FYI- I am off to
Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard tomorrow, so no more posts this week.
* Monday’s post at
THE TAX PROFESSIONAL was “Continuing the Ethics Discussion”.
* Jim Wang’s post “Are You a PTA Parent? That Volunteering May Just Pay Off” at the TURBO TAX BLOG
isn’t just for PTA members. It applies to
all who volunteer for a church or charity, including volunteer work related to
Hurricane Harvey.
* TaxGirl Kelly
Phillips Erb is putting out a call for volunteers to “Write For Forbes During Tax Reform Week”. I have sent her my submission.
* Also at
FORBES.COM Tony Nitti reports “Robert Mueller Employs Powerful Weapon In Trump-Russia Investigation: The IRS”.
Remember, it was
the IRS that finally brought down Al Capone.
And Capone was smarter than Trump (not too many people aren’t – except
perhaps for Trump’s cult of ignorami).
* Speaking of the
idiot in the White House, check out the September “issue” of THE LIBERTY TIMES.
* As with Henry and
Richard, while I would never recommend that a taxpayer use Liberty Tax Service,
or any “fast-food” commercial chain, to prepare their returns, I do believe its
TAX LOUNGE BLOG can offer good advice, as it does in dealing with the question
“Why You Need to Withhold Taxes From Unemployment” –
“Believe it or not, unemployment compensation
is taxable income. Too few people seem to know this — or maybe it’s just that
too few people want to know this. Nevertheless, this oversight could lead to
taxpayers who didn’t withhold taxes from unemployment benefits owing on their
federal and state income tax returns.”
And –
“Instead of worrying about how much you have
to pay at the end of the year, contact your state unemployment office, either
by phone or online. Have them withhold the 10 percent required for federal
taxes and whatever percentage is required for state income taxes in your state.
If it turns out you don't owe taxes, you may get it back as a refund. Better to
have taxes taken out initially than to worry about how to pay a significant
debt at the end of the year.”
Another issue with
taxable unemployment benefits – some states, like New Jersey, have stopped
mailing out paper copies of Form 1099-G to report unemployment benefits and
withholding therefrom, just like many states have stopped sending out paper
copies of Form 1099-G for state tax refunds, I guess to save money. As a result I have seen several clients fail
to report unemployment benefits on their 1040, and get hit with penalties and
interest when the oversight is uncovered during the IRS matching process.
It is
very important that anyone who receives unemployment benefits during the year
go to the appropriate state website in January 2018, usually the same website
that they used to request or maintain benefits, print-out the Form 1099-G, and
give this form to their tax preparer.
TTFN
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