It’s Fix the Tax Code Friday! Casinos are headed to Pennsylvania and many other states this year as revenue raisers for state governments. Winnings are taxable. If you lose, you can only deduct to the extent of your winnings and only if you itemize. This week’s question: Should gambling losses be deductible? Should there be…
Word on the Street (Wall Street, that is) is that one of the items on the Dems’ new agenda will be to reverse the prior decision to outsource IRS Collections activities to private collection agencies. Democratic leaders have been among the most vociferous opponents to the change, which was to take effect in September 2006.
As if Tom Brady and Curt Schilling aren’t enough, Massachusetts has given some taxpayers yet another reason to be thankful: Patriots Day. The holiday, which honors the battles of Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary Way is observed on the third Monday in April. Yeah, April. So you know what that means… Tax Day! The traditional Tax Day is…
As previously reported, the IRS appears to be on a fee raising binge… And they’ve struck again! According to the IRS, as of the first of the year (January 1, 2007) fees for installment agreements will increase as follows: The fee for new direct debit installment agreements, where payments are deducted directly from a taxpayer’s…
In addition to this being the time of the year when 501(c)(3) organizations come calling for charitable contributions of cash, it’s also the season for making donations of goods. Most commonly, that tends to be clothing and household items. I know from personal experience since I have three full bags of “gently worn” maternity and…
I know, I know. When people say things are new and improved, they usually aren’t. But this time, they’re wrong. I’ve rolled all of the good stuff that used to be at intaxicated.net into my new site here at taxgirl.com. I’ve spiffed up the site with a new logo (thanks to the fabulously talented Jay…
It’s Fix The Tax Code Friday! This week’s question: Earlier in the week, following the elections, Nancy Pelosi indicated that she would make it a priority to scale back tax cuts for higher income taxpayers and distribute those to middle class taxpayers. If you were making the cuts, would you opt for cuts across the…
Nobody wants a partisan tax blogger. It’s so… impolitic, if you will. So, I’m not going to offer any real commentary about the election on yesterday in terms of winners and losers. You can do your own Wednesday morning quarterbacking. That said, the face of the House has changed drastically with the loss of 27…
Despite published rumors to the contrary, and as posted here on taxgirl.com, the prosecution has not reached a deal in the Wesley Snipes tax case: there is no settlement. According to the Tampa Tribune, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill, who is prosecuting Snipes and two co-defendants advised that the story which first broke in Variety…
Taxpayer asks: My question is about how to file taxes for my work. Since I’m writing a TV show blog, can I deduct my cable bills? How about my internet? Taxgirl says: Ahh, deductions, the most mysterious of tax form entries. What’s deductible? What’s not? A lot of what can be deducted is very fact-specific,…