Category: Tax

Area CPA Parlays Clients’ Need for Tax Advice, Love of Guns

Richard Grassano is a CPA in Athens, Tennessee who just so happens to also be a gun shop owner. At some point in his 35 years as CPA, Mr Grassano noticed that during the traditional tax season he also saw a bump in gun sales at his gun shop (that just so happens to be next door to his office, in the same building). Being a savvy CPA, Grassano saw an opportunity:

All American is advertising tax preparation services along with a bonus gift card for use at the neighboring gun shop. The gift cards range from $5 to $25 based on the amount of the tax return. Grassano said he’s noticed that gun and ammo sales pick up every year around the time people get their tax returns. Tax season also is the busiest time of the year for his accounting business. “It’s cross-marketing,” he said. “We were looking for a way to tap into that increase in business that occurs every year around this time.”

Clearly Grassano knows that tapping into Americans’ distaste for taxes is a great opportunity for his gun business. Regardless if a client receives a refund or not, the mere idea of having to comply with the tax law and the IRS can send some people into a frenzy. A frenzy that may just cause someone to want to shoot something. So gift cards are a natural catalyst to help these people satisfy their desire for a little Remington steel.

But Grassano’s also no dummy when it comes to being familiar with his surroundings:

Athens, with the highest per capita number of concealed carry permits of any municipality in the state, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal database, is obviously a great location for a gun shop. “I’ll have little old ladies walk in here, put an old pistol on the counter and say, ‘I don’t know what kind of bullets this gun takes, but can you get me a box?’ “Grassano said.

And btw, those little old ladies pay taxes.

Ready, aim, file! Accountant gives refund gift cards to use at gun shop [Knoxville News Sentinel]

Jackson Hewitt Doesn’t Appreciate the Implication That They Suck at Preparing Tax Returns

Call it the discount 1040 wars (or something):

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc sued H&R Block Inc to stop a new advertising campaign that it said misleads customers about tax refund loans and disparages Jackson Hewitt’s competence.


How disparaging? How about “two-thirds of the tax returns are wrong” disparaging:

According to the complaint, H&R Block falsely claimed that its “Second Look Review” program, which reviews past tax returns prepared by rivals, found that two-thirds of prior returns prepared by Jackson Hewitt contained mistakes.

“H&R Block’s 2 out of 3 claim necessarily implies the false claim that two out of three Jackson Hewitt customers who are entitled to refunds have been short-changed due to Jackson Hewitt errors or incompetence,” the complaint said.

Jackson Hewitt sues H&R Block over ads [MSNBC]

Idaho Congressman Latest to Waste Everyone’s Time by Introducing a Bill That Would Terminate the Tax Code

Mike Simpson has represented Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District since 1999 and in that time he has cosponsored legislation that would abolish our beloved Internal Revenue Code. And even one time, in 2000, the House of Representatives managed to pass a bill that did exactly that by a vote of 229-187. It’s safe to say that, if similar legislation had been passed by the Senate and then followed up by the signature of the President, you would have heard about it. Since we haven’t heard any such news or seen any reports of this monumental legislative achievement, we can only assume that it has always been, and thus, always will be a failure and complete waste of everyone’s valuable time.

No matter! Congressman Simpson will press on for this all-important goal and making another run at ending the tyranny once and for all:

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is an original cosponsor of H.R. 462, the Tax Code Termination Act. This legislation would abolish the Internal Revenue Code and call on Congress to fundamentally reform the federal tax system.

“Over the last few years there have been several proposals to curtail the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) intrusion into the American homes. These include proposals to implement a flat tax or a national sales tax,” said Simpson. “I believe the most effective course of action is to sunset the current complex and unfair federal tax code and replace it with a simple and fair alternative.”

[via State Column]

Just So You’re Aware: Cuba Is Developing a Children’s Video Game to Promote Taxes

We assume El Presidente is cognizant of the situation but we honestly don’t know what to make of Cuba allowing any semblance of private enterprise other than we hope this means the country will get back to something that closely resembles the Havana casinos in Godfather II.


“Tributin” or “Little Tax” is expected to be available this fall and sounds like it will be quite a gas:

“It is a fun software to help children learn about fiscal policy, because since they were born in a socialist society with some gratuities, they don’t have all the elements needed to understand taxes,” project director Dagoberto Marino told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“Tributin” would show children how the money they spend when they buy candy puts in motion mechanisms that benefit their communities in the form of school improvements.

Cuba plans children’s video game to promote taxes [Reuters via Tax Docket]

The Miami Heat Bail Out Tim Hardaway

They aren’t exactly the U.S. Treasury and don’t foresee any populist outrage but Miami Heat Limited Partnership did Tim a fave and bought his 7,500 square foot manse for $1.985 million, according to Tax Watchdog Robert Snell:

The Miami Heat, one of the NBA’s hottest teams, bailed out former star Tim Hardaway, whose namesake son plays for the University of Michigan basketball team, by buying his Miami mansion and clearing up a $120,000 federal tax debt.

Hardaway, 44, ran into tax trouble in June despite being paid more than $46.6 million during his NBA career. The IRS filed a tax lien against his property and the bill listed his 7,542-square-foot mansion in suburban Miami.

For whatever reason, Tim is still crashing there but the Heat are trying to flip the pad for $2.5 mil, so if you’re in the market for 5bed/5.5bath with a full basketball court, make them an offer.

Americans for Tax Reform Is Annoyed with the ‘Tax-loving American Lung Association’

Because it’s pretty clear that the American Lung Association’s mission is to ensure everyone is paying higher taxes:

Predictably, the tax-loving American Lung Association is pushing for a massive 75 percent increase in Maine’s cigarette tax. They just think it’s the cat’s meow, curing all diseases while raising a boatload of money for state government to spend on pro-utopia policies.

Of course, that’s not how these things tend to work themselves out. For starters, Maine desperately needs jobs. An excise tax increase of this magnitude certainly will not deliver. Convenience stores count on tobacco products for roughly one-third of their sales. Government driving up the cost of cigarettes won’t help maintain payroll.

That’s because higher taxes will only further fuel migration to New Hampshire, where consumers will be able to save over $12 per carton of cigarettes. New Hampshire also levies no sales or personal income taxes. To have any hope of competing with its neighbor, any talk of tax increases must be completely off the table.

So taxes on cigarettes are off the table while cancer, chemotherapy, pain, suffering and shortened life spans are back on. Got it.

Area Man Steals Car After Learning About His Brother’s Crappy Tax Refund

Allegedly! Knowing the city of Lincoln, Nebraska like we do, it’s entirely possible that these two bros were simply still not over the Husker football team’s dismal display in the last two games of the season and this shitty refund was simply the kernel that busted the storage bin.

Lincoln police said one man was arrested after he refused to leave H&R Block when he became upset with his tax refund. And the man’s brother is accused of stealing an employee’s vehicle, according to police.

Authorities were called when Joshua Brown, 26, refused to leave the H&R Block on O Street. They said he was upset with his refund and insisted on talking with all the tax professionals in the building. Officers said they removed him from the property and cited him for trespassing and fail to disperse.

A half-hour later, officers said they were called back to the same business regarding a stolen Ford Explorer. An employee found her car and keys missing, police said.

Officers said Brown was inside the business with his brother, 31-year-old Michael Medina. Police said they found the Ford Explorer in the parking lot across from the brothers’ apartment on 10th Street. Police said Medina was arrested on auto theft charges.

Police: Man Upset With Tax Refund, Brother Charged With Auto Theft [KETV]

New York Will Probably Make Old People’s Lives Difficult If They Move to a Low-tax State

There’s a state fiscal crisis after all. Plus, old people have all the money.

[H]igh-tax states do not like to lose high-income emigrants, and will check to make sure that former residents really have moved and are not simply pretending that their winter home is their permanent domicile.

“New York is the most aggressive, probably followed by California,” said Bob Meighan of TurboTax. “New York has a long reach and will go after retirees, in particular.”


And one more thing – keep those receipts!

David Moise [of] WeiserMazar[s], said that there are two forces at work there. “More people are leaving because of the disparity in income and estate taxes, and New York is becoming much more aggressive about examining those people because there’s much more of a need for revenue,” he said.

“The state will come in and ask for ‘clear and convincing evidence’ that a person who keeps his New York ties has really moved to Florida, or elsewhere,” he said. At WeiserMazar[s], clients have had to produce phone bills, credit card statements, apartment measurements and EZ pass receipts to prove that they no longer spend most of their time in New York.

Low-tax states attract budget-conscious Americans [Reuters]

A Multitude of Big 4 Auditors Can Confirm This

[J]ust because a person has the initials CPA after his/her name does not mean that he/she knows his/her arse from a hole in the ground when it comes to preparing 1040s.


That comes courtesy of the Wandering Tax Pro, Robert D. Flach. It got the attention of Joe Kristan, who came to the defense of CPAs everywhere but did admit that some CPAs have no business being near tax forms:

[Robert] then spends his next 10 paragraphs elaborating on our shortcomings. And that’s fine, to a point. Not all CPAs are qualified tax preparers. By the same token, not every lawyer is capable of defending you on a murder charge. But the guy you want by your side when the state wants to send you to the chair is definitely going to be a lawyer. And while not all CPAs should be your tax advisor, many of the best tax advisors are CPAs.

Case in point: many relatives and clueless friends of auditors still ask said auditors to prepare their tax returns. In most cases, a) this is a HUGE mistake and b) they don’t want to help you anyway.

The Tax Policy Debate Just a Got a Tad Less Sophisticated

Tax policy is one of the most complex issues in the political discourse, regardless of the simplicity behind the rhetoric used by our public officials. And thanks to this “straight talk,” it has become one of the most polarizing topics in politics. But now that a man has been arrested for trying to engage Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) in debate (after drinking of course) on the issue using colorful language (or you might call it “expletive-laced threats”), the discussion has hit a new intellectual low.


Here’s the voicemail Charles Turner Habermann of Palm Springs, CA left for Congressman McDermott, From the National Law Journal by way of Above the Law:

“Uh, I, I, I’d like to remind you McDermott that if you read the constitution all the money belongs to the people. None of it belongs to Government Okay! So, if Jim McDermott says they’re spending money on a tax cut, he’s a piece of human dog shit, okay. He’s a piece of human filth. He’s a liar, he’s a communist, he’s a piece of fucking garbage. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, or George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, if any of them had ever met uh, uh Jim McDermott, they would blow his brains out. They’d shoot him, in the head. They’d kill him because he’s a piece of, of, of disgusting garbage.”He later says: “And you let that fucking scum bag know, that if he ever fucks around with my money, ever the fuck again, I’ll fucking kill him, okay. I’ll round them up, I’ll kill them, I’ll kill his friends, I’ll kill his family, I will kill everybody he fucking knows.”

In the second message, he says, “Your congressman, Jim McDermott is a piece of garbage. And I’ll tell you something right now, garbage belongs in the trash that’s exactly where he’s gonna end up.”

Then there’s this:

“As for his motivation for leaving the voicemail message, Habermann said he was calling politicians to let them know that what they were doing and saying regarding spending taxpayer’s money was wrong,” the complaint says. “He said he was trying to scare them before they spent money that didn’t belong to them.”

He also said he never intended to hurt anyone and that he was too afraid of losing his $3 million trust fund to commit a crime.

Yep, this guy’s a tax policy wonk, all right.

Arrest in California in death threats against congressman [National Law Journal via ATL]

Amsterdam’s Hookers Are Pretty Much Okay with Finally Having to Pay Taxes

Which doesn’t come as much of a surprise since the Dutch aren’t the rabid purtian, anti-tax type that exist in some countries.

“It’s a good thing that they’re doing this,” said Samantha, a statuesque blond Dutchwoman in a white leather dress who offers her services from behind one of the hundreds of red-curtained windows in the heart of the city’s ancient center. “It’s a job like any other and we should pay taxes,” she said.

Plus! Since these audits will be as boring as expected, there may be an opportunity to drum up a little business:

Prostitutes were told they would be audited in typically bureaucratic fashion, with a notice addressed “to landlords and window prostitutes in Amsterdam” published last week in the city’s main newspaper. “Agents of the Tax Service will walk through various elements of your business administration with you, such as prices, staffing, agendas and calendars,” the notice said. “The facts will be used at a later date in reviewing your returns.”

Or as a short, stocky, bald man once said, “I want details and I want them right now!”