In regard to the current H&R Block ad campaign claiming that their review of tax returns that were prepared by others yields an average of $1,500 in “found money,” I wasn’t personally offended in the least by this.  I assumed it was referring more to people who prepare their own returns. 

Well, I guess a lot of other CPAs thought the ads were referring to their professional expertise, so the AICPA has gone on the attack against Block for this ad campaign, even filing a complaint with the FTC because an ad refers to a mistake made by a CPA. 

I guess the AICPA wants to preserve the myth that we CPAs are not human and never make mistakes.  As has been obvious, I have never been a believer that Block is the most effective at finding ways to maximize the tax savings for their customers.  However, making a federal case out of their attempts to drum up business seems like quite an over-reaction.

Thanks to reader George Storey for passing this along. 

Supreme Court: Creditors Can’t Seize IRAs – An interesting case involving some people from our neck of the woods.  Just as Florida’s extremely generous protection of residence equity is popular with OJ Simpson and others who want to avoid paying on legal judgments, this new ruling gives similar protection for IRA accounts.  This should be a good for the IRA business.  It will be interesting to see how they use this case in their ads and promotions.

Do Taxes Thwart Growth? Prove It – Thanks to Ohio CPA Dana Stahl for the heads-up to this idiocy from the DemonRats’ official newspaper.  I don’t read the Times, so I may have missed their story about freedom not being for everybody if that Dem. anti-Bush line has already been expounded on by our elite betters.