Wednesday, December 29, 2010

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’ – WEDNESDAY EDITION

Welcome to the last BUZZ of 2010!

* Better late than never! MAINSTREET.COM finally ran my item “Your 2010 Year-End Tax Checklist”.

* Kay Bell provides similar year-end advice in her “12 Tax Tips for Christmas 2010” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

* And fellow animal-lover Kay tells us how the State of Indiana has “Caponed” some “commercial dog-breeding operations that put profits before animal welfare” in “Puppy Mills Target of Indiana Tax Officials”.

* Kelly Phillips Erb answers a timely question in “Ask the taxgirl: Cookies at Christmas”.

* And Kelly handles another timely question with “Ask the taxgirl: Gifts in the Workplace”.

* Kelly finishes a trifecta with “H&R Block Announces Glitch in RALs for 2011”.

Let us hope that H+R Block will have one less way to screw its clients by not being able to offer RALs on 2010 returns.

* At BARGAINEERING Jim explains “Why You Shouldn't Cheat On Your Taxes".

The first reason is the most obvious one, tax evasion is illegal. Remember Wesley Snipes? He’s in jail right now for three years after being convicted for tax evasion.”

* Does your business need to file a Form 1099 for 2010? Check out “1099 Rules and Regulations” at THE MISSOURI TAX GUY.

FYI, this post discusses the rules for issuing 1099s for calendar year 2010 – they do not cover the new rules that the idiots in Congress did not repeal in the recent Tax Act.

* There was no “Week in Perspective” from THE MISSOURI TAX GUY this past Sunday, but he did have a good guest post titled “Personal Finances – Get Better at Money-Control” by Jonny Pean

* Prof Mary O’Keeffe gives us a double-dose of basic tax education in two great posts at BED BUFFALOES IN YOUR TAX CODE – “Schematic Big Picture of the US Income Tax” and “Who Gets to Claim Johnny on the Tax Return”.

* THE HILL reports that “Six Institutions Pay Back TARP Loans; Government Makes Slight Profit”.

The government made $13.7 million in profits on dividends from each of the investments, which totaled $2.7 billion.”

I was not a fan of government “bail-outs”, but I stand corrected.

* Peter Reilly celebrates the coming of 100 posts in “PAOO Reaches 100 - Merry Christmas”. Congratulation to PR on the milestone. You can read more about Peter at TWTP this coming Friday (New Year’s Eve).

* A “tweet” led me to the BLOOMBERG.COM item “Accountant to Entertainers Accused of Bilking Clients”.

Many years ago I took a cruise from San Francisco to Alaska and back. Among my fellow travelers were the aunt and uncle of actor Elliot Gould, whom I had seen in my youth on Broadway in the musical “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” (which was the Broadway debut of Gould’s then future wife Barbra Streisand). When I told them of my profession they commented that accountants had robbed Elliot practically blind over the years.

* Nothing really new here from the ASBURY PARK PRESS website – “Are Jerseyans Overtaxed For Everything? Pretty Much, Rankings Show

While there are a few individual taxes in New Jersey that are relatively low or average, there's no arguing that the total tax burden New Jerseyans face is as steep as it comes.”

* A recent National Society of Accountants survey, as discussed at ACCOUNTING WEB, shows that, like income and deductions, “Tax Return Preparation Fees Vary by Type of Return, Geographic Region”.

The NSA's biennial survey of nearly 8,000 tax preparers showed the average tax preparation fee for an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return is only $229. Rates for non-itemized returns are even lower – the average cost to prepare a Form 1040 and state return without itemized deductions is only $129.”

I hope my clients are reading this.

* I recently heard from Brad Polizzano, an tax attorney in New York who represents taxpayers under audit by the IRS and NYS, about his new tax blog POKER AND TAXES BY TAXDOOD.

According to Brad, the new blog is “focused primarily on how the code treats gambling winnings. There are many young people who play online poker, and for the first time in their lives, are earning substantial amounts of income. The idea is to provide general guidance to these people with respect to properly reporting the income.”

Check it out when you get a chance.

The next installment of the BUZZ, the first of 2011, will appear on Wednesday, January 5th. Don’t forget to read my mini-interview with Peter Reilly on Friday.

TTFN

2 comments:

Peter Reilly said...

Thanks for the mention. I really appreciate you welcoming me to the tax blogosphere.

Robert D Flach said...

PR-

Glad to have you here in the tax blogoshpere. There is always room for good information and witty comment.

TWTP