Romanian witches avoid curse of taxes

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Romanian witches avoid curse of taxes

Monday, September 13, 2010

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Macbeth Act 4, scene 1

OK, the witches who recently faced potential taxation were Romanian, not Scottish.

But Romania's sorceresses escaped a new tax because lawmakers in that eastern European country apparently were worried that a similar incantation (the Shakespearean version does include "wool of bat") might conjure up all sorts of trouble.

That's right. Romania's Senate rejected a proposed revenue raiser that would have required the country's witches and fortune tellers to produce receipts, as well as be held liable for wrong predictions, because legislators feared they would be cursed if it was enacted.

One well-known witch told Romanian TV that taxing the country's thousands of fortune tellers and witches would be hard partly because their income is erratic.

There was no word on whether the fortune tellers had any insight as to whether the bill would be reintroduced.

Hat tip: TaxProf Blog

Related posts:

Posted on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 08:22 AM in Global, Humor, Taxes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: curse, fortune tellers, Romania, taxes, witches

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Avoiding too-high taxes on damaged property — What's worse than losing your home to a disaster? Having to pay taxes on the destroyed property. That's why you need to let your local tax officials know as soon as possible after your taxable property was seriously damaged or destroyed, regardless of whether by Mother Nature or some other calamity. (Sept. 13, 2019)
Check out all the latest post-Tax Day tax advice in the 2019 edition of Weekly Tax Tips. Many of these once-a-week tips will focus on planning moves to cut your 2020 tax bill. If, however, you're working on a filing extension for your 2018 return, you can get a refresher of the 2019 Filing Season Tax Tips at their respective monthly pages: January, February, March and April.

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Time for Tax Tasks

Sept. 1: Summer unofficially ends today. It's the Labor Day weekend, a three-day break before we all settle into the autumnal routines of back-to-school and full work days. If you took advantage of the long weekend to make one more out-of-town trip, then you might have noticed some states, 14 to be precise, hiked their gas taxes earlier this year.

Sept. 2: Happy Labor Day! This celebration of workers' contributions is a federal holiday and day off for many.

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In most employment situations, workers are employees. Some folks, however, are the boss. And in entrepreneurial instances that operate as passthrough companies, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's §199A deduction could be valuable at tax filing time.

But the new tax reform bill also took away a prior tax break, the ability to claim some business related expenses, such as union dues, as an itemized deduction. That miscellaneous claim is no longer on Schedule A.

Sept. 6: School is back in session. But it's not just students facing lessons. Parents of elementary, secondary and college kids need to do their homework to learn how Uncle Sam can help cover some educational costs at all levels.

Sept. 8: Happy Grandparents' Day!
If you're an older grandma or grandpa, pay attention to your overall earnings. Your added retirement income could result in some of your Social Security benefits being taxed.

If you're helping out an older parent, Mom or Dad could be qualify as a dependent and help you claim the new $500 tax credit for qualifying dependents.

Sept. 10: If your job compensation includes tips and you received $20 or more in gratuities in August, use Form 4070 to report them today to your employer by today.

Sept. 11: Today is Patriot Day, the annual observance to remember those who died or were injured during the terrorist attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001. On this annual National Day of Service and Remembrance, you can find charitable remembrance activities in your area through the National Corporation for Community Service, which grew out of the many commemorations of the 9/11 victims. You also can contribute to the nonprofit of your choice, either one that assists victims or in the name of someone you wish to honor.

Click image to visit the
Community Service Facebook page.
While the time you volunteer is not tax deductible, if you itemize you might be able to deduct your donation of cash or goods.

Sept. 13: This Friday the 13th was scary enough, but then you got that Internal Revenue Service notice notice. Don't panic. These 13 tax notice tips can help you deal with the IRS correspondence today or any day.

Sept. 16: It's estimated tax time again. Your third voucher for the 2019 tax year is due today, a day later than usual since the Sept. 15 deadline was on Sunday.

Sept. 23: Fall officially arrives today with the autumnal equinox at 3:50 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. It's a good time to think about home maintenance that will help you weather the coming colder weather. While making those necessary repairs, also consider home improvements that could increase your home's basis and guarantee you won't owe any capital gains tax on your eventual residential sale profit.

Sept. 30: September is ending, but not the 2019 hurricane season.

September started on an ominous storm note, with the Category 5 Hurricane Dorian heading for the United States' eastern seaboard.

This month typically is the busiest of the storm season, which runs through Nov. 30, so be ready. The countdown clock below can help you keep count of how many more days you have to track the tropics.

You also can find tips on getting ready, physically and financially, for hurricanes, as well as tax help for recovery efforts and tax deductions for donations to those who are hit by natural disasters at the ol' blog's Storm Warnings pages.

Small Business Tax Calendar: Important filing, deposit and record keeping dates throughout the year that your company needs to know. You can get more tax calendar information at the IRS' online calendar page and view the full year's important business and individual tax dates in IRS Pub. 509.

State Tax Help

Don't forget your state taxes!
Forty-three states and D.C. collect personal income taxes. But even if you live in of the seven states without an income levy, you still face other state (and local) taxes.

State Tax Departments provides links to your state's Web page. The companion page, Tax Tidbits, is the compilation of blurbs about each state's tax laws. And for more state tax news, check out all our state tax bloggings.

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