The BUZZ is a day
early this week. As you read this, I am on
an escorted motor coach trip to New Hampshire with the Hawley Women’s Club.
“The U.S.
Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued final
regulations that require taxpayers to reduce their charitable contribution
deductions by the amount of any state or local tax credits they receive or
expect to receive in return.”
“The IRS
effectively nullified New Jersey legislation passed last year that allowed
municipalities to establish charitable funds where taxpayers can donate in
return for a property tax credit.”
I knew this scam by NJ
and other states would not work.
A word of warning
about this post - it gives very bad advice at the end
–
“Don’t worry about
knowing these tax rules.”
You should
know these rules if they apply to your situation. Even if you use a tax professional, the more
you know the better prepared you will be to give your tax pro all the
information needed to properly and correctly prepare your returns and the
quicker your returns will be completed.
And if you attempt to use a box to self-prepare your returns remember “garbage-in,
garbage out”. If you don’t know the
correct information to enter on the software you will not get a correct return.
“The Attitude
Survey offers some interesting understandings on how taxpayers view the IRS and
fellow taxpayers. It provides many findings about taxpayer needs and
preferences – and what taxpayers value.”
One of the “takeaways”
from this survey –
“As taxes get more
complex, the more the tax pro is needed.”
* Wonder of wonders,
miracle of miracles. In a truly rare
event these days, considering the obstructionist position of despicable Senate
Majority Leader McConnell, a bill has actually passed both the House and the
Senate!
The Taxpayer First
Act “contains a host of provisions designed to modernize the IRS, in areas
such as customer service, taxpayer rights during the enforcement process,
information technology, identity theft protection and electronic systems.
For example, there
are provisions to exempt low-income people from the IRS's private debt
collection program, establish an independent appeals office, and provide
identity theft victims with a single point of contact at the IRS.”
If only New Jersey
would pass a bill to make the NJ Division of Taxation act more ethically toward
NJ taxpayers.
THE LAST WORD
Very important -
Republicans with
intelligence and a conscience - there must be some still out there - need to
work aggressively to encourage and support primary challenges to Trump and his
hypocritical supporters and defenders.
TTFN