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

+ Check out the January issue of LOIS.  

+ NJ tax pros might want to check out my “review” of the annual NJ-NATP “Famous State Tax Seminar” here and here.

+ Go to the MISSOURI TAXGUY blog and look for my Robert F page at the “Store”.

+ Kelly Phillips Erb, aka TAXGIRL, asks “Are You Ready for Government Prepared Tax Returns?” and is taking a poll at her FORBES.COM blog.

I am not ready for a “Ready Return”.  In addition to the reasons Kelly mentioned here is a very important additional one –

The IRS sends a taxpayer a “Ready Return” showing only $100,000 of matched income.  The taxpayer knows full well he/she had $150,000 in taxable income, but since the IRS only wants tax on $100,000 the taxpayer will leave it at that, thrilled that he/she avoided tax on $50,000 of income.

+ And Kelly begins her series of interviews on taxes with Presidential candidates in “Tax Talk 2012: Vern Wuensche”.

“With that in mind, I contacted each of the candidates who has officially declared an intention to run for president. To keep it simple, I asked each of the candidates the same six tax-related questions.”

I must admit I had never heard of the Republican candidate, head of Woodmark Kitchen and Bath, Inc.

+ MARKETWATCH.COM reports that “2012 Rapid Refund Checks BOUNCE”.

“All American Check Cashing announced today several checks it cashed for customers of Instant Tax of Hattiesburg have been returned. The checks were issued to Instant Tax customers as part of a rapid advance tax refund. The checks were issued by Tax Tree of Miami, Florida and written on Bank of America.”

No specific information is provided as to why the checks bounced.

Maybe this will finally mark the end of this reprehensible practice.  The IRS should ban tax preparers from offering RALs. 

+ JOE TAXPAYER presents a BUZZ-like “round-up” of personal finance blog posts concerning alleged “financial expert” Suze Orman, her pre-paid debit card scam, and her tweet rants in “A Sorry Suze Roundup”. 

I have not had the time to review the many posts, but I will say that I have absolutely no use for Suze Orman, and do not listen to her rantings.

+ Jason Dinesen, who responded to my THE TAX PROFESSIONAL blog post on measuring the success of the tax preparer regulation regime in “Thoughts on Preparer Regulation”, answers the question “How to Claim Your Same-Sex Spouse as a Dependent” in his “Same Sex Monday” installment at the DINESEN TAX TIMES.

+ Kay Bell, the yellow rose of taxes, discusses “Taxpayer Rights and Responsibilities” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

Kay quotes Nina Olsen in suggesting taxpayers have responsibilities as well as rights -

“. . . the National Taxpayer Advocate recommends in her latest report that Congress organize taxpayer responsibilities under the following five principles:

1. Obligation to be honest.

2. Obligation to be cooperative.

3. Obligation to provide accurate information and documents on time.

4. Obligation to keep records.

5. Obligation to pay taxes on time.”

+ And don’t miss Kay’s “Tax Carnival #95: Tax Filing Season 2012”.  Oops! I forgot to submit to this one.

+ FYI, Mary O’Keefe has posted Henry and Richard's 2012 Fee Schedule in “H+R Block Pricing This Year” at BED BUFFALOES IN YOUR TAX CODE.

THE FINAL WORD

FYI – the revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER with Harry Connick Jr is closing on January 29^th.  Disappointing.  I am glad I saw it when I did.  

TTFN