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tax professionals

They Say It’s Your Birthday…

September 29, 2009 · 15 comments

It’s my birthday, too, yeah. So, in honor of the day, in the tradition of bloggers everywhere, I present ten things you may not know about me…

1, I share a birthday with actress Jill Whelan. She and I have much in common: she starred in one of my favorite movies, Airplane!, and the wildly popular show, Love Boat, before moving to Philadelphia while I played the role of Snoopy in my junior high production of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown before moving to Philadelphia. She, however, was never a tax attorney – ha!

2, At various times in my life, I wanted to be an actress, a teacher, a baseball player (which reminds me: Charlie Manuel, if you haven’t found a replacement for Lidge, I’m still available through October) and a lawyer. My dad is fond of relating the story of my telling people that I wanted to be a lawyer so that I could be rich and just write poetry. I clearly overestimated how much they pay lawyers – which is why I now just write tax haiku.

3, When people ask me what I do for a living now, I tell them I’m a tax attorney who also writes about tax (this may frighten them a little). If you think that’s confusing to grown-ups, think of my poor children: they often tell people that I drive a taxi.

4, My husband and I are both lawyers and yes, we met in law school. I didn’t care for him very much during our first year because I thought he was too sarcastic. If you read the blog very often and know my writing style, that should boggle your mind.

5, In law school, I swore I would never take a tax course, bar review or no bar review, because I thought it would be boring. There’s a lesson to be learned here – and it’s not to not listen to me.

6, The worst grade I ever got in law school was in tax – the first tax course I ever took. I was devastated and went to my professor in tears. I was already signed up for my IRS clerkship by the time I got my grade and wanted to quit. My professor convinced me to not quit. I completely attribute my being a tax geek today to my terrific law school tax profs.

7, I did a stint as a tax prof myself for a bit at Community College of Philadelphia. I taught Wills and Trusts. The great thing about growing up in a Southern family is that I didn’t really have to embellish any of my family for the hypos – although I did occasionally. For example, my dad does, in fact, have an entire room in our house dedicated to all things Coca-Cola – though as far as I know, none of the bottles contain flesh-eating bacteria. Again, as far as I know…

8, I have really fond memories of my childhood except for a few “incidents” involving my brothers and some strategically placed walkie-talkies (no, Rob and T, I haven’t forgotten). Some of my best memories revolve around my maternal grandmother who made a pretty mean vegetable soup. She died of cancer and I now run the Komen 5k in her memory (Team Joye). I’m running again in May – if you’re feeling charitable, you can make a donation. Make it by the end of the year and you can claim it as a tax deduction!

9, I now have three kids of my own – fortunately, my daughter’s invisible friend, Mary, has moved on (I did not claim her as a tax deduction, despite my father’s belief that I could). I have no idea what my kids will be when they grow up though I would not be surprised to see my middle child off Broadway (and I mean, off, off Broadway). My husband and I have always said that they can be anything they want except a stripper or a lawyer – and we’re willing to bend on stripper.

10, My other “baby” is taxgirl. I’ve been blogging for a number of years now (even before I bought taxgirl.com). Way back… As in back in the day when my mom didn’t even know what a blog was and my dad was just about my only reader. It’s been the most fun a tax geek can have (and still hold a job). I really do appreciate all of my readers for giving me inspiration and encouragement every.single.day. And thanks, of course, to Richard Hatch, for constantly giving me something to write about.

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Young Tax Lawyers to Be Wanted

September 8, 2009 · 2 comments

More back to school!

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The ABA Section of Taxation Young Lawyers Forum has released the 2009 Tax Challenge Problems, as well as lots of updated info for the 9th Annual Law Student Tax Challenge. An alternative to traditional moot court competitions (and boy, as someone who hated the entire moot court experience, I think this is great) the Annual Law Student Tax Challenge challenges teams of students to solve problems that might arise in the practice of tax law.

I’ve read the problems – they’re fun! You can win a free trip (including airfare and accommodations for two nights) to the Section’s 2010 Midyear Meeting, January 21-23 at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio, TX. On the plus side, it’s a free trip to somewhere warm in the middle of January. On the down side? You’ll have to defend your submissions before a panel of some of the country’s top tax lawyers. But that’s not much of a down side when you consider the tremendous exposure you’ll gain.

Check out the competition’s web site for more information. And be mindful of these upcoming deadlines:

Nov. 13, 2009: Written Submissions Due

Dec. 21, 2009: Semi-Finalists Notified

Jan. 22, 2008: Oral Rounds at Section of Taxation Midyear Meeting

Good luck!

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But Tax Pros Are Already Certifiable…

June 18, 2009 · 9 comments

It seems that the IRS’ on again off again love affair with the idea of certifying tax preparers is on again. Earlier this month, IRS Commish Doug Shulman announced a proposal that would require tax preparers be licensed and certified. The immediate feedback on the proposal has been mixed.

My colleagues at the ABA are, of course, backing the idea of such a proposal. The ABA has been actively supporting increased oversight of tax preparers since 2004.

Even before the ABA voiced their opinion on the matter, IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has called for regulation of the tax preparation industry (her calls for action date to 2002). In her most recent report to Congress, Olson again called for increased oversight of tax preparers. She cited a 2006 “undercover” study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) where auditors posing as taxpayers made 19 visits to several national tax preparation chains in a large metropolitan area. Errors were found on all 19 returns, some of which resulted in thousands of dollars of improper refund amounts. In more than half of the cases, the preparers advised that reporting certain income was unnecessary “because the IRS would have no way of knowing about it.”

A similar study conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found nearly identical results. TIGTA auditors targeted not only commercial chains but 16 small, independently owned tax return preparation offices, as well. More than half of the returns contained errors and more than a third of those mistakes were considered to be “willful or reckless.” All of the business returns were prepared inaccurately.

So it would follow that requiring additional training and education might help resolve these issues. Or maybe not. Two states have already implemented certification requirements: Oregon and California. The initial feedback is that the accuracy of the returns prepared in Oregon has increased. But California? Not so much. The accuracy of those returns has actually decreased. Does that mean that that certification doesn’t work… or is that just California?

Therein is the problem: will certification actually improve tax compliance and reduce fraud?

Even if it would, how could the IRS possibly regulate the industry? In 2007, there were nearly 138 million individual federal income tax returns filed. Sixty-one percent of those individual federal income tax returns — about 84 million — were completed by paid preparers.

And how would we pay for it? The IRS is already underfunded. And our economy is not exactly the ideal time to be adding to the budget. Implementing many of the ideas put forth by Olson and Shulman will cost tax dollars – and while the goal may be noble, are we really willing to pay additional tax dollars to protect our tax dollars?

As you can imagine, this topic is a hot one in the tax pro world. For more information, you can see my article in the Intelligencer (subscription required). And for some great commentary, see these posts:

The official IRS release on the proposal can be found here.

What do you think? A big yes or a big mess?

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Tax Jobs 08-2

November 25, 2008 · 3 comments

Below is the list of tax jobs for this week.

(I had hoped to post them over the weekend but I was a wee bit busy… Yes, I’ll gloat. I ran my first ever competitive race this weekend, an 8k. I did okay for a first timer.)

1, Tax Manager – Madison, WI

2, Senior Tax Manager – Raleigh, NC

3, Senior Tax Specialist – Raleigh, NC

4, Tax/Estate Attorney – Worcester, MA

5, International Tax Specialist – Atlanta, GA

6, Expatriate Tax Senior – Philadelphia, PA

7, Business Tax Advisory-Diversified Tax Senior – Memphis, TN

8, Adjunct Instructor of Accounting – Coon Rapids, MN

9, Assistant Professor of Accounting – Alamosa, CO

10, Assistant/Associate Professor of Business Law – LaCrosse, WI

11, Seasonal Tax Positions – Various Locations (H&R Block)

12, International Human Resources Tax Team Expatriate Administrator – Montgomery Co, MD

13, Senior Tax Associate – Pittsburgh, PA

14, Director, Corporate Tax – Atlanta, GA

15, Senior Accountant, International – Burbank, CA

16, Senior Manager – Tax – Baltimore, MD

(Psst, I can’t vouch for these openings, so please exercise good judgment!)

If you’re looking to hire, send me the details via email and I’ll post the info in my next edition of Tax Jobs.

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KPMG Defendants File for Mistrial

25 November 2008

I’m not a trial lawyer. In fact, there are many, many things that I’d prefer to do than be lead counsel at a trial: sleep on a bed of nails, summer in the swamps of Louisiana, have dinner with Scarlett Johansson (I have a hate/hate thing for her)…
Get the picture?
With that, I try [...]

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Tax Jobs

14 November 2008

I know, I know, it’s tough out there. But on the plus side, tax season is coming! Here are some tax jobs that I’ve seen advertised as of late:
1, Senior Tax Accountant – Palm Beach County
2, Senior Tax Accountant – Philadelphia
3, Tax Accountants – East Norriton, PA
4, Tax Preparer – West Chester, PA
5, [...]

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Twittering Tax Pros, Take Two

10 November 2008

In April of this year, I posted a list of Twittering Tax Pros. Since then, I’ve been tweeting up a storm and my list of folks that I follow has grown – that means it’s time for an update!
Here’s the list so far (arranged by ABC order of real names, well, except for [...]

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Professor Ting Offers His Side of the Story

8 August 2008

Earlier today, I blogged the story of my former law professor’s expulsion from the GOP in Delaware. I followed up via email with Professor Ting, who graciously agreed to answer a series of questions about the fiasco – and his quick views on the candidates and tax reform – despite the fact that he’s [...]

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Summer Slump: Finding Your Groove

14 July 2008

My daughter was invited to a birthday party today where she expected to swim – only the kids decided to go play a little wiffle ball first. For six and seven year olds, some of them were pretty hardcore ballplayers, even wearing their softball outfits to the park. Katie, standing in her glittery [...]

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Looking to Make a Difference? Consider VITA.

3 July 2008

For years, I was a site coordinator for the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at our local senior center. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and highly recommend it to anyone seeking a volunteer opportunity.
VITA is a program that offer free tax preparation and/or assistance for low-to-moderate income individuals. The specific type of [...]

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