Leaderboard

I wanted to comment on this below the article, but couldn't figure out how to get registered on the site. "For example, an individual who owes no tax for 2011 can collect a $13,360 refundable tax credit by fraudulently claiming he adopted a child and including Form 8839 (Qualified Adoption Expenses) with his Form 1040, along with some easily-manufactured bogus paperwork. He won't get caught for stealing the $13,360 unless he gets audited, which is pretty unlikely. I hate to be the one to publicize this low-risk fraud opportunity, but there you go." This is soooo inflamatory. Whatever you might think about the adoption credit and/or the refundable portion, it wasn't easy to obtain. Every single return with this credit was audited. Not exactly a low-risk opportunity for fraud. Most preparers complained how long it took for the returns to be processed, and the extreme amount of paperwork that had to be submitted. One of my new clients claimed the credit last year (I didn't prepare it), but I did see the audit report, where for a requested credit of $909, they could not find a reciept for $59. The credit was reduced by that amount. For all those who want a flat tax; AMT is it. Unfortunately it doesn't target whom it should any more. I'm all for finally indexing the exemption to a level that doesn't reflect 'weathy' circa 1969. And to stop playing politics with the tax code. Don't buy votes with tax credits, deductions, exemptions, etc. Stop with the Grover Norquist pledges, and determine what level of taxation is necessary to run the country, and tax that. The yearly uncertainty is worst for businesses than a slight increase in taxes would be. Do you all realize that 2011 was the first year in over 10 in which last minute crap wasn't pulled at the end of the year? I was amazed when my tax software showed up by Thanksgiving.

I took the test today and YIPPY! I passed! Deb!