IRS working to trim a bit of Form 1040’s red tape – And we all know how well they’ve done at simplifying things in the past.  That, along with the Dems’ threats to raise tax rates, will ensure a never-ending workload for us in the tax practitioner community.

I rarely digress from tax and finance related topics, but if I can’t use this space to help family members, what good is it?

After analyzing the amount of income generated from all of the time she has spent on her online jewelry sales business, Sherry has made the difficult decision to cut her losses and shut it down. Stuck with a ton of inventory, she has chosen to slash the prices to less than she paid just to get rid of it.

You can see what she has available on her website. They make excellent gifts; so you can start your holiday shopping now.

[Update] Everything has been sold.

Democrats May Eliminate IRS’s Use of Collection Agencies – An uncharacteristically taxpayer-friendly move for the Dems.

Home-Office Deductions Have a Steep Price Tag – What is often more important than the amount of the actual home office deduction is the fact that establishing one’s home as the primary business location allows otherwise nondeductible commuting miles to qualify as fully deductible business miles.  I have frequently seen this extra mileage deduction be huge compared to the home office deduction itself. 

Putting Your Mortgage in Reverse To Supplement Retirement Funds – Real estate equity is just as valuable for retirement living as is cash in the bank.  This is frequently overlooked when evaluating how much people have “saved” for their retirement years.

Firms outsource CPA tasks to keep up with high demand

Timing Your RMDs and Saving Taxes With NUA

Woman Arrested for Not-so-Realistic Counterfeit Money – Wow.  Tripped up by an eagle eyed clerk who knew that money is actually printed on both sides.  (Thanks to reader Vincent Lyon for passing this along.)

Pain at the Pump Easing, So Why Am I Still Paying Surcharges? – Just as with “temporary taxes,” fuel surcharges may take a while to disappear.

Even though few clients do it, I’ve always advised that they keep track of their actual vehicle expenses so that we can compare those with what we come up with via the IRS’s standard rate method. Since the IRS standard rate has to apply to pretty much every kind of vehicle regardless of the number of miles driven per year, it can’t possibly be an accurate representation for everyone.

I came across this interesting little chart of per mile vehicle costs in the most recent TaxCoach report, which they assembled from AAA data.

401(k) fees can chomp a hole in your savings – From USA Today.

Bush to Dems: “Read My Lips, No New Taxes” – Here we go again. That worked out so well for Bush 41 in 1992. (This is obviously a parody from Scott Ott; but his satires have frequently come true.)

Courtesy of FreakingNews