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Lawyer gets
5-cent tax bill, 4 cents back
This one is from the Detroit area,
reported by the Detroit Free Press ...
James
Howarth is a little confused by two letters he has
received from the IRS. The Detroit defense lawyer
received one letter in November that said he owed the
IRS money - 5 cents. He was warned that he should
pay "to avoid additional penalty and/or
interest".
Howarth says he then received a second
letter telling him the government owes him money - 4
cents. He was told he would have to request the
refund because it's less than $1.
"When I owe them a nickel, I must
pay them. It's not optional," he said.
"But when they owe me, I have to ask for it."
Howarth says he's not sure if there is
a connection between the two notices, or if the refund
represents a recalculation of the original bill.
The perplexed lawyer says he called an
IRS 800 telephone number but gave up after spending a
long time on hold.
Business.gov
introduces toolkit
Business.gov has a new "gadget"
that you can place on your web site which allows small
business owners to:
Search for information, forms, and
contacts from federal, state and local governments
Find topics of current interest to
the nation's small business community
Get a listing of licenses and
permits that apply to your business
Watch videos featuring expert
advice from successful entrepreneurs and small
business owners
Some recent
news
IRS
Getting Better at Appeals Process
The Internal Revenue Service's
Office of Appeals has improved its handling of
collection due process cases, but there are still
instances where taxpayers were not provided with their
right to a hearing, according to a new report ... Read
More...
AICPA
Mulls IFRS for Private Companies
The American Institute of CPAs'
Private Company Financial Reporting Committee held a
meeting to discuss whether International Financial
Reporting Standards should apply to private companies
in the
U.S.
, along with other matters ... Read
More...
Small
Businesses Raising Prices to Offset Inflation
Small business owners and managers
across the
U.S.
are raising their prices and increasing shipping and
handling fees in response to inflationary pressures,
according to a new survey ... Read
More...
Headhunters
Impersonate AICPA Reps
Unscrupulous headhunters have been
calling accounting firms pretending to be
representatives of the American Institute of CPAs in
order to steal lists of employees, warned the AICPA
... Read
More...
Clark
Schaefer Hackett Acquires Consulting Group
Clark Schaefer Hackett has acquired
the Clemans Group, a health care consulting firm,
adding extra resources for advising hospitals, medical
practices and dentist's offices ... Read
More...
2008
Pacesetter Selection Open for Entries
Accounting Technology has opened the
process for selecting its 2008 Pacesetters. The
selection is open to organizations that sell midmarket
accounting software. ... Read
More...
XBRL
- the benefits are clear, but challenges remain
The Securities and Exchange
Commission has made it clear through its recently
proposed rules that XBRL, or the Extensible Business
Reporting Language, will be mandatory for all filers
beginning in 2009 ... Read
More...
President
signs Economic Stimulus Package
On
February 13, 2008
, President George Bush signed a multibillion-dollar
economic rescue package that means $300 to $1,200 for
many American households.
For complete
details on this program, including IRS Fact Sheets, News
Releases and information on the senate vote, click
here.
Roth IRA or
Traditional IRA?
In
almost all cases the Roth IRA is a
better deal than the traditional
IRA, but not always. Which
is better for you?Find
out here ...
Interesting Advice
Words of advice for today
... Retirement Planning
If you had purchased
$1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be
worth $49.00. With Enron, you would have had
$16.50 of the original $1000.00. With WorldCom,
you would have had less than $5.00 left. But ...
if you had purchased $1000.00 worth of beer one year
ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the
aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00.
Based on the above, the
best current investment advice is to drink heavily and
recycle. It's called the 401-Keg Plan!
Man Indicted
for Ramming IRS Building
Birmingham,
Ala. (Dec. 2, 2008) ... By
WebCPA staff
A federal grand jury has
indicted a man after he crashed a motor vehicle
twice into the side of a building that contains
the offices of both the Internal Revenue Service
and the Small Business Administration.
Ernest Milton Barnett, 49, of
Birmingham, Ala., was charged in a two-count
indictment with assaulting a federal employee
with a deadly weapon and damaging government
property. One count of the indictment accuses
him of assaulting and intimidating federal
employees by ramming his vehicle into the IRS
and SBA building in Birmingham, while the other
count cites damage to the building and its
contents.
If convicted of the first
count, Barnett faces up to 20 years in prison
and a $250,000 fine. Conviction on the second
count could add another decade in prison and an
additional $250,000 fine to his sentence.
The case was investigated by
agents of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration's Office of Investigations and
will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
William G. Simpson.
18 Most
Beneficial Internet Sites for Tax Professionals
from the National Society of Tax Professionals
Keep or
Toss? What Tax Documentation Should You
Save?
National Association of Tax
Professionals (NATP) Appleton, WI – Once
you’ve completed your taxes and amassed all
your receipts, forms, and statements, what do
you do next? What gets kept and what gets
tossed? For some good advice, click
here ...
The U.S. Tax Court has
ruled that taxpayers using tax preparation
software can not blame the software for their
own negligence ... the
details are here ...
Child's name on home
title?
Many
people think it's a good idea to
put their child's name on the
title to their home. Find
out why here ...
Basic principles
designed to successfully minimize taxes
Tax liability can, depending on
individual circumstances, be managed and, in
some cases, dramatically reduced.
When seeking to minimize tax burdens, investors
should consider the four fundamental categories
of tax-advantaged investment alternatives:
tax-deferred, tax-free, tax-sheltered and
capital gains.
All tax planning strategies have financial
planning implications. Therefore, the key
is to take advantage of those strategies
consistent with other goals and
objectives. Read
more about it here ...
An IRS
Audit
The IRS decides to audit Ralph, and
summons him to the IRS office. The IRS auditor is not
surprised when Ralph shows up with his attorney.
The auditor says, 'Well, sir, you have
an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment,
which you explain by saying that you win money gambling
and the IRS finds that unbelievable.'
'I'm a great gambler and I can prove it,' says Ralph..
'How about a demonstration?'
The auditor thinks for a moment and said, 'Okay. Go
ahead.'
Ralph says, 'I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I can
bite my own eye.'
The auditor thinks a moment and says, 'No way! It's a
bet.'
Ralph removes his glass eye and bites it.
The auditor's jaw drops.
Ralph says, 'Now, I'll bet you two thousand dollars that
I can bite my other eye.'
The auditor can tell Ralph isn't blind, so he takes the
bet.
Ralph removes his dentures and bites his good eye The
stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost
three grand, with Ralph's attorney as a witness. He
starts to get nervous.
'Want to go double or nothing?' Ralph asks. 'I'll bet
you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of
your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other
side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.'
The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks
carefully and decides there's no way this guy can manage
that stunt, so he agrees again.
Ralph stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but
although he strains mightily, he can't make the stream
reach the wastebasket on other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the desk.
The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just
turned a major loss into a huge win. But Ralph's
attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.
'Are you okay?' the auditor asks. 'Not really,' says the
attorney. 'This morning, when Ralph told me he'd
been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty thousand
dollars that he could come in here and piss all over
your desk and that you'd be happy about it.'
