The IRS Audit Blog

Posts Tagged ‘federal’

Question: Claiming dependent on my taxes?

Last year most of my family lived together. My mom and I signed the lease and took care of most of the bills, etc. She’s already filed and claimed my little brother (who is 18, goes to school, and doesn’t work). Could I also claim him, considering we both provided for him? From what I read from the IRS, it seems possible, as the rule about one of us providing more than 50% of his support doesn’t apply to son/brothers.

Answer: A person can only be claimed as a dependent once per year. If your mom claimed him as her dependent, you cannot claim him.

E-File or Else: What’s New for Tax Season

Uncle Sam is making it harder for you to file your tax return on paperbut is offering some sweet deductions.

How to Prove Head of Household for the IRS – TurboTax Video 2010

Question: Accountants! Don’t be boring, save the planet instead!?

Have you lived in a country which should be stinking rich but is jam packed with people living in blighted misery?

The fundamental reason is always corruption in public office. Who can spot that? Only accountants. But audit within a nation is controlled by the government of said nation, and accountants with guns at their heads or bungs in their pockets are only human. So here’s my idea:

…a UN sponsored crack team of Chartered Accountants and Auditors who can be called or sent into a country and audit all or any part of the public tax and spend therein. They could have very limited powers, e.g. report only (red/amber/green), or you could give them the ability to send people to the Hague.

Participation by the countries concerned would be voluntary (which suggests that limited powers are actually more effective) and would occur if a government wanted to show itself to be clean, maybe after a scandal, or because it was excluded from some club such as WTO.

Well?

Answer: I like that idea. The practical issues (such as the breadth of specialist knowledge required) are immense though; public sector accounting is nowhere near as organised as corporate accounting (which itself varies wildly across jurisdictions). Also, the limitation of powers means they would have to face the same problems that make UN weapon inspections so ineffective.

Simplified net income taxation okayed

THE House committee on ways and means has approved a bill simplifying the net income taxation scheme (SNITS) that aims to limit from 10 to eight the allowable business deductions from gross revenues for self-employed individuals and professionals. As per the approved bill, deductions from gross income shall be allowed for only eight expenses: salaries and wages; supplies and utilities; rentals …

Energy Efficiency Audit Training | …

Question: Widow of IRS employee killed by Joseph Stack’s plane is suing pilot’s widow?

AUSTIN, Tex. – The widow of the Internal Revenue Service employee killed when a Texas man crashed his plane into the agency’s office is suing the pilot’s widow.

The lawsuit against Sheryl Stack seeks to determine if her husband, Joseph Stack, left behind insurance policies or other assets, attorney Daniel Ross says.

Ross represents Valerie Hunter, whose husband, Vernon Hunter, 68, was killed last week when, authorities say, Joseph Stack deliberately crashed his single-engine plane into the IRS office.

The pilot left behind a lengthy anti-government Internet posting blaming the IRS for his problems.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, says Sheryl Stack should have warned others about her husband.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/02/24/2010-02-24_widow_of_texas_irs_attacker_sued.html

What do you think of this ???

Answer: It seems like a greedy woman and an ambulance-chasing lawyer got together to try to sue for more than the deceased would have made in 10 lifetimes. This is a perfect example of the need for “loser pays” tort reform. A counter-suit would be in order against both the plaintiff and her attorney. If I were on the jury, the case would be dismissed out of hand. If anything, a monetary award would be made to the defendant in compensation for grief and suffering caused by the plaintiff and her attorney.

America 2.0: How to create a true ‘new deal’

My recent column suggesting Congress should make a down payment on restoring our trust by returning the excess employment taxes workers have paid since 1984 hit a nerve. Reader mail carried messages of frustration and anger — a sense of futility a …

The Disaster At The General Accountability Office

Question: Does anyone know where I can obtain or download a IRS Form 1099 for free. I need a blank form.?

Answer: Go to your local IRS office or call
1-800-829-1040

Don’t forget to do your taxes

So far, this tax season in Park City has been a real snoozer. Local accountants report that nothing new in tax law is applicable for the 2010 year,

Tax Forms & Deductions : How to Calculate Your Earnings & Taxes

Question: Can you help me out fill the form W 4 2009?

Call me stupid or whatever, but I get confused with this part:

5
Total number of allowances you are claiming (from line H above or from the applicable worksheet on page 2)
6 $
6
Additional amount, if any, you want withheld from each paycheck
7
I claim exemption from withholding for 2009, and I certify that I meet both of the following conditions for exemption.
c Last year I had a right to a refund of all federal income tax withheld bec ause I had no tax liability and
c This year I expect a refund of all federal income tax withheld because I expect to have no tax liab ility.
7
If you meet both conditions, write “Exempt” here

What numbers should I input there? Please help, this is the first time I fill one of these forms.

Website: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf (The part I’m asking for is almost at the bottom of the first page.

Answer: On line 5 you put down whatever number you have on line H, unless you needed to do the worksheet, in which case you take the number off the worksheet. You haven’t asked anything about how to do the worksheet or how to fill out lines A-H.

Leave line 6 blank unless you used the second worksheet or you have lots of income from sources other than wages.

You don’t say how much you expect to earn in 2009 from all jobs and other sources. Unless we know that we can’t begin to tell you whether you are exempt.

Paying Taxes : What Is a W-4 Form?