Don't Mess With Taxes

Did you, like the Baltimore Ravens, come up a winner yesterday thanks to some bets you made on the National Football League's big game? Super Bowl XLVII medallion photo by Au Kirk via Twitter Uncle Sam thanks you. Gambling winnings, whether thousands of dollars on a sports championship or a few bucks from a lottery scratch-off ticket, are taxable income. Some of the taxable winnings come via the hundreds of prop, short for proposition, bets that are connected with major sporting events. Among the goofiest prop bets on the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco Forty-niners game were whether the coin... Read more →

President Obama spent about an hour this afternoon on Twitter answering a few questions about fiscal cliff consequences, proposals, negotiations and Chicago sports teams (you knew someone would ask). Not surprisingly, there were no stunning new revelations on how Congress, particularly the Republicans, and the White House are going to keep us from doing a financial Thelma and Louise. As soon as the White House announced the social media question and answer session, directly from the prez with his -bo online signature ... ... the #My2k hashtag, created by the Administration to collect stories of what the estimated average middle-class... Read more →

Lindsay Lohan wasn't among the celebrities who attended the Democratic convention last week, but she did the next best thing. Taking advantage of Obama's participation in social media, Lohan dropped the prez a Twitter request in response to a statement in his acceptance speech regarding tax cuts. Lohan has since deleted her online plea for tax relief for Forbes-list millionaires, but not before it was captured in screen shots. It's unclear exactly what Lohan wants -- 140 or less characters does have its drawbacks in dealing with complex topics such as taxes -- but the quotation marks around the word... Read more →

Jon Stewart skewers "The Summer of Recovery" and the upcoming battle over expiring tax cuts. The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cFaces of Debtwww.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party Thank you, Jon, for yet again making us laugh through our tax, financial, political and, yes, even our social media tears Video player note: When I click start, the Daily Show video clip's volume is totally turned down, which is better than being at the highest level, especially if you work in a cube farm! Related posts: OMG! What will happen to my tax bill if... Read more →

It's true, politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows, or in this case, tanning-bedfellows. The Jersey Shore diva Snooki, aka Nicole Polizzi, and erstwhile GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain apparently are new social media BFFs, bonded by their common dislike of the 10 percent tax on UV tanning bed services. The bronzing bed levy is part of the funding for the new health care reform law. Collection of the tax kicks in July 1. In a preview for the next installment her MTV show, Snooki notes that she doesn't use tanning beds anymore because "Obama put a 10 percent... Read more →

It's Tax Twitter Tuesday time again! It sorta sneaked up on me, what with all the health care reform hubbub and the rapidly approaching tax filing deadline. So this month's T3 is going be a big shorter than usual. That, however, doesn't diminish its tasty Twittery goodness! So here goes. Given that most of us have been paying more than usual attention to Congress of late, let's start with the folks on the tax-writing committee. @WaysMeansCmte Our hearing has concluded. Thank you for clicking in. If you missed it, you can find information here http://go.usa.gov/i3W @WMRepublicans Says Camp, the IRS... Read more →

Attention tax preparers. Does the complaint below sound familiar? Attention tax clients: Is @taxmegan talking about you? Now I'm sure -- OK, pretty sure -- that Megan is kidding about inflicting physical pain on her less-than-ideal client. But then tax hurt can come in many forms, as Megan, an Enrolled Agent, notes in a conversation with CPA Joe (@joebwan) few minutes later: What not to do: Failure to provide all necessary information to your tax preparer is a major complaint from those who make their livings doing taxes and tax planning for others. Being very late in finally getting your... Read more →

It's Tax Twitter Tuesday time again! We're in the heart of tax filing season, but some tax folks certainly know how to keep things in perspective: @taxmegan I like managers meetings. They usually lead to food and beer. All I have to say is can I work in @taxmegan's office!? Now to other tasty tax matters. @YoungCPANetwork IRS initiatives could change compliance landscape for practitioners, taxpayers in 2010: http://twurl.nl/hq34dg (@AICPA_JofA) @sherylschuff RT @DianeKennedyCPA: Is Your S Corp a Big Fat IRS Red Flag? http://bit.ly/aMXJtm @going_concern SHOCKER: Accountants Have a Conservative... Read more →

Welcome to the first Tax Twitter Tuesday of 2010! We're into the filing season, the economy is still giving us fits, we've been giving like crazy to Haiti's earthquake victims and, as usual, politics are playing a big part in tax legislation. What a way to get a year going! And all this means the Twitterverse is abuzz with tax talk. So let's get to it! @CPALetter_Daily Today's Top Story in #CPALD - Obama to propose aid to middle class, freeze on some federal spending http://ow.ly/10xXX @CLT_CPA North Carolina is now taxing digital property http://bit.ly/91kiqu @freefrombroke RT @arohan 5 (plus... Read more →

I'm in a charitable blogging mood today, in every sense of word, so here's another look at the outpouring of donations to help the folks in Haiti. Soon after the earthquake struck last Tuesday, social media became not only a way for the world to find out about the tragedy, but also a mechanism to lend assistance. Facebook launched a portal, the Global Disaster Relief page, for people who want to help. And Twitter was integral in spreading the word about donating relief funds via text message. Yes, the staid old American Red Cross, which has been lending hands and... Read more →

Sorry for missing Tax Twitter Tuesday last week. I was up in D.C. slapping lawmakers around ... if only! I was finishing up my term as a member of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. But since were close to Capitol Hill, some of my fellow TAPpers headed over to the Senate one evening to watch part of the health care debate. Are we a lively group, or what!? So T3 is a week late, but not short of interesting tax tidbits from the Twitterverse. Since we've already been waiting almost seven full days, let's get to it! @SusanEJacobsen Drink, Drive, Crash,... Read more →

It's Tax Twitter Tuesday time again! Sorry I'm a bit tardy. This Tuesday had me in a real tizzy! But I'm finally here, and glad you are, too. For first-timers, on the third Tuesday of each month I sift through the gazillion tax Tweets and collect some as a blog post here at Don't Mess With Taxes. If you're on Twitter and talk about taxes, all you have to do is keep doing what you're doing. The new lists feature should help me find your item. But just to make sure I do, you can always "at" me; that is,... Read more →

I hope all y'all got a good night's sleep after Halloween festivities. It sure helped to have the extra hour we got from "falling back" into Standard Time overnight, didn't it? So what are you going to do with that precious bit of extra time? If you've got nothing special planned, here are a few tax-related ways to spend it. You can find out the tax buzz via The Wandering Tax Pro's latest compilation of tasty tax tidbits. They're almost as appetizing as the kid's candy that you've been sneaking as snacks! If you Twitter, please feel free to peruse... Read more →

Welcome to our second Tax Twitter Tuesday. As noted in the inaugural edition on Sept. 15, I gather tax info and comments from the popular social networking program Twitter. Then on the third Tuesday of each month, the Tweets become a blog post here at Don't Mess With Taxes. If you tweet taxes, all you have to do is keep doing what you're doing. Based on how much time I waste spend networking on the site, I should run across your 140 character (or less) tax bon mots. To make sure I do, you can "at" me; that is, include... Read more →

What a fun idea! ESPN should televise a National Tax Bee, a la the annual National Spelling Bee broadcast. That's the suggestion of Mary O'Keeffe, who blogs at Bed buffaloes in your tax code. "The popular stereotype of a tax professional paints them as bland and boring, robotic and devoid of personality," writes Mary. "Reading tax pro blogs has certainly convinced me otherwise." As tax pros worthy of our television attention, Mary proposes a lineup of Robert D Flach, who blogs as The Wandering Tax Pro; Kelly Erb, aka the blogosphere's taxgirl; and The Tax Lawyer's Blog author Peter Pappas.... Read more →

Today is the debut of a new feature here on the ol' blog: Tax Twitter Tuesday. Or, as my tax Twitter pal Robert D Flach, aka @rdftaxpro on the social media site, dubbed it, T3. Actually, Robert, it's going to be T4, as Tax Twitter Tuesday will appear on the third Tuesday of each month. (That wasn't planned; this first appearance just happened to fall that way and I decided it was blogging/Twittering fate.) "So," as RDF asked, "@taxtweet (that's me!) what's the story with T3?" The story is I spend a lot (some days too much) time on Twitter.... Read more →

The IRS is continuing to move into social media. A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the agency's YouTube video page. Last week at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum in Dallas, the IRS was continually touting its Twitter presence, @InternalRevenue. Will the IRS get personal and chatty as is the Web 2.0 way? Nah. But that's understandable. While the agency and its employees would definitely like folks to think more positively about them (who doesn't?), that's not the IRS and IRS employee goal. They've got to focus on getting out correct and timely information to the public. Twitter and... Read more →

Be careful about the financial information you share via social media sites. State tax offices are paying attention. In today's Wall Street Journal, Laura Saunders reports that state revenue agents are nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites. Relocation announcements, professional profiles and, not surprisingly, boasts of financial success are catching collectors eyes, and adding to state treasuries. Tax officials in Minnesota, California and Nebraska were cited in the story as having success locating tax deadbeats who shared a little too much online. MySpace seems to be, for now, the primary source of finding out about individuals... Read more →

One of my hopes in using Twitter, in addition to making new e-friends, was that I'd find some useful fodder for blog posts. Touchdown! Bonanza! Cha-ching! Look at the Twitter screen shot below and apply your own "we have a winner" word. I ran across this faux Rudy Giuliani page in searching for presidential candidates, of either party, who are making use of this Internet avenue to connect with potential voters. But it seems that most aren't into social media. I found an admittedly fake Mitt Romney, as well as other twitterers using the MassUtahan's name. Ron Paul's campaign has... Read more →