*
Trish McIntire addresses a false “Gambling Rumor” at OUR TAXING TIMES -
“Bottom line, there has been no change to
deducting gambling losses on your personal 1040 return that I can find. If I
find anything different I will post it here.”
I,
too, am not aware of any change in the deductibility of gambling losses. And I, too, will report here anything I hear
to the contrary.
FYI,
you can read my article on “Not Keeping Track Turns Gambling Winners Into Tax Losers” at MarketStreet.com.
* IRS
FUs keep on coming. The latest,
according to ACCOUNTING TODAY, is “IRS Accidentally Exposed Tens of Thousands of Social Security Numbers”.
“The Internal Revenue Service has reportedly
posted the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people on the
Internet before taking down the information when a whistleblower pointed out
the mistake.”
Clearly
the IRS must not be allowed to regulate tax return preparers!
* Somebody
asked JK LASSER “I’m thinking of cashing in my life insurance policy, which has built up considerable cash value. What happens to it from a tax perspective?”
The
answer, correctly provided by JKL -
“While life insurance proceeds received on
the death of the insured are tax free, you may owe taxes when you cash in the
policy early. What’s taxable: the excess of the cash surrender value over the
premiums you paid. The insurance company can provide you with this information
before you take any action.”
* I
have been saying this for many years now – “Don’t Toss Your Tax Returns”. It seems that Kimberly Lankford of
KIPLINGERS.COM agrees with me, proving that great minds do think alike.
“. . . there are plenty of reasons to keep
your tax returns indefinitely and no reason not to.”
One
reason not mentioned by Kimberly – as a record of your personal financial
history.
* Interested
in the “Vital Statistics on Congress”? A
joint effort from Brookings and the American Enterprise Institute by Norman J.
Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, Michael J. Malbin and Andrew Rugg provides such
statistics.
FYI,
from the category “Legislative Productivity in Congress & Workload – during
the 112th Congress (2011-2012) 6,845 bills were introduced in the
House and 561 were actually passed. The
numbers for the Senate were 3,767 introduced and 364 passed. This is the lowest number of bills passed by
the House since 1947 (when the statistical analysis begins). The only time the number of bills passed by
the Senate were lower was the 111th Congress – when the number was
176.
* As
promised, MO TAXGUY Bruce McFarland’s Tuesday “McTax Hangout” dealt with the
“Death of DOMA”.
* A
“tweet” introduced me to a new tax blog, coincidently titled “THE BUZZ ABOUT
TAXES”, written by Enrolled Agent Manasa Nadig of Canton, Michigan.
The
“tweet” touted her post "Charity Begins at Home . . . & Other Thoughts . . .", which provides “some tips on how to be a ‘Smart Giver’”.
I
wonder where she got the name of her blog?
* In
an editorial at the WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE former Republican senator Phil
Gramm suggests “A GOP Game Plan for Tax Reform”.
I
agree with much of what he has to say, especially –
“First, under no circumstances should
Republicans agree to make the tax system even more progressive than it already
is, or to increase the number of people who do not pay income taxes. In 1980,
the top 1% and 5% of income earners in America paid 19.1% and 36.9% of total
federal income taxes. Today, the top 1% and 5% pay 37.4% and 59.1%. Meanwhile,
41.6% of American earners now pay no federal income taxes.”
* The COMMERCE
CLEARNING HOUSE daily headline e-letter reports that in response to the
multiple recently discovered IRS FUs “House Panel Proposes $9-Billion Budget for IRS for Fiscal Year 2014” –
“The fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget for the
Internal Revenue Service would be cut 24 percent to $9 billion, under
legislation set for consideration by the House lawmakers on July 10.”
* TAXGIRL Kelly
Philips Erb introduces us to “Charitable Vacations: Have Your Fun and Deduct it Too” at SHE KNOWS.
* Just got the word
from TAXPRO TODAY that “New York State Works through Tax Refund Backlog” -
“The New York State Department of Taxation
and Finance outsourced the responsibility of refunding money to a new
contractor this year and many taxpayers who filed paper-based returns still
have not received their refunds.”
Can TPT tell me why
NJ refunds have been delayed?
TTFN
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