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You Think You Got Audited?

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Getting an audit notice from the IRS isn't anyone's idea of a party. But it's not the end of the world. Usually the auditor just wants to make sure you're entitled to the breaks you've claimed. Did you really spend as much as you reported on meals & entertainment? Did you really spend enough hours managing your rental properties to qualify as a "real estate professional"? If the IRS finds a mistake, they issue a "deficiency notice" and bill you for what you owe. How bad can it really be?

Well, just ask Raymond J. Lane.

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The IRS at the Wedding

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You've all heard that April showers bring May flowers. That's fine and all, and it doesn't leave anything for the IRS unless you're a farmer or a florist. But June brings brides — young brides, old brides, blushing brides, even bridezillas. Now the IRS pays attention, because now the IRS gets to reach out for all sorts of extra taxes from the happy couple.

So, Mike and Sarah meet in college, fall in love, and get married. Maybe they host the big day at their college chapel. Maybe they get creative with the reception and throw a barbecue in a barn. What will the IRS think?

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Dad & Taxes

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Sunday was Father's Day, and if your family is like most, you talked about golf, or fishing, or the latest happenings on Duck Dynasty. You probably didn't talk about taxes, just because Dad doesn't like paying them! So here are some "father and family" themed tax quotes to put a smile on your face today:

"Every year, the night before he paid his taxes, my father had a ritual of watching the news. We figured it made him feel better to know that others were suffering." Narrator, The Wonder Years television series

"My father has a great expression: 'The capital-gains tax has created more millionaires than any other government policy.' The capital-gains tax tends to make investors hold longer. That is almost always the right decision." Chris Davis

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Party Time at the IRS

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You probably don't think a conference for a bunch of IRS bureaucrats would be much fun. Apparently, though, the IRS knows how to throw a party. Back in 2010, they hosted an event dedicated to "Leading into the Future" for 2,609 executives and managers in the Small Business/Self-Employed division. (You're excited already, aren't you?) It turned into a $4.1 million boondoggle, complete with first-class air travel and Presidential Suites at three different hotels, that even Jay Gatsby might appreciate.

We'll never know how many of our friends at the party woke up hung over the next morning. But predictably, someone blew the whistle on "excessive spending," and now we have another IRS scandal on our hands. Last week, the party poopers at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a 56-page report titled

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An Apple a Day

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Back when you were a kid, your mom probably told you "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Well here's something Mom didn't know — apparently, an apple a day keeps the tax man away, too. At least, that's the conclusion we might draw from recent Congressional hearings focused on Apple Incorporated and its strategies for avoiding taxes!

Last month, the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations conducted a hearing compellingly titled "Offshore Profit Shifting and the U.S. Tax Code — Part 2 (Apple Inc.)." The Committee graciously invited Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, to share how Apple avoids U.S. tax. (We can only imagine how delighted Cook was to receive the Committee's "invitation" — no doubt delivered on the same sort of elegant stationery you might use to announce a spring cotillion or send a "thank you" note to Grandmother.)

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You Think Your Taxes Are High?

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The United States and France have been friends for centuries. The French navy provided much of the military might we needed to defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. The French Revolution inspired our own founders to the promise of republican government. And French territory, acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, provided land for 15 of today's 50 states. While the United States and France never shared the same sort of "special relationship" as the United States and England, the two countries have traditionally shared a warm bond.