Don't Mess With Taxes

Later this morning I'm heading to Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP).

It's always great to head back to the nation's capital and see old friends, both those on TAP as well as the folks the hubby and I knew when we lived in the D.C. area.

The one downside of the trip is that the TAP organizers really crack the whip and keep our noses to the IRS improvement grindstone! Meetings start way earlier than I'm used to getting up and after we wrap up in the evenings, we have dinners.

I can guarantee you that taxpayers are getting their money's worth out of TAP!

All this intense scheduling means I don't get to spend eight, 10, OK, close to 14 hours on my computer.

So since I won't be able to blog about any breaking tax news (unless it miraculously happens during one of our meeting breaks), I've scheduled some special features.

Money Moves are back: One is our annual Year-end Money Moves series.

In special posts starting Monday, Dec. 14, and running through Friday, Dec. 18, I'll share some tips on things you can do by Dec. 31 to get your financial and tax houses in order.

The 2009 series kicks off Monday with a look at some suggested tax actions. The other four special posts will focus on investments, retirement, giving and financial details.

If this is your first December with Don't Mess With Taxes welcome, and you can check out previous year-end posts (along with some other similar articles) in the Year-end Tax & Money Moves tab at the top of the page.

12 Tax Tips: This year I'm also debuting what I envision as another annual feature, The 12 Tax Tips of Christmas.

Starting a bit later today (Sunday, Dec. 13),  I'll post a tax tip a day, ending with number 12 on Christmas Eve.

These tips are designed to be reminders of things you need to do before the year ends, as well as general tax moves that can help you lessen your tax load in any year. Yes, they will cover some of the same ground as the annual money moves post, but more as side dishes to the meatier year-end moves entree.

Plus, I'm a Christmas nut as well as tax geek and I just couldn't resist the opportunity to combine the two!

Hopefully, you'll find the whole tax and money meal nutritious and entertaining while I'm working with my TAP colleagues in our continuing effort to improve IRS services.

And if I do get a chance (or have the energy!) while I'm in D.C., I'll log on and post a quick note or two, either here at the ol' blog or via my Twitter or Facebook personas.

• Some year-end tax moves to make
• Year-end Tax & Money Moves

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