Category: Review Comments

• Turbotax Timmy? Dancing Helio? Let’s Pick the 2009 Taxpayer of the Year! – There’s also the guy that said hookers were medical expenses. [Tax Update Blog]
• Tax Consequences of Extreme Philanthropy – Rick Warren’s reverse tithing sounds confusing. [TaxProf Blog]
• Levin apologises for $164bn AOL deal – It was just arguably the worst merger ever, it’s not like it brought down the entire economy or anything. [FT]
• CBIZ, Mayer Hoffman McCann buy South Florida firm – MHM functions as the audit arm of CBIZ and took the attest portion of Goldstein Lewin & Co. while CBIZ took the non-attest portion. [Kansas City Business Journal]
• Open Letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission: Conflicting Disclosures by Overstock.com Reveal Improper Audit Opinion Shopping – Sam Antar points out the gory details behind the Overstock.com/Grant Thornton blamestorming. Guess whose pants are on fire? [White Collar Fraud]
• H&R Block settles nationwide IRA lawsuit – Not such a good day for H&RB. [Reuters]

• Subsequent Events Proposal Issued By FASB – Someone please tell Norwalk to take a break. [FEI Financial Reporting Blog]
• Are Taxes the Root of Unhappiness? – Of course! [WSJ]
• Die Now – “If your estate totals between $1.3 million and $3.5 million, it’s cheaper–from a tax perspective–to die this year.” Time is running out! [Tax Vox]
• Here’s what’s not gonna happen in the new year – Tiger Woods giving marital advice. [NYP]
• 2010: Walking away will gain cachet – From your house that’s under water, that is. [Rolfe Winkler/Reuters]
• Jets Ban Alcohol at Giants Stadium for Final Game – GASP [Bloomberg]
• CFOs Prefer Restaurants for Meetings – According to a survey. Was that really necessary? [Web CPA]
That’s it for us today. Happy New Year! Go out tonight and make a scene (safely). We’ll see you on Monday!

• Turbotax Tweaks for Timmy – Problem solved! [Tax Update Blog]
• Rich Cling to Life to Beat Tax Man – 31ish hours to go. Hang in there withering rich people! [WSJ]
• IRS Outlines Hot Topics for Tax-Exempt Organizations to Watch in 2010 [Not-for-Profit Blog]
• Affluent investors turn bearish on tax, reform worries – If you have more than $500k in investable assets, apparently you’re not happy with what’s going on in DC according to Spectrum Group’s affluent investor index. Is death the best option (starting Saturday of course)? [Reuters]
• Bernie Madoff returned to jail cell after stay at North Carolina hospital – Home sweet home. [NYDN]
• On a completely unrelated note, It’s Tiger Woods Birthday. [Dlisted]
• Lawsuit of the Day: Mike Leach v. Texas Tech University – For the Texas Tech readers out there and whoever likes college football. [ATL]

• AT&T Resumes Online iPhone Sales – You can step away from the window. [WSJ]
• Best of 2009: Careers – Strategery, layoffs, and that shifty bunch in HR. [CFO]
• TaxProf Blog Named Best Law Professor Blog of 2009 – Congrats to the Tax Prof! [TaxProf Blog]
• Reality board game craze hits Argentina – One game is entitled Eternal Debt aka The Game of Life in the U.S. [FT]
• Over 15 PwC tax professionals quit; to join rival KPMG – Relax, it was in India. Seems as though the Satyscam is causing a mini Exodus from P. Dubs in India. [Business Standard]
• Fewer People Were Murdered in New York This Year Than Any Year on Record – See? 2009 wasn’t so bad. [Daily Intel]

• Fannie, Freddie Disclose Big Jump in CEOs’ Pay – It wouldn’t be a joyous holiday season without baiting the populists. [WSJ]
• Schwarzenegger Seeks Obama’s Help for Deficit Relief – A last minute gift idea? [Bloomberg]
• IRS Odds of Getting Audited Increase with Income – Get right out of town. [Web CPA]
• Best of 2009: Accounting – If you’re so anxious for St. Nick that you can’t sleep tonight, these topics should help. [CFO]
• Bernie Madoff Gets Sh*t Beat Out Of Him – Took long enough. [DB]
That’s it for us today. We’ll be back next week on a light schedule unless the Big 4 apocalypse occurs. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, et al.

• How big of a problem is cybertheft from banks? – One thing is for sure, everyone is lying. [Felix Salmon]
• IRS Has 70% Error Rate in Issuance of Taxpayer ID Numbers, Resulting in Fraudulent Tax Refunds – Seems about right. [TaxProf Blog]
• U.S. retailers open past midnight in holiday push – One strategy…[Reuters]
• Yahoo to shut down for a week to cut costs – …and another. [Los Angeles Times]
• That’s it for us today. Travel plans and all. We’ll be back tomorrow to get you through your half day. In the meantime, occupy yourselves with this:

• The Goldman Sachs Coffee Conspiracy – Worse than Flavia? [Gawker]
• CIT’s CFO follows CEO in retiring – Submit your resumé now. [Reuters]
• How to choose a hedge fund manager – Probably works just as well as any other strategy. [Felix Salmon]
• SEC Charges Austin-Based Investment Adviser in Fraudulent Scheme Utilizing Football Stars – So go with talk shows, avoid jocks. Got it? [SEC Press Release]

• BKD CEO elected to second term at helm – BKD had a much easier time than BofA. [Springfield Business Journal]
• Last Laugh for Late Tax Lawyer – Only death applies here. [Web CPA]
• Teed-Off Facebook Dumps Patrick Byrne Accounts, Issues Stern Warning – Took long enough. [Gary Weiss]
• Voting now open for worst footnote of 2009! – A company purchasing antique maps for $12 mil? A $1.95 signing bonus? A worthless yacht? [Footnoted]
• Accenture and Tiger Woods and Outsourcing – Accenture isn’t looking for the new face of the company. [CFOZone]
• And for the Christmas music lovers:

• Rangel Introduces Mutual Fund Tax and Regulation Bill – Charlie Rangel. Working for you. [TaxProf Blog]
• SEC: Negative Equity Doesn’t Mean No Impairment – This implies that this rationale worked on someone at some point. [Compliance Week]
• Is Your NFP in Danger of Losing Tax-Exempt Status? – “The IRS requires that if an organization has not filed any version of the Form 990 for three consecutive years, it will automatically lose its tax-exempt status on the due date of the third year.” [CB&H Not-for-Profit Blog]
• Senate Panel Backs 2nd Bernanke Term – Much to the dismay of some. [WSJ]

• Swiss Report First Appeals Filed in UBS Tax Case – Two scofflaws from the pool of 500 want to talk this over some rocky nougat. [NYT]
• The Top Recession Lesson for 2010 – Plus, there’s a countdown clock to 4/15/10 already. [CPA Trendlines]
• Are We Asking for Future Problems? – “There are some wonderful masters programs in accounting. There are many, though, that don’t provide sufficient value for the extra buck being charged.” [The Summa]
• Tax Court Finds Thighmaster’s Tax Shelter Flabby – “[F]irm thighs only get you so far in Tax Court.” GTK. [Tax Update Blog]
• Fidelity fires four for playing fantasy football – You’ve been warned. [Star-Telegram]