Don't Mess With Taxes

Starting with the 2011 tax-filing season, I began posting on the ol' blog each Sunday a new figure -- a percentage, dollar amount, raw number and the like -- that has a tax connection.

If you missed one of the numbers, no worries. Links to each item posted in 2011 are listed below. If you're looking for newer tax figures, check out By the Numbers 2012 and 2013.

• 2%
  Miscellaneous itemized deduction threshold (Jan. 16, 2011)
• $3,003
  Average refund amount in 2010 (Jan. 23, 2011)
• 98,740,000
  E-filers in 2010 (Jan. 30, 2011)
• $27,197,000,000
  Gambling income in 2008 (Feb. 6, 2011)
• 56,372,881
  Married filers in 2008 (Feb. 13, 2011)
• $13,283,907,000
  IRS budget request for FY2012 (Feb. 20, 2011)
• $75,000
  Oscars 2010 swag bag value (Feb. 27, 2011)
• 23,027,000
  Noncash charitable donations in 2008 (March 6, 2011)
• 12
  States with off-synch filing deadlines (March 13, 2011)
• 5
  Child dependency tests (March 20, 2011)
• $15,652,149,000
  First-time homebuyer credit claims (March 27, 2011)
• 10,155,306
  Medical deductions (April 3, 2011)
• 2,948,057
  Free File users in 2010 (April 10, 2011)
• 7%
  Tax procrastinators (April 17, 2011)
• 176
  Days until October extension deadline (April 24, 2011)
• $36,500,000,000
  Big Oil profits (May 1, 2011)
• 17,846,375
  Child tax credit refunds (May 8, 2011)
• $250,000
  "Rich" earnings threshold (May 15, 2011)
• $18
  Beer excise tax (May 22, 2011)
• 529
  College savings plans (May 29, 2011)
• 0.1%
  Gift tax filings in 2010 (June 5, 2011)
• 1,000,000,000
  Total e-filed returns since inception (June 12, 2011)
• 1,762,000
  Happy Father's Day to single dads (June 19, 2011)
• $50
  NY Amish face fines for not e-filing (June 26, 2011)
• $40,000,000
  NFL lockout's potential tax cost to states (July 3, 2011)
• $6,579
  Property taxes across the country (July 10, 2011)
• 3,592
  Tallying tax crimes (July 17, 2011)
• 77479
  Comparing your taxes to your neighbors' (July 24, 2011)
• $24,000,000,000
  Congress joins online state sales tax fight (July 31, 2011)
• 505,000
  Amazon's e-tax repeal petition signature goal (Aug. 7, 2011)
• 23
  Polls say hike taxes as well as cut spending (Aug. 14, 2011)
• 10
  10 years of 'temporary' tax cuts (Aug. 21, 2011)
• 4684
  Form 4684, a disaster victim's best friend (Aug. 28, 2011)
• $60 billion
  Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan wars (Sept. 4, 2011)
• 15,014,000
  Filers in 2008 reporting taxable Social Security benefits (Sept. 11, 2011)
• 3.8%
  Projected inflation rate that will affect many 2012 tax provisions (Sept. 18, 2011)
• 155
  California bill A.B. 155 postpones online sales tax collection (Sept. 25, 2011)
• $17,000,000
  Rhode Island now collecting more sales taxes, but not on marijuana dispensaries (Oct. 2, 2011)
• $5,000,000
  Al Davis' Oakland Raiders and federal estate tax issues (Oct. 9, 2011)
• 61,427
  First-time homebuyer credit still causing compliance problems (Oct. 16, 2011)
• $4,000,000,000
  IRS says budget cuts could increase federal deficit by $4 billion (Oct. 23, 2011)
• 2013
  IRS postpones backup withholding on credit card payment reporting until 2013 (Oct. 30, 2011)
•  ½
  Vikings' drive for new stadium thrown for a loss by Minnesota governor (Nov. 6, 2011)
• 47%
  47 percent of former private tax debt collection cases left untouched by IRS (Nov. 13, 2011)
• 9%
  America's opinion of Congress at new low (Nov. 20, 2011)
  
• $480,400,000,000
  Super committee failure could cost states billions in federal wages, projects (Nov. 27, 2011)
• $100
  Holiday gift from an employer: Taxable benefit or tax-free gift? (Dec. 4, 2011)
  
• 23
  IRS issues 2012 mileage deduction rates (Dec. 11, 2011)
• 160,000,000
  Payroll tax cut extension in doubt again (Dec. 18, 2011)
• $156,510
  What you'll pay for 12 Days of Political Influence on Capitol Hill (Dec. 25, 2011)

Some of you (OK, only the tax geekiest of you) might be asking why didn't this feature start before mid-January? You can, after all, file your tax return for the previous year as soon as you want after a new year rolls around as long as you have all the necessary information and are willing to file an old-fashioned paper return.

Well, there are two good reasons as to why this feature began on Jan. 16, 2011.

First, Jan. 16 was the Sunday after the IRS officially opened its 2011 electronic filing doors. Since around 70 percent of us use tax preparation software and e-file our returns, the beginning of e-filing marks the real, at least in the IRS' eyes, start of the annual tax filing season.

And reason number two for the delay is that I didn't think of it until that day!