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

A day late – but hopefully not a dollar short.  I am back at my desk working away on the GD extensions.

* Did you celebrate this past Sunday?  According to the TAX FOUNDATION “Tax Freedom Day 2016 is April 24”.

“Tax Freedom Day® is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year. Tax Freedom Day takes all federal, state, and local taxes and divides them by the nation’s income. In 2016, Americans will pay $3.34 trillion in federal taxes and $1.64 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total tax bill of $4.99 trillion, or 31 percent of national income.”

It appears “Tax Freedom Day is one day earlier than last year, due to slightly lower federal tax collections as a proportion of the economy”.

Each state also has its own Tax Freedom Day.  New Jersey’s Tax Freedom Day is May 12^th- #49 on the list - a day after New York’s.  Connecticut has the latest Tax Freedom Day – May 21^st.  Pennsylvania’s was April 22^nd - #32.  Mississippi was #1 – celebrated on April 5^th.

* Good news from Michael Cohn at ACCOUNTING TODAY – “Senate Committee Drops Tax Preparer Regulation from Identity Theft Bill”.

* Do you really need more reasons not to use a fast food tax preparation chain to prepare your tax returns?  Well, here, also from ACCOUNTING TODAY, is another one – “Liberty Tax Shuts Down More Offices”.

* This week Jean Murray deals with “Starting a Corporation - The Details” at ABOUT.COM.   

* And Jean provides a primer on “How and When to File Form 941 for Payroll Taxes”.

 

* CCH has published a “2016 Post-Filing Season Update”.

* The IRS tells us “Houston Area Taxpayers Affected by Severe Weather May Qualify for Relief from Penalties on Late Tax Returns”.

 

* Fellow tax pro and tax blogger Russ Fox of TAXABLE TALK also felt “The 2016 Tax Season” went smoothly (did you see my assessment?).

While certainly I do not oppose the use of tax preparation software by tax professionals, I do not agree with Russ that “it’s essential for any tax professional” or that “it would be impossible for most tax professionals to complete complex returns without it”.  But then, I guess I am not “most tax professionals”.

TTFN