Posted by taxguru on April 11, 2016
I love stories like this, where those our rulers consider to have too much money decide that “enough is enough” and move to locations where they are allowed to keep more of their own things.
It would be such a great real world lesson to the spend-crazy rulers in State capitols around the country if they were to watch more of their Golden Geese fly away to lower tax locales.
Posted in StateTaxes | Comments Off on Another Fiscal Rape Victim Refuses to Prolong the Suffering
Posted by taxguru on April 10, 2016
What does this say about our tax system?
A Tax Court judge and her husband have been indicted for income tax fraud for claiming a lot of phony business deductions, the very thing that Tax Court judges rule on in almost every case they hear.
Thanks to the Spidell Tax Season Tribune for the heads-up on this very ironic case.
Posted in Crooks, IRS, TaxCourt | Comments Off on Another example of “Do as I say…”
Posted by taxguru on April 6, 2016
Washington DC has its Emancipation Day holiday to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which president Abraham Lincoln signed on April 16, 1862 to free the slaves in DC.
Every year, the Tax Foundation calculates the symbolic annual end of our slavery to all of the taxes we have to pay with Tax Freedom Day (TFD). Obviously the actual day people reach the freedom of working for themselves instead of working to feed the Tax Beasts is technically different for everyone. However, as an average nationwide, Tax Foundation has calculated TFD as April 24 this year. That would be April 25 if this weren’t a Leap Year.
What I found even more interesting is this picture of the Tax Freedom Day by State. It shows that residents of Mississippi have the earliest TFD, April 5 and with the latest TFD, the prize goes to Connecticut, where TFD is May 21.
Tax Foundation’s announcement and summary of Tax Freedom Day
Posted in TaxBurden | Comments Off on Tax Freedom Day
Posted by taxguru on March 23, 2016
It’s not receiving much press coverage, but Lois Lerner and her band of crooks inside the IRS are still being investigated by some die-hard groups who were persecuted by them and are suing them in a class action.
It’s definitely an uphill and practically hopeless battle to wage war against a Federal government that is as rotten and corrupt as the bHo Regime is; but it’s impressive and hopefully inspiring to other victims of IRS crimes that they are at least making an attempt at obtaining justice
Court rebukes IRS for tea party targeting, orders release of secret list
Federal appeals court slams IRS in Tea Party case, demands documents
Posted in Crooks, IRS | Comments Off on IRS Criminals Still Being Investigated
Posted by taxguru on March 16, 2016
The long streak of IRS charging 3.0% on back taxes will end on April 1, 2016, when it bumps up to 4.0%.
The “good” part of this change is that IRS will also be paying 4.0% interest to taxpayers on refunds from such things as amended tax returns. That’s a heck of a lot higher than banks are paying on savings accounts.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on First IRS Increase in Interest Rates since 2011
Posted by taxguru on March 16, 2016
I have heard several people proclaim that we are now less than a month away from the dreaded April 15 deadline. Not quite.
It may not seem like a big deal to most people, but for those of us in the Tax Season trenches, three more days can ease a lot of pressure.
Posted in TaxDay | Comments Off on 2016 Tax Day Is April 18
Posted by taxguru on February 26, 2016
It’s not just presidential candidates who have their personal tax returns opened up for public scrutiny. When we send IRS our private and confidential financial and tax data, we now have no way of knowing how many people are going to have access to that info. IRS has had to admit this fact, while still requiring us to disclose absolutely everything to them.
Cyberattack total is more than twice previously disclosed: IRS
With the same security geniuses in DC “protecting” our medical info via ObamaCare, that data is just as safe from prying eyes as our tax data is.
Posted in IRS | Comments Off on Tax returns have larger audience than normal…
Posted by taxguru on February 15, 2016
I couldn’t care less about the Super Bowl, but there is an income tax angle that warrants repeating once again.
Having a tax home in a tax free state, such as here in Florida, is a common tax savings technique, especially with professional athletes and entertainers. However, unless they do every single bit of their income earning work inside the borders of their home state, they may be required to file income tax returns and pay taxes to other states in which they played.
For Cam Newton, Adding Super Tax Insult to Super Bowl Injury
Posted in StateTaxes | Comments Off on Visiting State Income
Posted by taxguru on February 11, 2016
Posted in IRS, ObamaCare | Comments Off on Let the finger-pointing begin…
Posted by taxguru on February 11, 2016
From a Reader:
Subject: 709 form question
Hi, If my husband and I want to both gift the max ($14000) to our child and we both write separate checks, do either of us need to file a 709 ? Thank You
My Reply:
As long as either of your total gifts to your child for the year, not counting the exempt types (medical & education), don’t exceed $14,000 for the calendar year, neither of you will need to file a 709.
This is important to be aware of because if you each give him/her $14,000 this early in the year, additional gifts later in the year could push the total for 2016 over the $14,000 threshold and 709s may end up being necessary.
I have attached a short flyer that explains the gifting rules in a little more detail.
Good luck. I hope this helps.
Kerry
Follow-Up Q:
Hi Kerry,
One last follow-up … Do the checks need to be written out of separate accounts that belong solely to myself and my husband ? Meaning, not joint accounts.
thanks
Follow-Up A:
It really doesn’t matter which accounts the money comes from.
It can all come out of a joint account and you can claim that half of the gift is made by each of you.
Likewise, all of the money can come out of a separately owned account and using the IRS approved concept of Gift Splitting, the gift can be attributed to both spouses.
I have attached more info on this from one of my main tax reference services, TheTaxBook.
I hope this into is useful.
Kerry
Final Q:
Thank you! But as long as both checks are under 14k , we do not need to file the 709, is that correct?
Final Reply:
You may have missed my point from the previous email about joint gifts.
The gifts don’t have to be in separate checks or from separate accounts.
They can be in one or a dozen checks. All you need to worry about is that the total given to your child during the year is less than $28,000.
I hope this info helps.
Kerry
Final Comment:
Ok, thanks again ! appreciate the return !!
Posted in Gifting | Comments Off on Gift Tax Reporting
Tax Guru - Ker$tetter Letter 