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Most Recent Posts

Tom Clancy’s Widow Prevails Over Kids From First Marriage In Estate Dispute

I often remark that you learn all the math you need for tax work by the fourth grade.  The math issue in this case is one of the rare exceptions.  If a share of an estate is exempt from estate taxes because it is going to benefit a surviving spouse, as in this case, or a charity and you use some of that share to pay the estate taxes, then that much does not qualify for the exemption.

So now you have a higher estate tax and if you pay some of that additional tax from the exempt share, you have an even higher tax and so on. A real accounting Einstein could solve the problem with algebra , but you can also grind it out by doing the computation over and over till it does not change.  Thanks to Goal Seek in Excel, it is really not that hard, but still, I would want at least an eighth-grader handling it.

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The Brokenness Of IRS Collections

The Brokenness Of IRS Collections

A couple of observations here.  There are numerous reasons why people are delinquent on tax payments. There are the people some of us call tax protesters who prefer to think of themselves as the ones who really understand the law, notwithstanding decades of losing in court.  There are the war tax resisters, a fairly earnest, mostly harmless bunch. There are people who find themselves in severe hardship.  But in my opinion, the largest group is people who would rather keep the money for themselves and think they can get away with it.  Since the nineties, I think Congress has been overly solicitous of them which is really not fair to the majority who organize their lives to live on their after-tax income.

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The Statutory Problem With IRS Firearms

The Statutory Problem With IRS Firearms

In the end, the court elected to detour around the statutory construction question. Instead, the court assumed a statutory violation but held that suppression was not an appropriate remedy. This prudential approach makes eminently good sense: as we recently wrote, “iscretion is often the better part of valor, and courts should not rush to decide unsettled legal issues that can easily be avoided.”  Thus, we too assume without deciding that the agents who executed the search of the defendant’s home violated 26 U.S.C. § 7608 because they were armed.

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IRS Weapons And Ammunition Spending Is Unremarkable

IRS Weapons And Ammunition Spending Is Unremarkable

Then I found a GAO report about ammo use by the Department of Homeland Security.  In 2009, DHS had spent $19 million to acquire 84 million rounds of ammunition.  That works out to $0.22 per round. The other little tidbit was some detail on border patrol agents.  The ammunition requirement for a new officer is 3,300 rounds which drops to 600 rounds for experienced officers.  That does not seem like very much practicing, but as I noted if you look at sites that advise on this stuff, you will see all sorts of answers including people claiming that it is a lot of dry firing that really makes you good.  Hopefully, I’ll spark a vigorous debate in the comments section.

My source explained to me that IRS CI special agents, although they are required to have accounting training like regular revenue agents are law enforcement officers who are expected to meet standards similar to all other federal law enforcement officers.  There are not that many newbies among them as the size of the force has been dropping through attrition due to budget constraints.

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Jill Stein Releases 2015 Federal Tax Return

Jill Stein Releases 2015 Federal Tax Return

Since Schedule A is not included we don’t know how much the Rohrer-Steins deducted in charitable contributions.  We can infer that it is not a really large number. Their total itemized deductions were $32,229.  They live in Massachusetts, so a back of the envelope on their state income tax deduction would be about $18,000.  Throw in maybe $7,000 for real estate taxes and there is not a lot left over for charity.  A sign that their itemized deduction lean heavily towards taxes is that they are hit with $7,074 in AMT.

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AICPA Has No Standing To Litigate IRS Credential Program

AICPA Has No Standing To Litigate IRS Credential Program

The AICPA continues to oppose any program that identifies individuals who have proven competency and currency in preparing 1040s. They feel CPA’s “own” the tax preparation industry and continue to try to maintain the bogus “urban tax myth” that CPAs are 1040 experts.

The AICPA claimed its members were injured parties because they could lose business to the voluntarily registered preparers. Of course CPAs will lose business if there is a way to properly identify tax preparers who remain current in 1040 tax law – and they should!

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Tax Payments Can Be Delayed For A Very Long Time

Tax Payments Can Be Delayed For A Very Long Time

A couple of thoughts on this.  One is that you really don’t want to try this with a tax liability that you could pay without breaking yourself because you will get it to grow to that level.  On the other hand, the IRS does agree that Mr. Hauptman will not be able to pay the whole tab.  Once that threshold is clearly crossed, the amount of the tax liability and accumulated interest and penalties is no longer important.  (See Reilly’s Tenth Law of Tax Planning).  So what’s the hurry?

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Accounting Manager Fights IRS For Deduction For MBA Courses

Accounting Manager Fights IRS For Deduction For MBA Courses

We believe that the facts support petitioners’ argument. When petitioner enrolled in the EMBA degree program, he was a well-established finance and accounting business manager at Marriott LAX. He managed the hotel’s financial operations and auditing departments, he was responsible for large groups of employees from various backgrounds and specializations, and he made sure the hotel’s business practices were in compliance with GAAP. When his employment was abruptly terminated, he continued to take courses at BYU that improved his managerial and leadership skills–skills that were appropriate and helpful to his position as a business manager. The courses petitioner chose to fulfill his degree requirements did not qualify him for a new trade or business because he was not qualified to perform new tasks or activities with the conferral of his degree. Instead, petitioner chose courses in a line of study that he was familiar with–management and finance. Even though petitioner took a few courses that were outside this scope, we do not believe that these courses by themselves could have prepared him to enter a new trade or business.

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