Greetings to our Veteran readers for Veteran’s day! Though perhaps “greetings” doesn’t summon the best memories.
The Tax Update comes to you today from sunny Sheldon, Iowa:
Well, it’s sunny indoors at Northwest Iowa Community College, where I am participating in the Sheldon Session of the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation Farm and Urban Tax School. I’m the “urban” part. Seats at the remaining schools are going fast, so register today!
Joseph Henchman, FBI Says California State Senator Accepted Bribes to Support Film Tax Credits (Tax Policy Blog). He cites the LA Times:
According to the affidavit, posted on Al Jazeera’s website, [State Senator Ronald] Calderon [D-Montebello] allegedly accepted $60,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a movie executive and $28,000 more from a medical company owner in exchange for efforts to affect legislation on tax credits for the film industry and on workers’ compensation claims.
That tells you that California is a little more sophisticated than Iowa. The California guy (allegedly) required money to deliver the keys to the treasury to the film industry. All the Iowa legislature required was a few autographs and photo-ops with starlets. Iowa has learned from its mistakes, a little, and now favors jailing filmmakers to subsidizing them.
More from Russ Fox, Another Film Tax Credit Scandal
“Fez” Ogbasion, Instant Tax Service CEO.
TaxGrrrl, Fourth Largest Tax Prep Business In The Country Shut Down By Feds ”U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black found that ITS had a culture of “fraud and deception.”
My coverage of Instant Tax Service here.
Phil Hodgen, Distributions from foreign grantor trusts and U.S. paperwork. ”This is a Form 3520 “research in a box” blog post for you, BP. Because you asked.”
William Perez, Social Security Wage Base Increases for 2014
Kay Bell, 12 charitable groups that would love to take your tax-deductible Typhoon Haiyan relief donations
Fiduciary Income Tax Blog, Federal Unified Credit for 2014. $5,340,000.
Jack Townsend, Swiss Bankers Expect to Share Data for Tax Purposes
Robert W. Wood, Lawyer For NFL Players Sidelined Permanently…True Chicago Style?
Annette Nellen, Growing support for lower corporate rate and territorial system. Good, but remember that the corporate rate doesn’t even cover most business income.
Tax Justice Blog, GE-Sponsored “Territorial” Study Promotes Agenda of Tax Avoidance
Stephen Olsen, Summary Opinions aka Procedure Roundup for 11/08/13. Excellent roundup for procedure fans.
Robert D. Flach, I HATE K-1s! Robert adds what I will call Flach’s Iron Law: “All K-1s usually arrive late.” He then proceeds into a fine rant:
While I have not done any specific calculations, I firmly believe that often the additional costs to properly prepare the federal and state income tax returns for taxpayers with K-1 investments is as much as or more than the actual income, or tax benefits if any, generated from the investment. If the money invested in these limited partnerships were instead invested in related mutual funds I expect the investor would do better. His/her tax preparation costs would certainly be less.Of course brokers never tell their clients this when selling them the investment.
While K-1s from closely-held businesses are normal and healthy, Robert is exactly right about the kinds of K-1s often seen in investment accounts.
Nicotine withdrawal. Iowa tobacco tax revenue has declined, report says (KTIV.com)
Great moments in economic development. Miami Replaces Tampa As IRS Tax Fraud Capital
The Critical Question. An Isley Brother In Tax Court – Does Tax Crime Pay? (Peter Reilly).
“Mastermind”? I think the term is overused. Example: “Mastermind of tax fraud scheme pleads guilty” (Examiner.net). How did the prosecutor describe the diabolically clever scheme at issue?
“This scheme was based on a nonsensical formula that any honest person would instantly recognize was patently absurd and fraudulent,” U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson said in a statement. “Fortunately, the vast majority of these refund claims were detected by the IRS and denied.”
They need a new term for somebody who organizes a really dumb crime. Disastermaster? Blunderbrain? Any ideas are welcome in the comments.
