The court case involving Rhiannon O’Donnabhain, the 63-year-old transgendered female who is suing the Internal Revenue Service to be allowed to deduct the cost of her sex change operation, just got a little more interesting – as if that were possible! The IRS and lawyers for O’Donnabhain sides rested their cases last week, but not…
The news this week has been chock full of stories about so-called “white collar criminals” like Helmsley, Tomko, and Ikebe, who made money by evading tax on millions of dollars. In many of these situations, jail time was drastically reduced (in Helmsley’s case from 16 years to less than 2 years) or altogether avoided (Tomko…
A Japanese housewife who made 400 million yen (which, using today’s conversion rate is $3,452,383.93 US) trading in foreign exchange markets was fined today for evading tax. The woman was estimated to have evaded 139 million yen ($1,200,091.07) US in income taxes. The 60 year old Tokyo woman, Yukiko Ikebe, received a suspended jail sentence…
Are good works enough to mitigate jail time? Is a nice resume an excuse to skip prison? Probably not. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, in United States v. Tomko, that a sentence given to William Tomko which did not include prison time was not appropriate considering his crime. The case illustrates…
Taxpayer asks: My son’s grandmother has offered to pay his tuition for graduate school this year. Can she get a tax deduction for this? Does my school have to report this as income? Taxgirl asks: First of all, as someone with a slew of student loans for graduate school, tell your son that he’s very…
As a bunch of folks predicted, Barry Bonds’ record-breaking home run ball (756) will be sold at auction. The fan who caught it, 21-year-old Matt Murphy, says he can’t afford to keep it because of the tax consequences. He reportedly said that “several people told him he would be taxed on the souvenir” if he…
I know, I know. It’s August. Tax season is eons away. You don’t want to think about it. But maybe you should. With some shrewd planning now, you can save thousands on your taxes come April. Consider these actions: 1. Refinance. Yes, the market is a mess right now. But there are still lenders willing…
Getting to Know You Tuesday has been on hiatus for a couple of weeks. It’s summer. It’s hot. People are on vacation. At least, those are the excuses I’m using (you don’t really want to hear about baby ear infections and selling my house). But I’m thrilled to announce that the series is back and…
Maybe it’s the line of work that I do – I do a lot of estates related work – but I’ve often thought about how I might be remembered after I’m gone. Maybe that seems morbid to some folks, but it’s something that I deal with week in and week out, how folks are remembered…
Naming a baby can be controversial. Trust me. I have three children and everyone seems to have an opinion as to whether each name suits the baby, whether it makes sense, whether it’s too ethnic, whether it’s not ethnic enough… And all three names are perfectly “normal” – whatever that means. Not a Django, Brittnee…