The BUZZ is a day
early this week. As you read this, I am on
an escorted motor coach trip to New Hampshire with the Hawley Women’s Club.
* The final word is
out on the feeble attempts by some states to work around the state and local
tax deduction, aka SALT, limitation, according to “IR-2019-109: Final Regulations on Charitable Contributions and State and Local Tax Credits” -
“The U.S.
Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued final
regulations that require taxpayers to reduce their charitable contribution
deductions by the amount of any state or local tax credits they receive or
expect to receive in return.”
As explained in the
article “IRS Stops NJ's Attempts To Bypass Trump Tax Law” from PATCH.COM -
“The IRS
effectively nullified New Jersey legislation passed last year that allowed
municipalities to establish charitable funds where taxpayers can donate in
return for a property tax credit.”
I knew this scam by NJ
and other states would not work.
* The TURBO TAX BLOG
celebrated National Children’s Day with “Here’s What Having a Child Means For Your Taxes”.
A word of warning
about this post - it gives very bad advice at the end
–
“Don’t worry about
knowing these tax rules.”
You should
know these rules if they apply to your situation. Even if you use a tax professional, the more
you know the better prepared you will be to give your tax pro all the
information needed to properly and correctly prepare your returns and the
quicker your returns will be completed.
And if you attempt to use a box to self-prepare your returns remember “garbage-in,
garbage out”. If you don’t know the
correct information to enter on the software you will not get a correct return.
* ACCOUNTING TODAY talks
about the IRS “Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey” in “What taxpayers really think“ -
“The Attitude
Survey offers some interesting understandings on how taxpayers view the IRS and
fellow taxpayers. It provides many findings about taxpayer needs and
preferences – and what taxpayers value.”
One of the “takeaways”
from this survey –
“As taxes get more
complex, the more the tax pro is needed.”
* Wonder of wonders,
miracle of miracles. In a truly rare
event these days, considering the obstructionist position of despicable Senate
Majority Leader McConnell, a bill has actually passed both the House and the
Senate!
THE HILL reports “Senate passes bipartisan IRS modernization bill”.
The Taxpayer First
Act “contains a host of provisions designed to modernize the IRS, in areas
such as customer service, taxpayer rights during the enforcement process,
information technology, identity theft protection and electronic systems.
For example, there
are provisions to exempt low-income people from the IRS's private debt
collection program, establish an independent appeals office, and provide
identity theft victims with a single point of contact at the IRS.”
If only New Jersey
would pass a bill to make the NJ Division of Taxation act more ethically toward
NJ taxpayers.
* A final reminder
for tax pros to check out and share my free newsletter THE TAX PROFESSIONAL. And everyone should check out the latest post
at TRUMP MUST GO.
THE LAST WORD
Very important -
Republicans with
intelligence and a conscience - there must be some still out there - need to
work aggressively to encourage and support primary challenges to Trump and his
hypocritical supporters and defenders.
TTFN
