WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’

* Did you see the “Message from My Cat” yet?

* Nicholas Pell, my colleague at the MAINSTREET.COM Tax Center, gives some good suggestions in “What You Can Do About Your Taxes Mid-Year”.

* Kay Bell, the yellow rose of taxes, tells us that the “IRS, Betting That Expired State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Will Be Renewed, Hires Firm to Calculate Schedule A Tables” (now there is a mouthful) at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

The IRS joins most tax professionals who expect that the idiots in Congress will once again temporarily extend this option at the very last minute.

“ . . . CCH has announced that for the 10th consecutive year, the IRS has selected the company {tax publisher and software company Wolters Kluwer, that is – rdf} to provide the data for the comprehensive sales tax rate and taxability tables that filers will use for their 2014 returns ... if Congress renews the tax deduction.”

Even though the IRS expects the “extenders” to be extended, when the idiots in Congress once again wait until the very last minute to do so it will still cause delays in IRS’s ability to begin processing 2014 tax returns.

* Kay has been attending the final IRS Nationwide Tax Forum in Orlando this week, and has been posting about the experience.  In “IRS Orlando Tax Forum Day 2: Health Care, Humor and Tunes” she talks about the new Obamacare rules for 2015 –

“The first audience ‘question’ for the Internal Revenue Service ACA office representative after the taxpayer shared responsibility session was, ‘You know this is going to be a disaster, don't you?’"

And (highlight is mine) -

“Based on the walk-through of the many steps and calculations necessary to comply with just this tax component of the health care law, it's true that the 2015 filing season won't be easy for taxpayers, tax preparers or the IRS.”

Just another example of why non-tax social welfare “stuff” does not belong in the Tax Code, and why tax preparers need representation with teeth in Washington to say to Congress and the IRS, “We ain’t going to do that!”  (see “Who Speaks for the Tax Preparer?”)

And she references one of the seminars titled "Is This Deductible? My Barber Seems to Think So!" which I would have liked to have attended (perhaps I will order the CD of the session).  The seminar title recalls my best tax advice – don’t accept tax advice from anyone other than a competent tax professional.

I have not attended the IRS Forums since the northeast location was moved from New York City to Maryland.  I will be attending the NATP’s replacement Forum in Atlantic City next month.

* “IRS Enforcement Agent Numbers Could Drop to Lowest Levels Since 1970s”, says CNBC –

“Budget pressures at the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division are cutting the number of investigators there to the lowest level in four decades, and officials say the changes are forcing the division to scale back its fight of financial crime.”

* Jim Blankenship addresses “10 Questions: Social Security Spousal Benefits” at GETTING YOUR FINANCIAL DUCKS IN A ROW.

* And, along the same lines, Kristine McKinley warns “What You Don’t Know About Social Security Spousal Benefits Can Hurt You” at SOCIAL SECURITY COACH.

* Jeffrey Levine and Jared Trexler answer “5 Questions Commonly Asked by 401(k) Participants” at THE SLOTT REPORT.

* A timely guest post at MODEST MONEY lists “10 Things A Parent Should Know About 529 Plans”.

THE FINAL WORD –

What in the name of common sense was a 9-year old doing learning how to shoot an uzi????? 

Why was a 9-year old legally allowed to take shooting lessons period?????

No individual, regardless of age, should ever be allowed to own an uzi!!!!  You do not need an uzi to shoot a deer in the woods.

In most states we do not allow the sale of cigarettes or alcohol to anyone under 21 and do not allow a person to drive until age 16 or 17.  There is absolutely no reason whatsoever, under any circumstances, why we should ever put any gun, let alone an uzi, in the hands of a 9-year old.

Fuck the 2^nd Amendment.  The right to bear arms does not translate under any interpretation to putting an uzi in the hands of a 9-year old.

I would like to hear the NRA justify teaching a 9-year old how to shoot an uzi.  It seems that the Association’s reaction to this tragedy was a “tweet” referencing "7 Ways Children Can Have Fun at the Shooting Range".  The height of stupidity and insensitivity. 

Any parent that would teach their 9-year old how to shoot a gun should have their children taken away from them for child endangerment.  9-year olds should be taught to never touch a gun!

TTFN