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

* Over at TAX VOX Eric Toder suggests we “Eliminate The Deduction For Qualified Business Income And Require Most Firms To Be Taxed As Pass-Throughs”.  

More specifically –

“Eliminate the new pass-through deduction and, instead, require all businesses that are not publicly traded to be taxed as pass-through entities, either as partnerships, limited liability companies, or subchapter S corporations. This proposal would ensure that the same income tax rate is imposed on business profits as on wages, eliminating the need for special—and highly complex-- rules to define which business owners can claim the 20 percent deduction.”

While I agree that the special 20% Section 199a deduction is a convoluted mucking fess and should not have been created, I do not agree with Eric.

Check out yesterday's post "The Section 199a Deduction Makes No Sense". 

* My new book on tax planning for the new tax laws “The GOP Tax Act and the New 1040” is now available – as a pdf, in print, and as an e-book for Kindle.  For more information click here.

* Kay Bell reminds us that “Mileage amounts same, but tax situations change” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

FYI, here are the mileage rates for 2017 and 2018.  

2017 & 2018 standard mileage deduction rates allowed on cents-per-mile basis
Tax Year	Business	Medical	Moving	Charity
2017	53.5	17	17	14
2018	54.5	18	18	14

Remember that, as Kay points out, employees can no longer deduct employee business expenses on Schedule A.

* And Kay lists “5 things to consider if the new tax law has you thinking about becoming an independent contractor”.

BTW - I discuss in detail the pros and cons of going from being treated as an employee to being treated as an independent contractor in THE GOP TAX ACT AND THE NEW 1040.

* Do you wonder “Average Per Capita Property Taxes: How Does Your State Compare?”.  The TAX FOUNDATION provided this “map” last month.

No surprise – NJ is #1 with an average $3,074 per person.  My current home state of PA is #20 with $1,481.  So, I made a good move.

* More evidence that legislating this practice proves that the members of Congress are idiots from Michael Cohn at ACCOUNTING TODAY – “IRS private debt collectors target low-income taxpayers”.

The practice of using private debt collection agencies to collect outstanding IRS tax debt has been a failure in each of its previous tries.  Typical Congressional thinking – if it’s broke, keep doing it. 

If you are contacted by an outside collection agency for an outstanding tax debt tell them you refuse to deal with them and will only deal directly with the IRS.

THE FINAL WORDS

Kudos to Robert De Niro for his exclamation at the TONY Awards! 

I share his sentiment and passion – FUCK TRUMP!

 

And one more thing – perhaps the most important – please read this and share with anyone you know who does not oppose and denounce Trump – “TRUMP IS NO JOKE”.

TTFN