IRS STRIVES FOR 71%

It’s NFL playoff time. Football gets interesting to me this time of year. As I was reading the latest report on the working of the IRS I had to think, “what would people say if an NFL coach said that he expects his team to give 71% in the playoff game?" Athletes always promise to give 110%, which by the way is impossible. I wonder what one of my tax clients would say if I told him or her that I was going to find 71% of the tax deductions that are available. But I guess 71% is good enough for the IRS. The IRS is only promising to try to answer 71 percent of calls from the taxpaying public. The thing is that they consider 71% a great goal.

More than that, the expected average wait time is 12 minutes and if you do get through, the question is do you get the correct answers. The odds of that happening are most likely going to be the same as in the past; 33% to 50% odds they are wrong.

Here is this IRS announcement per a recent article in USA Today.

And the government thinks that they can do a better job running our health care?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Smooth seas do not make
skillful sailors."
African proverb

HOW THE GOVERNMENT PAYROLL REPLACED GOODS-PRODUCING JOBS

"The decline of the jobs in goods producing sectors of the economy--construction, manufacturing, mining and agriculture--has largely been met with an increase in jobs on the government payroll."

The chart below tracks this increase. Read the rest of the article at: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-goods-producing-wrokers-vs-government-payroll-2010-1.

WATER HEATERS AND TAX REBATES

Larry, we had to replace a broken water heater...are there tax rebates for this?

Annie

Annie, the only credit for water heaters is for solar water heaters. Sorry.

Larry Kopsa CPA

A GREAT ATTITUDE FOR THE NEW YEAR!

Confidence will take you everywhere!

I AM ME and I AM OKAY!

Self Esteem by "Virginia Satir"
"I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it – I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself.

I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts.

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know – but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me.

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded.

I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me.

I am me, and I am Okay."

From Self Esteem by "Virginia Satir"

REPORT YOUR GUNS TO THE IRS?

Larry, a friend told me that we are going to have to tell the government if we have a gun. We will have to disclose this on our tax return. I figured if anyone would know if this is true it would be you. There is a Starbucks riding on your answer.

Max

Max, that is a hoax that's been floating around the net for quite awhile. The 2009 forms are in place and they don't have anything for reporting firearms. Snopes.com has a good explanation of it. In case you need evidence to win the bet, here is a link to the actual 2009 1040: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf. When you look at it, you'll see that there is absolutely nothing about firearms.

Larry Kopsa CPA

QUESTION ON MAXIMUM GIFT EXCLUSIONS

Larry, I was wondering if you could help me out with a few questions. I have been doing quite a bit of extensive searching for the maximum gift exclusions for years 1994, 1995, and 1996 and haven’t been able to get anywhere. Was wondering if maybe you might know what these numbers would be? Thanks so much for your help in advance.

Yvonne

Yvonne, It was $10,000 for each of those years, as you can see in the attached chart, which was part of the more extensive history of the gift tax that you can download from here.

Good luck. I hope this helps

Larry Kopsa CPA