WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’ – SPECIAL MONDAY EDITION

I’m a day early - to make up for no BUZZ last week.  

* Tax pros – As I prepare the December issue of THE TAX PROFESSIONAL I am still waiting to “hear” your comments on the issues discussed in the November, and previous, “issues”. 

Email your comments to rdftaxpro@gmail.com.  

* A belated happy 9^th anniversary (11/14) greeting to DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.  This past summer TWTP celebrated 13 years of posting.

* My year-end tax planning articles finally started to show up at MAINSTREET.COM.  First up is “2014 Year-End Tax Planning Strategies to Ensure a Smooth Filing”.

* Just before leaving for Atlantic City I came across "Help Your Children Get Rich With a Roth IRA” at CASH COW COUPLE.

One thing to remember as you read this post - “If your child has no earnings, he or she cannot contribute at all.” 

* BTW – have you visited my Dollar Store yet?  I have added something new – a “Business Expense Guide”.   

* Jason Dinesen agrees taxpayers should “Tell Your Accountant Before You Start Operating in Other States”.

Jason’s post grew out of one of the “things” in the article “Taking on a New Business Client: 18 Things You Need to Know” from the latest issue of NATP’s quarterly Taxpro Journal written by NJ tax pro Marc Standig, a fellow frequent contributing author for the NJ-NATP newsletter.

* Are you looking for a competent and experienced tax professional to help you with year-end tax planning, and prepare your 2014 returns?  Learn “What to Ask A Preparer” at my FIND A TAX PROFESSIONAL website.

* Michael Cohn tells us about the results of a survey of CPAs about the economy conducted by the Franklin and Marshall College Center for Opinion Research University on behalf of the NJSCPA and the PICPA in “N.J. and Pennsylvania CPAs See Economy Stuck in Neutral” at ACCOUNTING TODAY.

Here are some of the results for NJ (no surprises – highlights are mine) -

ü      . . . New Jersey respondents overwhelmingly (71 percent) feel that the business climate in their state hinders economic growth. Other areas where New Jersey respondents expect to see stalled growth include clients’ revenues (44 percent), clients’ workforce (65 percent) and clients’ salaries (51 percent).

ü       In terms of taxes, nearly 87 percent of the survey respondents believe that New Jersey’s tax structure is worse than most states. They cited high taxes as the number one reason (35 percent) for hindering future economic growth in New Jersey and the number two reason (33 percent) for the state’s high unemployment rate.

ü       A whopping 83 percent of New Jersey respondents feel estate and inheritance taxes have prompted clients to leave the state. Not only that, but 71 percent of CPAs in the Garden State have advised their clients to relocate to another state due to New Jersey’s estate and inheritance taxes. A large majority (84 percent) think these taxes affect the state’s middle class just as much as the affluent.

* And Jeff Stimpson includes my post on unfair selective inflation adjustments in his weekly BUZZ-like “In the Blogs” themed “Some Wicked Season”.

* Eva Rosenberg explains “Divorce and 529 plans: What Are the Tax Consequences?” – something that was not discussed at the recent NATP “Beyond the 1040” workshop – at EQUIFAX.COM.

* “Former GOP VP Candidate Paul Ryan to Head House Tax Panel” reports Kay Bell at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES. as she begins her 10th year of blogging (see above).

Is this good?  I believe Ryan is a Tea Party supporter – which is never a good thing.  I do not hold out much hope for substantive tax reform anytime soon. 

* Peter J Reilly asks the question “Should President Obama Offer Amnesty For Legal Residents Behind On Taxes?” at FORBES.COM, and answers yes.

As I say in my comment –

“I have been calling for a federal amnesty program since 2008, most recently in a TWTP post this past September.” 

Great minds do think alike.

* Also at FORBES.COM - read about professional opportunist Al Sharpton’s tax troubles in “Lessons From Rev. Al Sharpton's $4.5 Million Tax Bill” by Robert W Woods.

What did this perennial publicity seeker, who Robert misidentifies as a “Civil rights leader”, do?

“The New York Times paints a picture of poor planning, with virtually everything paid for and owned by the entities, not by Mr. Sharpton. That may even extend to the clothes on his back, with the entities paying for such personal items as his daughters’ private school tuition.”

It amazes me that “celebrities” and other public personalities, who are otherwise intelligent (he may be a self-important idiot, but he is not necessarily stupid), claim to be totally clueless when it comes to obvious tax fraud or when it comes to hiring tax and accounting “professionals”.

* Let me end with a non-tax item.  Fellow great mind Peter J Reilly “tweeted” a great, and totally true, quote from “Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free” by Charles P. Pierce: 

“. . . there is very little that’s real about a reality show.”

Judging from the title of the book it discusses the steaming pile of excrement that is so-called “reality tv” a lot.

THE FINAL WORD-

Uncle Frank was a staunch Conservative, and voted straight Republican until the day he died in Chicago.

Since then he has voted Democrat.

TTFN