Don’t Forget about 2006 Tax Law Changes – From Intuit’s latest issue of ProConnection

IRS Related Photoshop contest – Some funny IRS pics from the creative folks at FreakingNews. Too many to post here, so take a browse through them.

House Leaders Indicate Budget Process Reform, Spending Cuts Likely – I’m not holding my breath waiting for this to actually ever happen, especially not with the current crew of drunken sailors in charge. 

Estate Tax Must Go, Says Frist – Uphill battle against the growing number of supporters of Marxist wealth redistribution, such as this blogger.

Questions Remain on Private Collection as IRS Poised to Hand Out Contracts – What could possibly go wrong with freelance tax collectors?  Look at who’s waiting to use his skills in this lucrative profession.

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From an attorney:

Subject: EIC disallowance

Dear Mr. Kerstetter:

Regarding your blog reader who inquired about challenging the disallowance of the EIC, another alternative would be to contact the nearest law school.  Many law schools offer low-income tax law assistance and can help with a Tax Court petition.  The matter will probably be resolved before it gets to litigation, and the representation is free.  Not all taxpayers qualify, and not all schools have this program, but it is an effective recourse for a taxpayer with limited means.

My Reply:

That’s a very good idea, which I will pass along.

That sounds like a slightly more technical version of the IRS’s VITA program, where I got my start in the tax prep profession over 30 years ago while an accounting student in college. 

Thanks for sharing that idea.

Kerry Kerstetter

 Follow-Up:

I appreciate your reply.  I did both VITA and tax law clinic as a law student at Quinnipiac and enjoyed both of them.  The clinic requires students to focus much more on tax procedure than on aspects of the return.  If you want more information on these programs, I would suggest asking Prof. Paul Caron of the TaxProf Blog; he probably can get you a list of schools that offer assistance to low-income taxpayers.  Thank you for your work on your sites; they’re always enjoyable.

 

 

From David Letterman’s Late Show:

10. “Instead of CPA training, employees got CPR training”

9. “Forgot to carry the one 32 million times”

8. “For years we’ve been secretly funding Hamas”

7. “H was out sick that day and R was on jury duty”

6. “We were using Martha Stewart’s guy”

5. “Were testing the world’s first accounting monkey”

4. “Come on, it’s a couple of dollars. It’s not like we shot a guy in the face…”

3. “Hard to stay focused when you’ve been drinking since April 16th”

2. “Thirty-two million dollars?! We lose that much on a good day”

1. “Hoping for hot make-up sex with the IRS”

 

Q:

Subject: Stocks to Offer

 

Good Morning,

 

We are a small group of R&D researchers looking to form a small C Corp and would like to offer stocks to investors in order to try and gain enough funds to prototype a few different models for producing liquid fuel with the co-generation of electricity of systems we’ve been designing and preparing to build out.

Can you tell me where we can learn about the stock offer limitations and total funds we can collect? I understand there are limitations on the number of offers that can be made as well as cap on total funds.

We are also looking at partnering (or possibly contracting with) a Canadian Company. Are there restrictions for receiving funds from their investors directly or through the Company and would one way or the other be better?

Thank you so much for your time and an advice you can offer. Have a great week.

A:

This is area where you absolutely must work with an attorney and a CPA firm that both have experience in public stock offerings in your state.  The rules differ in each state and can get very complex in regard to several different aspects of this kind of thing.  Your attorney will inform you of the potential penalties, including investor lawsuits, that can arise from failing to properly dot every I and cross every T.

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter

 

Gambling With Your Taxes: How to Report Your Wagers – Some good tips from Gail Buckner

Arkansas DFA has set up an online refund inquiry service for individual taxpayers.  You just enter your SSN and zip-code.  I’m not sure how useful this will be. I just tried it for a couple of clients, and it came up with the following message in each case.

Income Tax: Refund Inquiry

There is currently no return found for the Social Security Number and ZIP code you entered. It may take as long as six (6) weeks from the time you mail your return until it can be located in our processing system. Also, you may want to verify the Social Security Number, and ZIP code you entered with those found on your copy of your return. If you have additional questions, please call (501) 682-1100 inside Pulaski County, or outside of Arkansas, or 1-800-882-9275 WATS, in Arkansas.

Q:

Exchange Question

What if I sell Florida then use only some of the money for another property in another state?  Or can I use it to pay off one of the other financed properties?

A:

Like kind replacement real property can be in any state; not just the one where the original property was located.

If you reinvest less than the net sales price, you will have to report as taxable income the difference; the amount you missed the target replacement price by.

Paying off loans on property you already own is not a like kind investment.  You have to acquire new property.

Your personal professional tax advisor should be able to help you with real numbers for your unique circumstances.

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter