WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’

It is very important that anyone who voted for Trump watch this video!!!  Please click here.

* OOPS! I forgot to mention last week that I made TaxGirl Kelly Phillips Erb’s list of “100 Must-Follow Tax Twitter Accounts For 2017” at FORBES.COM   .

So, please, do follow me on Twitter.

* KPE also told us “The First Thing Taxpayers Should Do In 2017”.

Her excellent bottom line -

“Keeping accurate, contemporaneous records is your best bet.”

I also discuss “Starting the Year Off Right” tax-wise in my new quarterly newsletter ROBERT D FLACH’S TAX INSIGHTS.

* For a KPE trifecta – ICYMI “The Complete List For 12 Days Of Charitable Giving 2016”.

*What’s this – a 4^th BUZZ-worth post from KPW – making it a “hambone” in professional bowling parlance? 

“The Top Tax Posts You Did - And Didn't -Read In 2016” lists the most, and least, popular of Kelly’s 2016 blog posts based on actual views.

* ACCOUNTING TODAY brings us the word that “Senate Democrats unveil bill requiring Trump to release tax returns” -

“Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, introduced legislation Wednesday requiring President-elect Donald Trump to release the three most recent years of his tax returns.

Several other Senate Democrats joined Wyden in introducing the bill, known as the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would also require future presidential nominees to release three years of tax returns.”

Unfortunately, with the Republicans in control of Congress, there is doubt this can pass – although we can hope there are some Republicans in Congress with integrity and a conscience. 

I doubt idiot Trump will ever release any tax returns unless under penalty of impeachment. 

* The NSTP BLOG reminds small business owners of the new “Increase in Information Return Penalties”.  

* Have you read the January 1, 2017 issue of LIBERTY TIMES yet?  I explain how the Republican Party, by pandering to the religious right, has perverted true conservative philosophy, and identify the “theme song” of the upcoming disastrous Trump administration.  

* Jamaal “Stikks” Solomon begins a post series of “Quick Tax Tips for the Tax Season” with “Dude, Where is My Refund?!!!” at STIKKS TALKS TAXES.

For those who use a tax pro to prepare their returns, here is what my January letter to clients says about refunds-

“Clients often email me to tell me they have not received their refund and ask me to find out what happened.  I cannot do this!  Do not contact me if your refund is late – there is nothing I can do that you cannot do yourself.  Once I have returned your finished return to you, and you have mailed it to the appropriate “uncle” (Sam, Chris, Andy), its fate is out of my hands.  You can check on the status of your refund online.”  

* And “Stikks” advises taxpayers to “Fight Back Against Fraudulent Tax Return Preparers #1: The Power of Your Signature”.

Important points made by JS.  First, be sure to read completely the return before signing, and do not sign if you do not recognize deductions or understand something on the return.  And second, make sure the preparer signs the return and includes his or her PTIN before accepting and paying for it.

Stikks will continue to deal with fraudulent tax professionals in future posts.

* The EMPOWERED TAX LAW LLC BLOG has some advice for S-corporation owners in a discussion of a recent Tax Court case in “S Corporation Owner Subject to Self-Employment Tax”

* Kay Bell looks both back and forward in “Top 10 tax topics of 2016 and what to expect in 2017” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

* And Kay also reports “Tax pros are target of new e-services phishing scam”.

* An FYI from Jeff Stimpson at ACCOUNTING TODAY – “IRS processed 150mn returns in 2016" -

“The IRS reports that it processed 150,018,266 returns from last season through Nov. 23. Income tax collected after credits was $1,416,834,888.”

* Robert W Wood warns “IRS Forms 1099 Are Coming, Packing A Tax Punch” at FORBES.COM.

RWW’s bottom line is very important -

“Forms 1099 are a vital part of IRS matching. Take these forms seriously. The IRS sure does.”

* I agree with Jason Dinesen’s post “From the Archives” – “The IRS’s Preparer Directory Will Be Bad News for Enrolled Agents”.

I specifically agree that “the directory provides little useful information for taxpayers”.

If the IRS is going to provide a directory of tax preparers it should be a state-by-state alphabetical listing of all PTIN holders – everyone who is authorized by the IRS to prepare 1040s (and 1040As) for compensation – without exception.  It may list a person’s recognized credentials, including the ACAT ATA and ATP, after one’s name, but it should not indicate in any way that a PTIN-holder without an official credential is not an “IRS-approved” tax preparer.

* While repeal of Obamacare, and hopefully replacement, is eminent, it is important to know that, as per the CCH weekday daily email newsletter, “Some ACA Provisions Could Continue Temporarily Post-Repeal”.

Obviously it would be best if the replacement of good Obamcare provisions were included in the legislation that repeals ACA.  But remember that we are dealing with Congress, and Congress is still made up, for the most part, of idiots.

* Let me end on a non-1040 item – although state taxes certainly do play a big part in the issue.

It came as no surprise to me that, as per 101.5 FM, “More people leave NJ than any other state, study shows”.

“For the fourth straight year, New Jersey finished dead last in the 39th annual United Van Lines’ National Movers Study.”

There are lots of reasons to leave New Jersey and many benefits of living elsewhere – I should know, having moved from NJ to North East PA in 2012 after living my entire life (except for a summer in NY) in the “Garden State”.

I am curious if the recent state tax law changes – increased retirement income exclusion and end of state Estate Tax - will affect the migration from NJ going forward.

The Last Word –

We must not “normalize” Trump now that he is the President-elect.

Trump is not a “normal” or “legitimate” politician.  He must not be viewed and treated in the same context as a Bush or Romney or McCain, or a Clinton or Obama or Saunders, or a Ryan or Cruz or Kasich.

Trump is a totally self-absorbed narcissist, a pathological liar, and possibly a sociopath, without any true political beliefs or convictions, whose mental disorders make him incapable of intelligent and rational thought and action.

He must not be accepted or supported or respected as President by the American people.  He should be denounced and opposed as the dangerous and mentally unstable person that he is.

TTFN