Tuesday, July 9, 2019

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


* Some good advice from Sterling Raskie at GETTING YOUR FINANCIAL DUCKS IN A ROW – “Don’t Leave Money On The Table!”.

* Hey tax pros – check out the new July 2019 issue of THE TAX PROFESSIONAL.  It is free – so please share it with colleagues and co-workers.

And in case you missed it, click here for the June 2019 issue.

* Robert W Wood explains “Five Key IRS Rules On How Lawsuit Settlements Are Taxed” at FORBES.COM, pointing out one of the inequities of the GOP Tax Act (highlight is mine) –

A little tax planning, especially before you settle, goes a long way. It's even more important now with higher taxes on lawsuit settlements under the recently passed tax reform law. Many plaintiffs are taxed on their attorney fees too, even if their lawyer takes 40% off the top. In a $100,000 case, that means paying tax on $100,000, even if $40,000 goes to the lawyer.”

* ACCOUNTING TODAY tells us “Trump signs IRS reform bill into law”.  The law = the “Taxpayer First Act”.

Thankfully –

However, lawmakers eliminated a controversial provision that would have codified the Free File Alliance into law after a controversy erupted over whether it would prevent the IRS from developing free tax preparation software of its own.”

I wish the IRS would create a way for taxpayers to submit their 1040 direct to the IRS online free of charge, without having to purchase a commercial tax preparation software program, like NJ does with its NJWebFile program.

* Back to FORBES.COM, where Denise Appleby gives us “4 Tips On Avoiding The 10% Early Distribution Penalty On IRA Distributions”.

* And FORBES.COM’s TaxGirl Kelly Phillips Erb reports “IRS Updates Identity Verification Process To Better Protect Tax Information”.

THE LAST WORD

It is truly a sad commentary on the current state of our country that, based on everything we know about who and what Trump is from what he has said, tweeted and done both before and after being put in the White House, Trump continues to be considered a legitimate and acceptable choice for ANY elected office by anyone – and is apparently the preferred choice of 40% of Americans.

It remains impossible for me to believe that anyone with intelligence and a conscience could ever support Trump for any office.

TTFN







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