In case you haven’t already come up with your own theory.
[via TaxProf]
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You Don’t Like the Way I Prepared Your Return? Take Two Tylenol and Call Me in the Morning.
Editor’s note: Joe Kristan is a tax shareholder for Roth & Company, a Des Moines, Iowa CPA firm, where he works with closely-held businesses and their owners. Prior to helping start Roth & Company, he worked for two of what are now the Final Four CPA firms. He writes the Tax Update Blog and is available for seminars, first communions, Bar Mitzvahs, etc. You can see his previous posts for GC here.
While the IRS is cracking down on tax preparers and proposing new rules to herd them into submission compliance, problem preparers aren’t a new problem.
Back in 1982, when the 1986 Code was just a gleam in Dan Rostenkowski’s eye, the nation’s headaches went untreated when people started dying from cyanide-tainted Tylenol. We still live with the hard-to-open containers for almost everything as a legacy of the murder spree. The killer has never been nabbed, but the tax world has supplied one suspect. The Chicago Tribune reports:
James William Lewis, a longtime suspect in the 1982 Tylenol murders, made a rare public appearance on public access television near Boston on Sunday night, hoping to promote his new self-published novel, “Poison! The Doctor’s Dilemma.”
Instead, Lewis was met with a barrage of questions from the show’s host and callers about whether he had a role in the unsolved cyanide poisonings that left seven Chicago-area residents dead, and if his novel had anything to do with the killings.
Why the suspicion?
Lewis said during the 48-minute interview that he regretted having written Tylenol’s manufacturer after the deaths, demanding $1 million to “stop the killing,” for which he was convicted of extortion.
A mistake anybody could make, especially after things have gone bad in your tax practice:
After his extortion conviction in 1983, Lewis served more than 12 years in prison. In the 1970s, Lewis was accused in Kansas City, Mo., of killing and dismembering a client of his tax-preparation business. Charges were dropped after a judge threw out most of the evidence.
That just shows how the new preparer regulations are long overdue. We can be confident that IRS Commissioner Shulman’s new preparer registration and CPE requirements — especially the two annual “ethics” hours — will keep anything like that from ever happening to a preparer today.
Louisiana Is Exempting Virtually All Deadly Weapons (and Accessories!) from Sales Tax This Weekend
At midnight this morning, a sales tax holiday began in the Bayou State on anything covered under the Second Amendment and a whole bunch of other stuff too.
Louisiana even went to the trouble of slapping together a 30-second ad:
Shockingly, American flags were completely omitted from this ad, which leads us to believe that there isn’t any political motive here, although this is only the second “Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday.” You can safely assume that prior to 2009, Louisianians were not in fear of their freedom being taken away from them but since arackbay bamaoay started running things, people are arming themselves to the teeth for the impending roundup of gun snatching by the Feds.
For reference, here’s a list of everything that will be tax free but it boils down to this:
• Accessories designed to be used for hunting.
• Shotguns, rifles, pistols, revolvers or other handguns.
• Ammunition intended to be fired from a gun or firearm.
• Animal feed for consumption by game which can be legally hunted.
• Apparel such as safety gear, camouflage clothing, jackets, hats, gloves, mittens, face masks and thermal underwear for use while hunting.
• Off-road vehicles such as all terrain vehicles designed for hunting.
Not listed above but included in the exemption are “Knives that are manufactured and marketed as being primarily for use in hunting,” in case you’re one of those cold-blooded types that prefer killing with your bare hands. This does not include the amazing Ginsu Knife™ or other kitchen miracle blades.
Also not exempt are hunting dogs (taxed?) nor are “toy guns [Ed. note: wait, guns aren’t toys?] and vessels or off road vehicles utilized as children’s toys.” Additionally, “golf carts, bikes, motorcycles, tractors, or motor vehicles which may be legally driven on highways,” aren’t eligible.
So load up people. Hunting season is right around the corner. Although, for the sake of peace, try to leave the Democrats alone.
2010 Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday is Sept. 3rd, 4th, & 5th [LA Dept. of Rev. via Don’t Mess with Taxes]
The IRS is on YouTube and iTunes But Still Needs Our Help
We’re guessing that the IRS has been struggling for years to figure out how to relate better to the general public. They finally came to the conclusion that people like videos and audio as opposed to instruction booklets that make the New York Times look like a kaleidoscope. Clearly progress has been made, however, we still foresee challenges.
The biggest problem we have is that the videos are pretty much the live-action equivalent to the instruction booklets.
More, after the jump
Example:
Sorry we had to put you through that. Now our suggestions:
• Hugh Jackman or Megan Fox-types cast in the videos.
• A little song and dance, possibly performed by NPH.
• If a song and dance isn’t feasible, inject a little comedic relief. We’re thinking strategically inserted movie clips.
• Did we mention Hugh Jackman and Megan Fox?
As with anything in our society, celebrities (especially attractive ones) make everything better. Remember the Hollywood Vote Campaign videos? This is the model we would suggest the IRS strongly consider.
We’re fairly certain that Leonardo DiCaprio explaining how to avoid tax scams using his steely gaze will have a much greater affect on taxpayers than our friend here in the yellow blazer. Just a thought. If you’ve got other suggestions for the service on how to make their videos more watchable, discuss in the comments.
IRS Spotlights Recovery Credits on YouTube and iTunes [Web CPA]