It’s nearly time to go shopping! On Friday, retailers will offer bargains on all kinds of holiday gifts just in time for the season. South Carolina is going one better: a sales tax holiday on Black Friday. For guns. And here I was planning on a plain ol’ Stig on a Rope. Yes, the Revenue…
Earlier this month, I posted on WalletPop that tax audits were on the rise. I know – not just because the IRS has admitted as much (they have) or because I’m seeing an increase in audits at my practice and with my colleagues (I am) – but because I’m finding myself on the other side…
Remember this post about taxing plastic surgery? Well, it appears that the Senate, in its effort to tax everything possible to pay for health care reform (you’re right, I’m exaggerating, not everything… health insurance companies will make out okay) is forging ahead with its plan to tax cosmetic surgery. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has introduced…
It’s Fix the Tax Code Friday! This week, there has been a lot of discussion across the internet about “going Dutch” a la the pay-per-kilometer system recently passed in Amsterdam. So today’s Fix the Tax Code Friday question is: Should the US consider a pay-per-mile tax system to pay for roads and other infrastructures? If…
Taxpayer asks: Several elderly friends have asked me to help them with administratrive work in there home. I would probably do this on an ongoing basis and I am sure each would end up paying me more that $600 a year. I would report all of this money (Schedule C I think) but am concerned…
And here I thought my days of reporting on Joe Francis were over… It turns out that the Girls Gone Wild founder hasn’t quite put his tax woes behind him. After taking a deal to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns – and escaping additional jail time in the process…
It was a question posed to US taxpayers by the IRS in the wake of the UBS scandal: do you feel lucky? The US offered US taxpayers the opportunity to voluntarily disclose offshore bank accounts as part of an amnesty program earlier this year. The choice? Come forward now and escape criminal prosecution or take…
The Dutch are well known for Delft pottery, wooden shoes, legalized prostitution, and windmills. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of those things haven’t caught on in all areas of the world (oh c’mon, tell me that you have a pair of wooden shoes in your closet). I have a feeling that list of things that aren’t…
Who says that a little pressure doesn’t work these day? Singapore and Liechtenstein have both apparently decided that they wanted to be one of the cool kids after all. This week, both countries received word that they are slated to be removed from the dreaded gray list of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development…
The woman who claims that she “never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back” may have to change her mind when it comes to Bernie Madoff. Zsa Zsa Gabor claims to have lost between $7-$10 million as part of Madoff’s scheme, leaving her with some substantial tax woes. The 92 year old actress…