IRS backs off plan to flag free e-filers — for now

FTB Announces States Huddle to Plan Offensive Against Abusive Tax Shelters – What’s most surprising about this announcement is that they waited this long to coordinate their efforts to fight tax scams.

Courtesy of one of the posters on the QuickFinders message board:

Tax his cow, tax his goat

Tax his pants, tax his coat

Tax his tires, tax his shirt

Tax his work, tax his dirt

Tax his chew, tax his smoke

Teach him taxes are no joke

Tax his land, tax his wages

Tax the bed in which he lays

Tax his tractor, tax his mule

Teach him taxes are the rule

Tax his tobacco, tax his drink

Tax him if he tries to think

Tax his booze, tax his beers

If he cries, tax his tears

Tax his bills, tax his gas

Tax his notes, tax his cash

Tax him good and let him know

That after taxes he has no dough

If he hollers, tax him more

Tax him ’til he’s good and sore

Tax his coffin, tax his grave

Tax the sod in which he lays

Put these words upon his tomb:

“Taxes drove me to my doom.”

And when he’s gone we won’t relax

We’ll still be after his inheritance tax!

PC Magazine has some reviews of tax programs for consumers. These do not cover programs for us professionals to use. I have no comments on any of the consumer software other than the usual GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) warning. While they can help fill in the tax forms, they cannot take the place of a knowledgeable and creative tax professional. I have never felt threatened by any computer program. In fact, some of our clients use these programs in place of our standard organizer when submitting their info to us every year. Needless to say, the final results we end up with almost always look dramatically different from what the clients had come up on their own. These tax programs can do as accurate a job as the mass market tax prep services that are nothing but “form fillers.” Those companies should worry about losing business to do it yourselfers.

Can anyone honestly claim that this would be any worse than following the advice of other so-called investment gurus, such as those who pick stocks on TV?