WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’ - TUESDAY EDITION

* Have you seen my new website yet – FIND A TAX PRO?  Check it out!

* The IRS has released draft versions of new tax forms related to the Obamacare health insurance premium tax credit.

Form 1095-A is the “Health Insurance Marketplace Statement”  that will be sent to those who have received an advance credit (via premium reduction) during the year and Form 8962 (“Premium Tax Credit”) is used to reconcile the advance credit received to the actual credit allowed based on AGI and calculate any pay back of excess advance credits.

The Form 1040 draft has also been released, with new lines for the premium tax credit.

More work, and agita, for tax preparers.  And the taxpayer must reduce the actual benefit received from the premium tax credit by the additional cost to prepare his/her/their tax return.

* Rick Kahler tells it like it is when he says “Fame Does Not Equal a Good Source for Financial Advice” at the RAPID CITY JOURNAL –

“When a financial advisor, someone with a radio or television show, or an author of financial books becomes well-known, it's easy to assume you can trust that person's advice. This isn't necessarily the case.”

As I have said before, take any advice from a celebrity “financial guru” with several grains of salt – and check with your own trusted financial advisor before taking any action.  This is especially applicable to tax advice.

* He’s back!  Joe Kristan returns from vacation with “Tax Roundup, 7/28/14: Out of the Wilderness Edition”.  I, for one, am glad he is back to blogging.

* Jean Murray provides a primer on “Self-Employment Tax and Taxes From Employment” at ABOUT.COM.

THE FINAL WORD –

Have you noticed the gratuitous proliferation of the word, or syllable, “shit” in scripted basic cable dramas lately?

It appears to me that the executives at the TNT network have issued a memo to the producers of all their original scripted shows requiring that shit, or some variation, be uttered at least four times in each episode.

I am certainly not offended by the word.  And there are times when such use of language is acceptable, and even appropriate, within the context of character, situation, and story.  But what I have found is unnecessary and gratuitous use – having characters say “shit”, or a variation thereof, for no other reason than that they can.

TTFN