Personal Taxes

Late Night Taxes

Television's late-night hosts have entertained us since Steve Allen first took the mic on The Tonight Show back in 1954. Today's late-night monologues riff on serious topics like international politics and economic policy, and silly topics like the "Real Housewives of Lima, Ohio." Naturally, they've also weighed in on our friends at the IRS. So this week, we present some of our favorite tax wisecracks from late-night television:

"65% of people say that cheating on your income tax is worse than cheating on your spouse. The other 35% were women." (Jay Leno)

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Marry for Love

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April 15 is almost here, and many of you are still scrambling to get your returns ready to file. Here's a collection of fun quotes to help you "sprint to the finish" this tax season:

"Another difference between death and taxes is that death is frequently painless." Anonymous

"A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right." Anonymous

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Late-Payment Relief for Late-Available Forms

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On Wednesday, February 20, the IRS announced that it will waive the penalty normally assessed for late payment of income tax, for taxpayers who have requested an extension of time to file their return and who are filing one of the 31 forms that were delayed until March because of the last-minute tax law changes. Those changes were last minute changes required thanks to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. You can review a list which contains all of the 31 forms by reading Notice 2013-24 here.

The IRS does warn that even if you are provided relief thanks to their announced notice you may still receive an automatic assessment notice and demand for payment. If so, contact Scholl, Chyo & Company right away and we can help you get the matter resolved.

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New Issues for Splitting Community Property

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As usual, we would be foolish to expect our laws and regulations to always make sense or to keep up with the times.

Over the years there have been significant technical challenges to all traditionally married couples in community property states that want to file separate income tax returns. What is often overlooked though is that  registered domestic partners and same-sex married couples face those same reporting challenges plus additional crazy hurdles for proper tax reporting.

The IRS requires registered domestic partners and same-sex married couples to split their community income between their tax returns, even though they require you to file as single taxpayers (remember, we can't apply logic or common sense to any of these rules).

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Healthcare Reform To Cause Real Life Headaches

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As all of use hurtle down the road toward the implementation of the 2010 health care legislation it sure does appear that the health care legislation will certainly create its own health problems... especially for your tax adviser! There is a lot to know about the 2010 health care legislation in order to take advantage of favorable provisions and to avoid or minimize penalties. 

The health care legislation enacted in March 2010—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), P.L. 111-148, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, P.L.111-152—is almost 1,000 pages long. It involves numerous rules on employer-provided health care, insurance exchanges, insured rights, and the health care delivery system. There are numerous tax provisions. Guidance from the IRS and other government agencies has been emerging since 2010, and much of it is quite lengthy.

The Affordable Care Act includes a variety of measures specifically for small businesses that help lower premium cost growth and increase access to quality, affordable health insurance. Depending on whether

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Online sales taxes back on the Senate's plate

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Time for everyone to 'fess up. Who has ordered goods via the Internet and not paid your state sales tax? As suspected, most everyone is raising their hand. 

Under current law, states can only collect sales taxes from retailers that have a physical presence in their state. While most states do require individuals to report their online purchases when they file their annual tax returns not everyone does.

Shopping online and avoiding sales taxes has indeed saved consumers a lot of money. But it has also created an uneven playing field for brick and mortar retailers versus Internet-based retailers.