The BUZZ is a day
early. It was rather meaty already – and
I have a special Halloween post scheduled for Friday.
* The November “issue”
of THE TAX PROFESSIONAL will be up on Saturday.
Have you seen the October issue yet?
Please check it out and let me know your thoughts on the topics I
discuss.
* The NATIONAL
SOCIETY OF ACCOUNTANTS announces “DC Court Shoots Down AICPA Tax Preparer Lawsuit”.
“A D.C. federal judge on Monday decided the
Internal Revenue Service can continue its voluntary Annual Filing Season
Program for uncredentialed return preparers.”
U.S. District Judge
James E. Boasberg hit the nail on the head, stating –
“the crux of [the AICPA’s] concern is apparent: its membership feels threatened by the
specter of increased competition from previously uncredentialed tax return
preparers who choose to complete the program.”
The AICPA
erroneously feels that CPA’s “own” the tax preparation business, and wants to
discourage any credential or designation that identifies competence and
currency in preparing 1040s.
The NSA item tells
us Judge Boasberg felt “. . . the AICPA
didn’t have the authority to sue the authority because it was not harmed by the
Program”.
So the IRS
voluntary Annual Filing Season Program will continue.
FYI, see my
editorial “There Are So Many Things Wrong with the Annual Filing Season Program”.
* The TAX
FOUNDATION has issued its “2015 State Business Tax Climate Index”.
“The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax
Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers
to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to
show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed
to show how well states structure their tax systems, and provides a road-map to
improving these structures.”
No surprise
here. Once again like Oliver Twist, New
Jersey is last on the list. My former
home state is #50, just behind New York (#49) and California (#48).
We are told that
New Jersey “suffers from some of the highest property tax burdens in the
country, is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance and an estate
tax, and maintains some of the worst structured individual income taxes in the
country.”
The top file are –
1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Nevada
4. Alaska
5. Florida
My current home
state of Pennsylvania is #34.
* This week Jean
Murray’s weekly newsletter on Business Law and Taxes from ABOUT.COM covers
change.
“If your business is changing, or the
ownership has changed, or you are in a different tax situation, you may want to
change your business legal structure.”
She also deals with
“changing your name and other business
changes”.
* Russ Fox is only
one of the bloggers who brought to our attention the disturbing story of “SARs Leading to Forfeiture: The IRS Oversteps” this week.
“The New York Times story notes the case of a
restaurant owner in Iowa who had about $33,000 seized {by the IRS} solely because she made regular cash
deposits of less than $10,000.”
There was no
illegal activity proven, or even suspected, by any law enforcement agency. This resulted from a “Suspicious Activity
Report” (SAR) filed by the bank.
Thankfully, Russ
tells us -
“The only good news from the article is that
the IRS is apparently going to limit the practice. In a statement made to the
Times, Richard Weber, head of IRS Criminal Investigation, said the practice
will be curtailed.”
The practice should
not be curtailed – it should be eliminated!
If the IRS felt there was “suspicious activity” it should have
investigated further before just grabbing the money. I do not find is “suspicious” that a popular
restaurant would generate $6,000 in cash in the course of its normal business
activity.
Whatever happened
to “innocent until proven guilty”?
* At MONEYSMARTLIFE
Kevin Mercadante talks about “How it’s Never Too Late to Start Saving for Retirement”.
The article
basically explains, in great detail, that “Any
Retirement Savings is Better than Nothing“.
* HEALTHCARE.GOV
provides important “Dates & Deadlines” for signing up for 2015 health care coverage
through the Obamacare ACA Marketplace.
* It’s year-end tax
planning time again. PARKER PUBLISHING
brings us “In-Depth: Year-End Tax Planning for Individuals in Light of Uncertainty Regarding Tax Extenders”.
THE FINAL WORD –
With all the hoopla
about corporate tax inversions the tax reform discussion seems to be centered
on corporate tax reform. Obviously there
is need for corporate tax reform. But
let’s not forget what started the discussion in the first place – individual (Form
1040) tax reform.
I fear the idiots
in Congress will make token corporate tax changes and forget the mucking fess
that is the 1040 altogether.
The ENTIRE Tax Code needs to be written from scratch!
TTFN
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