dollar,” remember that:
· Only about 15% of Offers in Compromise successfully make it through the IRS;
· It typically takes over one year for an OIC to make it through the IRS;
· Most individuals will not qualify for an OIC; and
· If you look at the fine print of the commercials, you will see, “Case not typical. Your results may vary.”
* Now you’re thinking! Over at WASHINGTON WHISPERS Paul Bedard tells us “Senators Urge IRS to Provide Taxpayers With Free Software”.
“Egged on by {Mark} Kirk at a hearing this month, {Dick} Durbin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Internal Revenue Service, wants a disinterested IRS to look into drawing up software like TurboTax and offering it free to Americans on the agency's website.”
While this would be ok by me, I would prefer that a taxpayer, or tax preparer, could go to a page on the IRS website and directly enter 1040 information and submit a calculated return, without having to download software, using the NJWebFile system as a guide.
TTFN
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