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

I’m back!

Due to a FU resulting from my reaction to a serious hack to my gmail account I was unable to access any of my Google.com accounts, including, blogger, for almost a month.  So I was unable to post anything here at TWTP.  I had tried to change my host to wordpress.com – but it was truly a PITA and I gave up.  Things are back to normal now – hopefully for good.

There really was not much BUZZ about taxes to report during my period of absence.  Below are a few items worth mentioning.

* Jeremy Diamond of CNN reported “Jeb Bush to Release 33 Years of Tax Returns” -

“Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will release 33 years of tax returns online Tuesday, giving voters a clearer picture of Bush's wealth and business dealings over the years.”

I actually have 33 and more years of 1040 copies for some of my long-term clients.

I tell my clients and readers to keep the copy of their 1040 (or 1040A), with W-2s and all included schedules and forms (A, B, C, D, 2106, etc) forever.  This provides a permanent record of your financial history.  You never know when the information on a prior year’s tax return will come in handy for a variety of tax or financial related reasons, or just to satisfy personal curiosity.  Maybe Jeb read one of my blog posts about this.

* Jason continued his class on “Marriage in the Tax Code” at DINESEN TAX TIMES with “Part 12:Meet the Marriage Penalty” and “Part 13: Examples of the Marriage Penalty in the Early 1970s”.

* And Jason asked the question “Who Claims the Kids When a Single Parent Dies Mid-Year?” in “Part1” and provided the answer in “Part 2”.

* Robert W Wood of FORBES.COM gave us another blog list – “10 Things to Know About Taxes On Legal Settlements”. -

* Professor Jim Maule reminded us to “Be Careful With Divorce Tax Planning” at MAULED AGAIN.

Regardless of how good your divorce lawyer is, it is very, very important to have a potential divorce agreement reviewed by a tax professional before signing anything.

As I said in a guest post at FORBES – “while you would certainly want Arnie Becker as your divorce attorney, you should have the divorce agreement reviewed and approved by Stuart Markowitz before signing it.”

The cultural reference shows my age.  A more current reference would replace Arnie Becker with David Lee and Stuart Markowitz with Will Gardner.

* Another reminder was given by Russ Fox at TAXABLE TALK – “Yes, Illegal Income Is Taxable”.

THE FINAL WORD –

Perhaps the most disturbing development in American politics in my lifetime (and I am 61) is the fact that self-absorbed boob Donald Trump is taken seriously as a Presidential candidate.  His past flirtations with Presidential politics have always rightfully been treated as the joke that it was., and is. 

TTFN