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

* Want a receipt for the federal taxes you paid for 2011?  Go to “Your 2011 Federal Taxpayer Receipt” on the WHITE HOUSE website.

“In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama promised that, for the first time ever, American taxpayers would be able to go online and see exactly how their federal tax dollars are spent. The receipt launched that year and, now, we’ve updated the tool to reflect current spending. Just enter a few pieces of information about your taxes, and the taxpayer receipt will give you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, or health care.”

* A reader “turned me on” to the story of commercial tax preparation company Mo’ Money Taxes -

“Mo’ Money Taxes was raided by the IRS last week after a string of fiascos: Clients complaining they didn’t get their IRS refund anticipation checks, or if they did, they bounced, or originated from banks that did not exist, or were in the wrong amount.  Also, one office had their client files going back 8 years placed in an unlocked dumpster.”

Check out “Even Mo' Problems for Mo' Money” from MYFOX in Memphis and “Beware of Tax Preparation Company Mo' Money Taxes, BBB Says” from CONSUMER REPORTS.

Thanks for the word JMJ!

* Dr Jean Murray discusses “Hiring Your Children for the Summer? What You Need to Know” over at ABOUT.COM: US BUSINESS LAW/TAXES.

She makes 2 good points –

(1)  “If you want the tax benefits of hiring your child, the child's work must be both necessary and essential to the business.”

(2)  “Before you put your child to work in your business, make sure you are in compliance with tax laws and child labor laws, both federal and state.”

* Peter Reilly states the truth when he writes, “Divorce Lawyers - Frequently Not The Best Tax Advisors” over at FORBES.COM.

“You can get bad tax advice or no tax advice in just about any area of life, but from my reading of tax cases and some personal observations, I think that if you want to get really bad tax advice, you should get divorced.”

Peter merely scratches the surface on the topic.  I will elaborate either in an extended comment to the post, or in my own TWTP post.

* Did you see Kay Bell’s latest tax carnival – “Tax Carnival #102: May Tax Flowers” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES?

Since I only recently returned from my tax-season blogging “hiatus” I did not submit an item for this carnival.

TTFN