WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’

* BNA SOFTWARE reports on recent testimony before the Senate Finance Committee in “Experts: Temporarily Extend Tax Cuts With 2013 Tax Reform Guarantee”. 

Some good advice was offered to the idiots on the Committee (highlight it mine) -

“Rivlin {Alice Rivlin, the former Congressional Budget Office director and head of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration} and former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Debt Reduction Task Force, urged lawmakers to temporarily extend the Bush-era tax cuts but include language with it forcing fundamental tax reform.”

The fundamental tax reform needed -

“Rivlin also urged lawmakers to scrap the current Internal Revenue Code and start over by assuming that all income is taxable and then figure out which modifications and tax expenditures are absolutely essential, even though they would raise the rate.”

* Jason Dinesen of DINESEN’S TAX TIMES talks about “Being In The Tax Business and Making Mistakes”.

In a recent post at THE TAX PROFESSIONAL I addressed the subject of mistakes by tax preparers –

“In the history of the US Tax Code there has NEVER been a paid preparer who has NEVER made a mistake.  The complexity of the Code and the workload demands of the limited filing season make it literally impossible for a paid preparer to complete a perfect tax return every time.”

* The TAX FOUNDATION now has a “Weekly Tax Update” newsletter. 

* The TAXPAYER ADVOCACY PANEL wants you to “Submit your comments and suggestions for improving the IRS”.  Click here to do so.

* Trish McIntire discusses an “Underpayment Catch-22” over at OUR TAXING TIMES. 

This raises an interesting point about “self-assessing” a penalty for underpayment of estimated taxes.  Be sure to see my comment on the post – and her response.  Trish and I have “agreed to disagree” on the subject.

* A post from Trish has “turned me on” to a new tax blog – TAX FACTOR by Jamaal Solomon, EA from Brooklyn NY.

Here is a post titled “Dem IRS No Worry We: EAs Are America's Tax Experts” that explains just what an EA is.     

TTFN