WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’?

The final BUZZ for 2017!

* Jason Dinesen of DINESEN TAX TIMES lists his “Top 5 Blog Posts of 2017”.

* While it is no surprise that “IRS Extends Due Date for Employersand Providers to Issue Health Coverage Forms to Individuals in 2018” there is really no reason for this. 

“Insurers, self-insuring employers, other coverage providers, and applicable large employers now have until March 2, 2018, to provide Forms 1095-B or 1095-C to individuals, which is a 30-day extension from the original due date of Jan. 31.”

You do NOT have to wait until you receive these forms to prepare your 2017 tax return, or to give your “stuff” to your tax preparer.  However, you DO NEED to have Form 1095-A in hand in order to properly prepare your Form 1040 (or 1040A).  This form should be mailed out by the end of January.

* Jonathan Curry gives us a “Year in Review: Tax Bill Takes aTopsy-Turvy Road to GOP Victory” at TAX ANALYSTS.

He reminds us about the last time the Tax Code was so drastically changed –

“ . . . the last major tax reform effort, in 1986, which took nearly three years to complete after President Reagan issued his call for it and involved dozens of congressional hearings with testimony from hundreds of individuals . . .”

The way tax reform, which the current bill actually is not, should actually be done.  Unlike Donald T Rump, Reagan was intelligent and competent, as were, to a degree, the members of Congress of both Parties at the time.

FYI – my annual tax year in review post will appear tomorrow.

* Tony Nitti tries to explain the truly convoluted mucking fess that is the new tax treatment of “pass-through” business income in “Tax Geek Tuesday: Making Sense Of The New '20% Qualified Business Income Deduction'” at FORBES.COM.

It is obvious that the GOP Tax Act is most certainly NOT “tax simplification”. 

TTFN