* Most of the recent BUZZ about taxes
revolved around the skimpy details of the tax “plan” proposed by the idiot in
the White House, and announced by Treasury Secretary Munchkin (apologies to Mnuchin;
I realize this is juvenile, but whenever I see his name in print that is all I
think of).
I provided my initial reaction to what information
was released in the post “My More Than 2 Cents Worth”.
As I said at the end of my post –
“ . .
. do you find it a coincidence that the largest tax breaks in the skimpy
details released would benefit idiot Trump and his family ‘bigly’?”
I do like what Tony Nitti had to say about
the “plan” in “Devoid Of Details, Trump's Latest Tax Plan Nothing But Empty Promises” at FORBES.COM, calling it -
“ . . . a
rushed, half-hearted gesture meant merely to meet his minimum obligations.”
NY Times columnist Paul Krugman gets to the
heart of the matter and explains the real story behind the release of the tax “plan”
in “Living in the Trump zone” -
“No,
what we’re looking at here isn’t policy; it’s pieces of paper whose goal is to
soothe the big man’s temper tantrums.”
I certainly welcome and encourage
substantive tax reform (click here). But
I do not take anything idiot Trump says seriously, and I will wait until an
actual bill, with actual specific details, including how cuts will be offset, is
presented by the real Republicans before engaging in any further discussion of
the issue.
Before we leave this topic – check out my
comment on the post “6 things to learn from the Trump tax plan proposal” at
BANKRATE.COM.
* Fellow tax blogger Russ Fox of TAXABLE
TALK has borrowed my title to present his own version of “That Was the Tax Season that Was”.
It seems we both had less GDEs this year
than in the past.
I agree with Russ on the following
statements from his post (highlight is mine)–
· “The new law mandating interviews with taxpayers
claiming the Earned Income Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the American
Opportunity Credit is annoying for tax professionals and will only stop the
lowest of low hanging fruit of tax cheats. Most tax professionals know their
clients, and simply aren’t committing tax fraud.”
· “Tax software is great in automating the
mundane but not so great in thinking for you.” (although I cannot confirm
that tax software is great at doing anything – and would use the word horrible
at doing your thinking for you).
· “We
need tax reform, and soon. The Tax Code is far, far too complex.”
· “If you’re using a tax professional to
prepare your returns, he almost certainly has also set a deadline for receiving
paperwork prior to the October 16th extension deadline. You should pay
attention to that, and get your paperwork in to your professional timely.” (my deadline was March 18th this
season – and all returns received, with all the needed information, by March 18th
were completed in time for an April 18th filing).
* I feel Jason Dinesen’s pain expressed in
his tax season in review post titled “My Tax Season Recap: Business is Booming, But I’m Starting to Hate this Crap” at DINESEN TAX TIMES.
Jason is correct that “Being a Perfectionist is Not an Asset in this Field”. I, too, have sleep interruption issues during
the season – but not worrying about what I may have done wrong. My mind is often so involved with what has to
be done on certain returns that are or will soon be “on the table” that I
cannot fall back to sleep, and sometime find myself getting up to work after
only 4 or 5 hours of actual sleep. And I
find that beginning at the end of February I am doing tax returns in my sleep!
Fortunately my practice is different from
Jason’s, and that of most other tax preparers.
I have not accepted new clients for several years, so I have history of
varying lengths with all my
clients. Many have been with me, and my
mentor before me, for decades, and I now do several generations of a
family. A substantial % of my 1040
clients are, or have become, actual personal friends.
I work alone out of my home 50-100 miles
from my clients. Only a handful of true
long-timers are permitted to actually make the trip up to NE PA to see me – and
then I never do the return while they wait.
I receive, and return, most of the returns I do via the mail. On many days I forget to turn the phone on (it
is always off on Wednesdays) – and when it is on the answering machine often is
not, and I only answer the phone when it suits me (I have caller id so I know
who is calling – and never answer “cold” if it is an unknown or unidentified
caller).
I don’t “hate” the business yet – although
I will admit I do not cherish it as much as I did when I worked with my mentor.
Jason ends the post by telling us his wife
has recommended that he “disappear for a
while” after April 18th.
I have been doing that at season-end – going to the Jersey shore for
several days to recover – since almost the very beginning (there was a time,
when my uncle was alive, that I boarded a cruise ship and crossed the Atlantic
after the season was over to recover).
* Staying with Jason, we learn that he
agrees with me that Quickbooks is the best bookkeeping software (although, to
be fair, I have not tried any other software) in “Bookkeeping Software is Deceptively Simple”.
However, Jason tells us -
“Here’s
the problem with Quickbooks, or any other software solution for bookkeeping:
it’s deceptively simple.”
Why is that a problem?
“The
problem is, the simplicity is deceptive. It’s easy to enter transactions, but
it’s also easy to enter things the wrong way, thus creating trainwrecks that
people such as I have to fix.”
In answering the question “Should I Keep My
Own Books” Jason explains –
“. . . when
you’re keeping the books yourself, know your limitations and when to stop and
ask for help.
Because again,
Quickbooks will accept whatever you put into it, and it’s not going to tell you
if you’re doing something wrong.”
As with any software program – garbage in,
garbage out. This is just as true for
bookkeeping software as it is for tax preparation software. If you don’t understand bookkeeping and
accounting and payroll you should not be doing your own books, and if you are
not familiar with the intricacies of the mucking fess that is out Tax Code you
should not be using DIY software to prepare your tax returns.
I “keep the books” (make all software
entries) for my few remaining business clients using Quickbooks, with one
exception (the client attended the official Quickbooks training class with me –
and he knows to ask me if he is not sure about an entry), just so I do not have
to fix any “trainwrecks” after the fact.
* “Having a Garage Sale or Yard Sale? What to Do First” is explained by Jean Murray at THE BALANCE.
Jean explains –
“Several
issues are involved with the "business" of holding a garage sale:
1. Local permits
and licenses for garage sales or yard sales
2. Income taxes on
the profits from the sale, and
3. Sales taxes on
the cost of the items sold.
Before you decide
to have that garage sale or yard sale, consider these local, state, and federal
laws, taxes, and permits.”
* Have you checked out the May 2017 “issue”
of THE LIBERTY TIMES yet?
* Good news from Kay Bell in “Lewis aims to end latest private tax debt collection effort” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.
Kay quotes Lewis as correctly saying
(highlights are mine) -
"For
the record, I want to be crystal clear — in today's world, private debt
collection will only make a bad
situation much worse. We have been down
this road before. It has been tried and tried again. Each and every single time, private debt collection fails. It
creates confusion and wastes taxpayer dollars. Most importantly, the program
does not help or serve the American people."
Using private collection agencies is wrong
for many reasons. Let us hope that H.R.
2171 - "Protection of Taxpayers from Abusive Tax Collection Practices"
– is passed by Congress.
* I wholeheartedly agree with the advice of
Peter J Reilly at FORBES.COM - “You Should Just Hang Up On IRS Collection Calls Legitimate Or Not”.
I have always opposed the erroneous practice
of the IRS, and state tax agencies, using private collection agencies for alleged
tax debt. You should refuse to deal with
an outside agency – and deal only directly with IRS or state agency.
TTFN
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