A day late – but
certainly not a dollar short!
* Check out the January
“issue” of THE TAX PROFESSIONAL – the last word from TTP until after the tax
filing season.
And fellow tax pros,
PLEASE send me your comments on my editorials.
* Over at BOB’S BABBLINGS I talk about movie remakes – more often than not a bad idea.
* Michael Cohn
tells us “Average Tax Prep Fee Inches Up to $273” at ACCOUNTING TODAY -
“The average fee for preparing a tax return,
including an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return, will
increase a few dollars to $273 this year, a 4.6 percent increase over the
average fee of $261 last year, according to a survey by the National Society of
Accountants.”
And
“The average cost to prepare a Form 1040 and
state return this season without itemized deductions is expected to be $159,
also a 4.6 percent increase over the average fee last year, which was $152.”
And, very important
–
“All the fees cited assume a taxpayer has
gathered and organized all the necessary information. . . . Many tax preparers
will charge an average fee of $114 for dealing with disorganized or incomplete
files.”
I am going to
include a copy of this article to my invoices this tax season so my clients can
see just how very lucky they are.
* One more plea -
please help to spread the word about my website FIND A TAX PROFESSIONAL.
* Taxpayer Advocate
Nina Olsen recently released the required 2014 Annual Report to Congress.
Each year at this
time The National Taxpayer Advocate delivers this report directly to the
tax-writing committees in Congress (the House Committee on Ways and Means and
the Senate Committee on Finance) with no prior review by the IRS Commissioner,
the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Office of Management and Budget.
The report
discusses the nation’s most serious tax problems and the most litigated tax
issues and makes legislative recommendations.
Nina predicts that
taxpayers this year are likely to receive the worst levels of taxpayer service
since at least 2001.
And, a recurring
theme in Nina’s reports, the report urges Congress to enact comprehensive tax
reform, pointing out that simplification would ease burdens on both taxpayers
and the IRS.
#1 on the list of
Most Serious Problems –
“Taxpayer Service Has Reached Unacceptably
Low Levels and Is Getting Worse, Creating Compliance Barriers and Significant
Inconvenience for Millions of Taxpayers.”
And #6 –
“Implementation of the Affordable Care Act May
Unnecessarily Burden Taxpayers.”
And tax
professionals and the IRS, too!
Click here to
download the full report.
* Jason Dinesen
continues his posting series on “A Brief History of Marriage in the Tax Code”
with “Part 2: Taxes in 1913” at DINESEN TAX TIMES.
* Jean Murray
answers a timely question at ABOUT.COM – “I Received a 1099-MISC form - What DoI Do With It?".
Pay special
attention to her final item (highlights are mine) –
“What if I have
income but no 1099-misc form? Do I
still have to pay taxes on this income? All income must be reported to the IRS and
taxes must be paid on all income. The payee may have forgotten to prepare
and submit a 1099-MISC form for the income paid to you. Most likely, the payee
may have not paid you $600 or more in a calendar year, in which case, no
1099-MISC must be filed. If you receive
payments from several payees, you may or may not have a 1099-MISC form to match
all payment, but you must still report and pay taxes on all 1099 income each
year.”
* Tax filing season
is almost here (don’t correct me – it starts on February 1st for me
and always has) – so that means it is once again time for “Fun With Taxes: Tax Haiku 2015” over at Kelly Phillips Erb’s FORBES.COM TaxGirl blog.
I will work on my
tax haikus when I come up for air.
THE FINAL WORD –
You now can file your 2014 tax returns – but that
doesn’t mean you should file your 2014 taxes now.
Wait until at least
February 3rd to be sure you have all the information returns (W-2s,
1099s, 1098s, 1095s, K-1s, etc) needed to correctly prepare your returns.
TTFN
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