Friday, August 16, 2013

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


The reason there are two senators for each state is to that one can be the designated driver.” – Jay Leno

* Check out my discussion of “How Social Security and Railroad Retirement is Taxed” at MAINSTREET.COM!


I like the first comment to the item –

You mean there IS a way to file taxes and NOT get screwed by the Tax Code?

* As I warned before the Supreme Court decision, ACCOUNTING TODAY explains “Married Same-Sex Couples with Kids May See Their Taxes Increase”.

Especially hard hit will be SSCs who previously filed separately as Single and Head of Household.


The federal retirement benefits agency announced on Aug. 10 that, in response to the Supreme Court ruling invalidating the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), it is now processing claims for those in same-sex marriages.

But, and it's a big but, Social Security is only issuing benefits for claims by residents of states where same-sex marriages are legal.”

* Russ Fox shows “Once Again, Registration of a Tax Preparer Doesn’t Stop Him from Bad Behavior” with a case in point at TAXABLE TALK.

His bottom line correctly point out -

. . . having a license cannot stop bad behavior. And second, the government has methods today of stopping tax preparers who are breaking bad. As the DOJ noted in their press release, ‘In the past decade the Justice Department Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax preparers’.”

* FORBES.COM TaxGirl Kelly Phillips Erb reports “IRS Proposes To Permanently Ease Restrictions For Innocent Spouse Relief”.

* Kelly has also issued Podcast 1.03 – “This Week In Tax News + More On The Home Office Deduction”.  

* Daisy Barton of ACCOUNTING-DEGREE.ORG sent me this “infographic” of “A Brief History of US Government’s Misadventures, Mishandling, and Misuse of YOUR Tax Dollars” that you might find interesting.

* THE SLOTT REPORT answers the question “How is My Annuity Going to Be Taxed?"

* The Washington Post’s WONKBLOG tells “The True-Life Story of a Baby Born Early to Dodge Taxes”.

For decades I have been telling clients to get married early in the year and have children late in the year.

* Professor Annette Nellen makes some good points about 1099-K reporting (3rd-party reporting of credit card deposits) in “Small Businesses, IRS Notices and the Tax Gap - repeal 6050W”.

* Let me share Trish McIntire’s not so shameless “Self-Promotion - Answers.com”.

* And share “Some Shameless Self-Promotion” of my own. 

THE FINAL WORD:

Did I tell you this one before?

A driver was stuck in a traffic jam on the highway outside Washington, DC.  Nothing was moving.  Suddenly, a man knocks on the window.

The driver rolls down the window and asks, "What's going on?"

"Terrorists have kidnapped the entire US Congress, and they're asking for a $100 million dollar ransom.  Otherwise, they are going to douse them all in gasoline and set them on fire.  We are going from car to car, collecting donations."

"How much is everyone giving, on average?" the driver asks.

The man replies, "Roughly a gallon."

TTFN

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