Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Helping real people win the tax game.

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Posted by taxguru on February 4, 2015

From Jimmy Fallon via Newsmax:

Yesterday Obama presented a $4 trillion budget that he says would help the middle class. Then the middle class said, “You know what? How about you just give us the $4 trillion? We’ll figure out what to do with it.”

President Obama unveiled a $4 trillion budget for 2016 that would increase taxes on the wealthy and spend more money on education. He also made a snowball and put it in the oven, just to see which would last longer, his budget or the snowball.

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Posted by taxguru on February 4, 2015

The blind leading the blind...

IRS Seeks 9,000 New Employees as It Prepares to Enforce Obamacare

 

IRS Begging for more money for operations:

IRS Chief: “We Still Have Applications That Were Running When JFK Was President” – We’re bound to see more and more stories such as this, under the IRS’s PR campaign to raise the public’s sympathy level to fork over more dough.


Where could IRS possibly find extra money?

IRS offers extra tax refunds to illegal immigrants granted amnesty by Obama


‘Tis the Season:

Thieves Targeting Mailboxes For W-2s, So They Can Steal Tax Refunds – Just as scumbag crooks exploit the Christmas season to steal gifts from vehicles, they ransack mailboxes for items that can be financially rewarding for them.

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Paying Voluntary ObamaCare Penalty?

Posted by taxguru on January 31, 2015

White House Seeks to Limit Health Law’s Tax Troubles

Millions to owe Obamacare tax penalty

Considering how easily anyone can claim an exemption from the penalty for not having proper health insurance coverage, it will be interesting to see how many people volunteer to actually pay it. I certainly don’t expect any of our clients to do so.

QuickBooks Pro 2015 Software - Enjoy $50 off! Save Time & Get Organized!

Posted in ObamaCare | Comments Off on Paying Voluntary ObamaCare Penalty?

IRS Cover-up Continues

Posted by taxguru on January 30, 2015

Eric Holder’s task of covering up the IRS crimes will continue under the new Attorney General, who is just as loyal to the bHo Regime’s agenda.

ABCs of IRS mess: Justice Department is tainted, too

 

 

Posted in Crooks, IRS | Comments Off on IRS Cover-up Continues

IRS “Customer Service” is Slipping

Posted by taxguru on January 27, 2015

IRS commissioner: ‘It’s a challenging year’

From this week’s episode of NewsBusted comes this tip about the upcoming Tax Season.

Posted in IRS, TaxSeason | Comments Off on IRS “Customer Service” is Slipping

Breaking Tax Free Promises

Posted by taxguru on January 26, 2015

Obama’s Blues for the Middle Class: Let’s Tax Withdrawals From 529 College Savings Accounts

Obama’s Tax Hikes on “The Rich” Would Slam the Middle Class

This is another example of how our rulers in DC have no qualms about willy-nilly changing the tax laws and breaking promises of tax breaks.  Some of you long term readers may recall how I was one of the few tax pros advising against people converting traditional IRAs to Roths and paying actual taxes now for promised future tax free withdrawals.  I warned, just as with similar broken promises with Social Security benefits, our insane rulers in DC have a history of breaking these kinds of promises. I still believe that they will come up with some kind of “means testing” where anyone earning over a certain amount will be ineligible for tax free Roth withdrawals.  That’s what they did with Social Security benefits.

Hopefully, the GOP Congress will prevent this kind of change to 529 plans for education; but this shows that it is in the realm of possibility.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Breaking Tax Free Promises

Hard to feel sorry for IRS budget woes

Posted by taxguru on January 23, 2015

when they spend what they have like this.

IRS Has Active Contract For MILLIONS With Company HHS FIRED Over Botched Healthcare.gov

According to this recent IRS memo regarding budget cutbacks, some of the consequences don’t seem too bad.

Fewer audit and collection cases. Reduced staffing in enforcement will result in at least
46,000 fewer individual and business audit closures and more than 280,000 fewer Auto-
mated Collection System and Field Collection case closures.

Posted in IRS | Comments Off on Hard to feel sorry for IRS budget woes

Tax Season has begun

Posted by taxguru on January 22, 2015

From Jimmy Kimmel via Newsmax:

Today was the first day you could file a tax return. If you filed a tax return today, congratulations, nerd.

People who file their taxes on the first day are the grown-up version of the kids who ask the teacher for extra homework in school.

The IRS suggests filing early to reduce the chance that someone will steal your identity and file before you. Honestly, if somebody wants my identity so badly they’ll file my tax return for me, go crazy. You can mow my lawn while you’re at it, too.

Parody from National Report:

IRS Declares Bankruptcy: Many Refunds Due Cancelled

Posted in humor, TaxSeason | Comments Off on Tax Season has begun

Messy Tax Season Ahead – DIY Will Be Dangerous

Posted by taxguru on January 14, 2015

With all of the last minute tax law changes, as well as the ridiculous ObamaCare issues to deal with, it’s going to be a chaotic Tax Season from the side of us practitioners.  It doesn’t help any that IRS will be just as messed up as we will be.

IRS cuts taxpayer services as filing returns gets harder

IRS ignores phone calls, does not let elderly people leave messages 

IRS chief warns of refund delays, poor customer service this tax year

Obama administration begins to issue vital Obamacare forms for tax filers

Obamacare Problems? Now in Hands of IRS

As I have made clear over the years, I have never been a fan of people preparing their own tax returns, for their own protection.  Even with the most expensive tax software, it’s still a matter of GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).  It’s similar to buying a scalpel and a book on human anatomy and assuming that you are properly prepared to perform surgery on a person.

I am once again stressing this point because I have been receiving all kinds of emails from PR firms and software companies asking me to promote their DIY tax programs.  I just can’t do that.  What is very clear is the fact that this Tax Season is going to be the worst time for tax DIYers.  Even we experienced tax pros will be having problems.  Amateurs have no chance of getting everything right.

What I can confidently predict is that we will have a lot of work redoing tax returns and straightening out DIY screw-ups.  The problem is that not all tax mistakes can be corrected with amended returns.  Some things that are done on original returns are not reversible and could cost DIYers thousand of dollars in lost tax benefits, making what they supposedly saved in tax prep fees pale in comparison.

Great deals on gadgets

QuickBooks Premier 2015 Software - Enjoy $120 off! Save Time & Get Organized!

Posted in IRS, TaxSeason | Comments Off on Messy Tax Season Ahead – DIY Will Be Dangerous

Another parody that could come true?

Posted by taxguru on January 12, 2015

I have always been a  big fan of parody and satire when it’s done well.  The Onion and National Report have been turning out great satire on the web.  I can’t resist the urge to post the tax related ones that may soon become reality, such as this one from National Report.

California Withholding Tax Refunds Due in 2015 Until 2016 –  This is so effective because it piggybacks on tactics that the rulers of the PRC have actually used in previous years, delaying tax refund payments in order to help the State’s cash flow.  It has also long been true that the FTB is much more ruthless and aggressive than the IRS when it comes to collecting taxes that it believes are owed.  It is not a parody that the FTB actually helps train IRS agents on how to more effectively squeeze money out of people.

 

Posted in Calif, humor | Comments Off on Another parody that could come true?