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Miscellaneous:Â Â
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Q. What is the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion?
A. Jail. Q. What's the definition of an accountant?
A. Someone who solves a problem you didn't know you had in a way you don't understand. Q. Why did the auditor cross the road?
A. Because he looked in the file and that's what they did last year.
Taxes: Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get an automatic extension.
If an accountant's wife cannot sleep, what does she say?
"Darling, could you tell me about your work."
A patient was at her doctor's office after undergoing a complete physical exam. The doctor said, "I have some very grave news for you. You only have six months to live." The patient asked, "Oh doctor, what should I do?" The doctor replied, "Marry an accountant." "Will that make me live longer?" asked the patient. "No," said the doctor, "but it will SEEM longer."Â
A marketing slogan we decided against: "Get a free box of Kleenex with every tax return."
Trivia:
 Since the last trivia question generated so many responses, we'll try another. What is the following?
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I paid the U of M good money to learn about such things. Email us with the correct answer to this question, and you may win absolutely nothing.
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email:Â owner@greentaccounting.com
The S&P 500 Index Fund
Many stock investors turn to the letters Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A and B), writes every year to Berkshire's shareholders for some of the most valuable stock investing lessons available anywhere. But mutual fund investors have their own Buffet in John Bogle of the Vanguard Group, whose Common Sense on Mutual Funds contains a distillation of facts, figures, and analysis on mutual funds and are the most comprehensive and useful education that a mutual fund investor can acquire. Fools are certainly indebted to John Bogle, for showing clearly that -- contrary to what you may have read on countless magazine covers -- mutual fund investing is extremely simple: Buy an index fund.
More from: The Motley Fool Net Worth = Assets - Liabilities
A free net worth calculator worksheet from: MSNBC Tax Questions about: Deductions and Exclusions, Tax Credits, Taxable Income, and Other Subjects can be answered by an IRS interactive program called Tax Trails. It is designed to work like a flow chart with a series of yes or no answers. Donating Appreciated Stock
If you donate appreciated stock to charity instead of selling it first and then donating the cash you'll generally come out ahead on your taxes. You get a charitable deduction for the fair market value of the donated stock but do not have to pay tax on the appreciation of the stock. Simple Steps Can Prevent Tax Scams as Private Debt Collection Begins
IR-2006-132, Aug. 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- As the Internal Revenue Service begins its private debt collection initiative, the tax agency reminds taxpayers there are several simple steps that can provide protection against scam artists.
Scamsters try a variety of tricks to impersonate the IRS in hopes of tricking taxpayers into divulging personal or financial information or even conning people out of cash. Scam artists try to impersonate the IRS in person, by phone, by e-mail and over the Internet.
Currently, the IRS is beginning its private debt collection effort, where a small segment of taxpayers who owe back taxes will be contacted by private sector debt collectors. There are several key elements of this program that will alert taxpayers they are part of this program and help other taxpayers from being scammed by impersonators:
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The Zen of Accounting
Does your dependent child have to file a tax return?
They do if they have:
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Unearned income (interest, dividends, etc.) of over $850, or
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Earned income (wages) of over $5150, or
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Unearned income of over $300 and earned income of over $550, or
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Self-employment income of over $400.
Even if they are not required to file, income taxes withheld can still be refunded. Tulberg & Greenslit offers reasonable rates for preparing our clients children’s returns.
Mortgage Refinancing Points: Generally, points paid on your refinance are deductible over the life of the loan. They are pre-paid interest but the IRS usually requires that they be deducted over time, the life of the loan, typically 30 years. They certainly are worth keeping track of, since when the loan ends, the balance of the remaining points are taken as a final deduction.
We at Tulberg & Greenslit need the final settlement (closing) statement, which usually consists of only two pages, and the term of the loan to deduct and track these points.
Your settlement statement probably looks like this:
      
Click on the above for a better look. It is a .pdf file. The problem:
The solution:
Tulberg and Greenslit, PA Thanks to JMH for the Uncle Sam animation. If Uncle Sam stops shaking down the taxpayer, hit the refresh button. News from the IRS:
The Internal Revenue Service announced on March 27, 2006, that it has established an electronic mailbox for taxpayers to send information about suspicious e-mails they receive which claim to come from the IRS. Taxpayers should send the information to: mailto:phishing@irs.gov.
IRS, Canada Revenue Agency Unravel Cross-Border Tax SchemeÂ
August 3, 2006 WASHINGTON — Officials of the Canada Revenue Agency and the United States Internal Revenue Service today announced significant progress in unraveling an abusive cross-border tax scheme. This effort stems from leads and information first developed by the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre (JITSIC).
The scheme involves hundreds of taxpayers and tens of millions of dollars in improper deductions and unreported income from retirement account withdrawals. U.S. and Canadian promoters have been marketing the scheme on both sides of the border to individual investors, ranging from middle to high-income individuals.
Under the scheme, investors purchased what appear to be high-yield offshore investments through offshore corporations and foreign bank accounts. Typically, investors make these purchases using cash or proceeds from withdrawals, allegedly tax free, of retirement funds (RRSPs in Canada, IRAs in the US). Investors also make purchases through using tax refunds improperly generated by alleged losses claimed for natural resource industry investments. More from the: IRS
You may decide to email us some information, and we prefer it over a fax, since the quality is usually higher. Please consider sending it to us as a .pdf attachment. There is a free program that converts most files into .pdf form. It is PrimoPDF 3.0Â and acts as a new printer though it is just software. You send your document to this new printer, it converts it, and you can now email it. As with most .pdf documents, it will print correctly, and not cut off the edges of pages. Tulberg & Greenslit, PA is not affiliated with PrimoPDF.
We use PrimoPDF, sometimes with a scanner, frequently in our communications with our clients. We use a similar program built into our UltraTax tax preparation software to send them copies of their returns they request quickly, usually within minutes.
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