Expiration of Bush Tax Cuts: How Will It Affect You?
Estate tax may become another nail-biter when lawmakers return
Archive for October, 2010
Tax planning more difficult than ever…
Posted by taxguru on October 11, 2010
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Does anyone actually believe their own taxes are too low?
Posted by taxguru on October 10, 2010
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Extreme tax planning…
Posted by taxguru on October 9, 2010
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From Snopes.com
Posted by taxguru on October 9, 2010
Another phishing scheme uses e-mail messages camouflaged as communications from the IRS. – I’ve received about a dozen of these over the past few days.
Is the U.S. government proposing a 1% tax on debit card usage and/or banking transactions? – This has been creating a lot of concern.
Posted in IRS | Comments Off on From Snopes.com
Posted by taxguru on October 5, 2010
A State Income Tax for Washington State? – The spendaholics in that state have gone too far, so a tax on the “evil rich” may be on the horizon. Their $200,000 definition of who is evil rich will obviously drop down over time, as have all such soak the rich plans.
The Bill Gates Income Tax – From the WSJ
If Washington’s most famous billionaires are really worried about their state’s finances, they’d write personal checks to the government and leave everyone else alone.
New York’s Property Tax Nightmare – As long as there are evil property taxes, you can’t ever own property for real; just rent it from the government.
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More on New IRS PTIN Applications
Posted by taxguru on October 2, 2010
From a CPA in California:
Subject: PTIN Reg Debacle
Good Morning,I am a fellow tax pro in California. Saw your blog about the PTIN reg….Mine did not go well either. I got through the application, paid the fee and still no PTIN. They are saying it is a systems glitch. No solution yet, and we should call back next week (sigh). Once they get a solution, our PTIN may or may not arrive via email.Anyway, about the CAF—-I had the same problem. Space for too few digits. The agent I spoke with earlier today said they are aware of the issue and this will not cause a problem because they are ignoring the number.
My reply:
Thanks for sharing your experience with the PTIN reg process. It’s been almost three days since I submitted my application and payment, and still no response from IRS. I was wondering if something was wrong when I read other news articles about this that claimed that the number would be issued almost immediately. I’m guessing that those news sites just relied on the IRS press release, which is why I wanted to test it for myself before writing about it.
That is very typical “government intelligence” for them to ignore a number they require us to submit (CAF) and not even request a number that would save everyone a lot of time, the existing PTIN.
I’ve been too busy with extension returns to spend time calling IRS about this issue, so I appreciate your sharing your experience. Please keep me posted as to when you receive your PTIN and if it is the same one you already had.
If there is any lesson for other tax pros, it would be to hold off on this for at least a few more weeks until IRS can straighten out their glitches.
Kerry Kerstetter
Follow-Up:
Thanks, Kerry. Some practitioners in this area did get their number right away, and generally, it was the same as their old PTIN. Others, like me, got through the process and paid. But after 3 days, still no PTIN. Still another group of folks can’t get through the process because the system claims not to recognize their zip code or their SSN.I wonder what the ratio is of people who get their number to people who have problems….I will keep you posted.
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Tax Guru - Ker$tetter Letter 