Tuesday, May 29, 2018

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


* Jason Dinesen deals with the question “Can I Deduct Cash Put Into the Collection Plate at Church?” at DINESEN TAX TIMES.

As I’ve written about before, charitable contributions must be substantiated.”

While you can deduct the contribution, it would not stand up in audit without some kind of documentation.

The obvious solution is to put a check payable to the church in the plate each week instead of cash.  Or, more better, participate in the church’s “envelope system” if offered.  The church will provide you with a statement of all of your contributions made via the system for the year.

An interesting story of a creative tax cheat from decades ago.  A local businessman told his pastor that his business needed $100 in small bills for use in his store which opened early each weekday morning and offered to write a check after church each Sunday in exchange for $100 of the loose cash from the collection plate, so the church would not have to worry about someone stealing the money while in the church office overnight waiting to be deposited on Monday morning.  The businessman wrote a personal check for $100 payable to the church each Sunday in exchange for $100 in small bills from the collection plate.  When preparing his personal tax return the parishioner would add $5200 to the charitable contributions he claimed on his Schedule A, and if audited would have 52 checks for $100 each to show the IRS.  It was so long ago that I don’t recall how the businessman was eventually caught. 

Speaking of “small bills” – when I was a bank teller 40+ years ago whenever a customer would ask for small bills when withdrawing money from their account I would tell them, “I am sorry, but all our bills are the same size”.

* What fools these politicians be!

The IRS has promised, via “Notice 2018-54", has promised to “propose regulations” to put an end to the ridiculous and ineffective attempts by highly taxed states to “circumvent the new statutory limitation on state and local tax deductions” – like the recently passed legislation in New Jersey.

The notice correctly reminds the idiot politicians in these states that “federal law controls the proper characterization of payments for federal income tax purposes”.

* A “tweet” led me to this “Helicopter View of Meals andEntertainment After Tax Reform” from March by the BRADFORD TAX INSTITUTE.


* Jim Blankenship discusses “60-day Rollover Waivers” at GETTING YOUR FINANCIAL DUCKS IN A ROW.

THE FINAL WORD

According to idiot Donald T Rump white supremacist Nazis include “some very fine people” but blacks who take a knee during the National Anthem “shouldn’t be in the country”.

America and the world would be a lot better off if arsehole Trump wasn’t in the country.

Americans should refuse to stand for the National Anthem until Donald T Rump is removed from office.

America cannot be truly great again until Trump is removed from the White House!

TTFN











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