Tuesday, May 19, 2015

WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’ – TUESDAY EDITION


* Tax pros – check out the new post at THE TAX PROFESSIONAL.  I share some TAXPRO BUZZ and talk about the period for providing comments to the IRS on proposed regulations.  

FYI – I submitted comments to the IRS on the issue discussed at TTP – and yesterday I received the following email from the IRS –

Thank you for your comments. We appreciate the time and effort you put into preparing these comments.”

Please tell your fellow tax preparers about THE TAX PROFESSIONAL.

* Learn the answer to last week’s Trivia Challenge at BOB’S BABBLINGS.    

* Like the 7 stages of grief, Linda Coussement of ADDICTED2SUCCESS believes there are “6 Common Stages You Will Go Through When Becoming an Entrepreneur”.

I have always felt there were 3 stages of a tax filing season –

Stage 1 – Bring on the 1040s and keep them coming! There is plenty of time.

Stage 2 – Oh my God!  There are so many 1040s to do and so little time.  I will never get them all done.  What am I going to do?

Stage 3 – F**k it!  If they get done they get done.  If not, too bad.

For the last couple of tax filing seasons I find I go directly from Stage 1 to Stage 3.

* JD SUPRA BUSINESS ADVISOR lists “Ten Reasons To Review Your Estate Plan Today”.

* The TAX FOUNDATION provides us with a map showing “Which States Relied the Most on Federal Aid in 2013?”.

NJ is near the bottom of the list at #41, despite the large amount sent to Washington by its residents.  I do better now as a PA resident – PA is #29.  North Dakota is #50.  The top two states are Mississippi (#1) and Louisiana (#2).

* Kelly Phillips Erb, FORBES.COM’s TaxGirl, exclaims “I'm Going Back To The Movies!”.

Back by popular demand, this summer, Taxgirl is going back to the movies! That’s right, with Memorial Day blockbusters waiting in the wings, I’m reviving my ‘Taxgirl Goes To The Movies’ feature.”

What is it all about?

From time to time, beginning after Memorial Day, I’ll choose a movie to review. It may be a popular flick or it might be one that’s already been packaged for DVD or available on Netflix.

I’ll post my review – but it won’t be your run of the mill film review. Instead, I’ll focus on the tax considerations – and consequences – of the plot of the film as well as how the decisions made by the characters would play out in real life.”

What can you do?

I encourage my readers to nominate movies for review – especially those movies that have an interesting tax twist – just leave a note in the comments below or on Facebook. If I choose a movie that you’ve suggested, there may be (at my discretion) a fun thank you prize in it for you.”

I look forward to KPE’s reviews.

* Just one more report detailing the error rate of EITC claims – and one more reason why the EITC, and refundable credits in general, do not belong in the US Tax Code.

TAXPRO TODAY reports on the latest TIGTA report in “Improper EITC Payments Totaled $17.7 Billion in FY2014”.

The report also talks about another refundable credit – the Additional Child Tax Credit, aka ATCT (highlight is mine) –

“. . . the ACTC improper payment rate is similar to that of the EITC. TIGTA estimates that the ACTC improper payment rate for fiscal year 2013 is between 25.2 percent and 30.5 percent, with potential ACTC improper payments totaling between $5.9 billion and $7.1 billion.

TTFN

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