kcjenkins

The Chicken and the Horse [Just a little blue, don't read on, if that offends you] On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together. One day the two were playing when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink. Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help! Off the chicken ran, back to the farm. Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor. Running around, the chicken spied the farmer's new Harley motorcycle. Finding the keys in the ignition, the chicken sped off with a length of rope hoping he still had time to save his friend's life. Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive on the shiny Harley, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him. The chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful bike, rescued the horse. Happy and proud, the chicken rode the Harley back to the farmhouse and the farmer was none the wiser when he returned. The friendship between the two animals was cemented: Best buddies, best pals. A few weeks later, the chicken fell into a mud pit, and soon he too began to sink. He cried out to the horse to save his life! The horse thought a moment, walked over, and straddled the large puddle. Looking down underneath he told the chicken to grab his junk and he would lift him out of the pit. The chicken got a good grip and the horse pulled him up and out, saving his life. The moral of the story (and you know there is one!)? When you're hung like a horse you don't need a Harley to pick up chicks.

Musical Humor C, E-flat, and G go into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, but we don't serve minors." So E-flat leaves, and C and G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished, and G is out flat. F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. D comes in and heads for the bathroom, saying, "Excuse me; I'll just be a second." Then A comes in, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and says, "Get out! You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight!" E-flat comes back the next night in a three-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender says, "You're looking sharp tonight. Come on in, this could be a major development." Sure enough, E-flat soon takes off his suit and everything else, and ends up au naturel. Eventually C sobers up and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. C is brought to trial, found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of D.S. without Coda at an upscale correctional facility.

Our teacher asked us what our favorite animal was, and I said, "Fried chicken." She said I wasn't funny, but she couldn't have been right, because everyone else in the class laughed. My parents told me to always be truthful and honest, and I am. Fried chicken is my favorite animal. I told my dad what happened, and he said my teacher was probably a member of PETA. He said they love animals very much. I do, too. Especially chicken, pork and beef. Anyway, my teacher sent me to the principal's office. I told him what happened, and he laughed, too. Then he told me not to do it again. The next day in class my teacher asked me what my favorite live animal was. I told her it was chicken. She asked me why, just like she'd asked the other children. So I told her it was because you could make them into fried chicken. She sent me back to the principal's office again. He laughed, and told me not to do it again. I don't understand. My parents taught me to be honest, but my teacher doesn't like it when I am. Today, my teacher asked us to tell her what famous person we admire most. I told her, "Colonel Sanders." The principal is making me write this, even though he laughed again.

Big People Words A group of kindergartners were trying very hard to become accustomed to the first grade. It was the first day of class, and the teacher told them now that they were in grade school, the rule is, "No baby talk!" You need to use "Big People" words, she told them. So with that clear, she began by asking John (not Johnny!) what he had done over summer vacation. "We went to visit my Nana," he said. "No," the teacher replied, "you went to visit your grandmother. No baby talk! Use 'Big People' words!" She then asked Michelle what she had done over vacation. "We took a ride on a choo-choo!" she replied. "No," she said. "You took a ride on a train. You must remember to use 'Big People' words." She then asked little Alex what he had done. "I read a book," he replied. "That's wonderful!" the teacher said. "What book did you read?" Alex thought real hard about it, then puffed out his chest with great pride, and said, "Winnie the Shit!"

My prayers continue to be with you both, Rich.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202214503186323

Judy, I'm going to lock this thread, but first just let me explain that what upset me so much was that I posted it primarily because of the message at the end, plus the fact that my friend agreed with me that Glenn's message to the disturbed individual was a great one to remember if you ever find yourself in the position of needing to talk to someone about to attempt suicide. To have her react not to the message, but just to the fact that Beck was involved, really did hit me hard in a bad way. I've lost someone I loved to suicide, so her suggesting it was just a stunt, with no basis, really upset me. Let's leave it at that.

Please note, Glenn didn't take any credit for it. He wanted to give credit to his email reader, who didn't want to be named. The only person Glenn was congratulating was God himself. If you can prove this is fake, then we will talk. Typical small minded liberal, ad hominem attack, without any evidence to prove this a fraud. Are you foolish enough to think people don't do things like this? I have a friend who has spent 22 years working with suicidal people. Maybe it's a hoax, maybe it's not, but there have been many REAL incidents just like this. But God does allow miracles to happen.

" A six month time frame"? They won't even make it a six week time frame, because pols [yes, on BOTH sides] don't want the complaints from voters. Remember the screams a few years ago when they held up just the EIC portion of refunds just a few weeks? You'd have thought people were starving in the streets by the thousands.

Tax Preparers Arrested after Filing Prison Inmates’ Fraudulent Tax Returns Trenton, N.J. (October 24, 2013) By Michael Cohn A pair of owners of a tax preparation business that claimed millions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds on behalf of inmates at various New Jersey prisons have been arrested. Special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigations unit arrested Kamal J. James, aka “Bro Messiah Aziz El,” and Crystal G. Hawkins, aka “Sis. Crystal Gabri El,” at Hawkins’ residence in Laurel, Del., on Wednesday morning on a criminal complaint charging them with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The pair operated Release Refunds, a purported tax preparation business that was previously based in Brick, N.J., and is now in Seaford, Del. According to prosecutors, they solicited New Jersey prison inmates as clients and then filed thousands of fraudulent tax returns on their behalf. James’ and Hawkins’ conduct allegedly resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits and an actual tax loss of approximately $1.7 million. James and Hawkins appeared in Trenton federal court Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Arpert. During the proceedings, the government alleged that marijuana plants and a firearm were found in the Laurel home during the arrests. James was detained following the proceeding and Hawkins is expected to be released on a $250,000 bond. According to the criminal complaint, between October 2011 and October 2013, James and Hawkins conspired to defraud the federal government out of millions of dollars by creating and filing income tax returns based on bogus income and withholding information, using their purported tax preparation business to carry out the scheme. They sent promotional flyers for the business to inmates at various New Jersey prisons offering tax return preparation services. The pair asked inmates who expressed interest in Release Refunds’ services to provide basic identification information and to sign income tax returns and other IRS documents, but not to include any information about their income or withholdings. James and Hawkins then filled in the missing income information on the tax forms, fabricating the inmates’ earnings to trigger fraudulent and inflated refunds. During the course of the investigation, an undercover IRS-CI agent posing as an inmate in a New Jersey prison submitted a completed Release Refunds form and sent it to James and Hawkins. They then sent the “inmate” blank income tax forms and other IRS documents and instructions to sign the documents. James and Hawkins did not request any financial information from the undercover agent before preparing three fraudulent tax returns—including false income information that James and Hawkins provided—to be filed on behalf of the agent for tax years 2010 through 2012. The fraudulent tax returns resulted in several thousand dollars in refunds and a $1,485 fee for the defendants. In total, James and Hawkins caused approximately 2,432 fraudulent tax returns to be filed during the relevant time period, claiming approximately $4,402,288 in improper refunds, of which the United States paid approximately $1,779,910.16. If convicted, the defendants face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the amount of the gain or loss from the offense. U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the IRS’s Criminal Investigation unit, under the direction of special agent in charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, with the investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas P. Grippo and Jennifer Davenport of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton and Trial Attorney Tino Lisella of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Wolfe represented the government at today’s proceeding. Fishman’s office noted that the charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

IRS Needs to Fix Taxpayer Correspondence Scanning Washington, D.C. (October 24, 2013) By Michael Cohn The Internal Revenue Service has to do a better job when scanning taxpayer correspondence to avoid errors and repeated requests for information from taxpayers, according to a new report. The report , from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, acknowledged that the IRS is getting faster at scanning taxpayers’ paper correspondence into electronic images. But TIGTA’s report noted that a significant number of documents are being inaccurately coded or improperly scanned, leading to errors and delays. The IRS designed its Correspondence Imaging System, or CIS, to automate the scanning of taxpayer correspondence. The Image Control Team units in the IRS submission processing sites scanned more than 8.1 million pieces of paper correspondence into the CIS during fiscal year 2012. For its report, TIGTA reviewed whether the IRS was effectively and efficiently processing and managing taxpayer correspondence. A 2007 audit found delays in the timely scanning of taxpayer correspondence and recommended improvements to track and analyze the timeliness of correspondence scanning. In its new audit, TIGTA found that the IRS has taken corrective actions to address the concerns raised six years ago after the previous audit about the timeliness of scanning correspondence. However, TIGTA found there continues to be inaccurate and incomplete data in the CIS. TIGTA compared 118 paper documents received from taxpayers to the images scanned into the CIS and found that 28 of them (or 24 percent) had one or more scan errors. Moreover, documents scanned into the CIS are often incomplete, illegible or inaccurate. In addition, identity theft correspondence is not always linked to existing cases in the CIS, which can result in multiple cases and different IRS employees working with the same taxpayers and taking conflicting actions to resolve the taxpayer’s case. Nearly 56 percent of the 913,331 open cases in the CIS inventory, as of September 2012, involved correspondence from taxpayers regarding identity theft. “The continued problems in this area are troubling,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. “Miscoded or illegible scanned documents can result in taxpayers being asked multiple times to provide the same information, delay the issuance of refunds, change the order in which cases are worked, or result in the incorrect calculation of interest owed to taxpayers.” TIGTA made seven recommendations to the IRS, including ensuring that employees perform required cursory reviews of scanned documents, and that managers verify scan quality. The report also suggested the IRS should ensure that managers monitor their teams’ inventories and reassign cases as needed to ensure that the oldest cases are worked on first. The IRS agreed to take action to address TIGTA’s recommendations. In response to the report, Peggy Bogadi, commissioner of the IRS’s Wage and Investment Division, pointed out that the CIS offers benefits such as automatic acknowledgment of taxpayer correspondence and improved customer service through instant access to scanned information while assisting taxpayers. The system also enables IRS employees at field locations to access documents without needing to get copies mailed or shipped in bulk to them. Bogadi also pointed out that while much of TIGTA’s report focuses on the scanning of documents related to identity theft, such cases represent only a small portion of the overall CIS inventory. “The IRS closed over 6.8 million cases in CIS during fiscal year 2012, with only 460,000 cases, or 6.7 percent, representing identity theft cases,” she wrote. She took issue with figures cited in the report indicating that identity theft cases constitute 55.8 percent of all Accounts Management inventory work. But she pointed out that represents only the open individual taxpayer cases, and not the total population of cases. “While the scanning technology is not a seamless process, and errors may occur, it is important to note that none of the errors identified in the report adversely impacted our ability to serve taxpayers,” she wrote.

My God! Your hatred of conservatives is more extreme than I could have imagined. Sure, some guy is going to put himself in position to be locked up as a mental case, to help promote a show? Come on!

Tax Planning after the Tax Extension By Michael Cohn October 16, 2013 Now that the October 15 filing deadline is out of the way for all those many taxpayers who had to file an extension due to the delayed tax season, there are a number of tax planning options for next year. Greg Rosica, a tax partner at Ernst & Young and a contributing author to the Ernst & Young Tax Guide, noted that many people are busy finishing their taxes, especially when they receive their K-1 forms within the last few weeks just ahead of the September 16 deadline. “They obviously have all of their information as of at least that date to be able to finalize and file their tax return,” he said. “As people are going through and pulling those things together, there are some things to think about, both in terms of the 2012 tax filings that they’re doing as well as 2013. With 2012 tax filings that they have been wrapping up, certainly they are thinking about what have they done that they can reconsider." One thing they might want to reconsider is a Roth IRA conversion. "If they have done a Roth IRA conversion, that’s something that you can recharacterize up until October 15," Rosica said in an interview last week. "If they did a Roth conversion in 2012, they can look back and reflect on what they have done and decided that perhaps that wasn’t the right financial move for themselves, perhaps because the investments went down significantly in value as of this point in time, or perhaps they thought they would have the cash to make the tax payment on that conversion, but life changes have occurred. Then they could re-evaluate that as well and potentially do a recharacterization, which is undoing what they had done before.” Those who are self-employed also could make contributions to a Simplified Employee Pension, or SEP, plan until October 15. The fiscal cliff deal at the beginning of the year also opens up some possibilities for next year’s tax planning. “For the 2012 filing we’re still dealing with the older tax rules the way they were for the most part,” said Rosica. “To the extent that they have done IRA contributions to charity up to $100,000, that remains a provision that exists for both 2012 and 2013. Although you can’t still do it today for last year, you can certainly do it for 2013.” For those practitioners who have just wrapped up the 2012 tax returns of clients who were on extension, they should take a look at how their clients' income may have changed for 2013. “See what kinds of deductions that you receive a benefit from and how those may change in light of the provisions that come back into play, such as with itemized deductions having some of the phase-out that had occurred previously but had not been in play for the last few years,” Rosica suggested. “That comes back into play in 2013, so higher-income 2013 taxpayers may really want to look at some of their deductions and determine things like real estate taxes and other itemized deductions, as to whether they’re going to get some of the benefit that they’ve received in the past from those, and whether through some timing of when they pay them, they might be able to put themselves in a better situation. Also, as they look toward higher tax rates and increased surcharges and contributions to taxes, are there ways to continue to defer or deflect to other taxpayers or other family members income that’s properly movable into some of the lower tax brackets?” Taxpayers and tax practitioners can also do some planning around some of the newer taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act, such as the Additional Medicare Tax or Net Investment Income Tax. “Really it’s looking at the investable assets that you have and where those are located,” said Rosica. “To the extent you hold investment assets outside your tax-deferred or tax-exempt plans, the interest and dividends and capital gains will be subject to it [taxes]. But items that are inside an IRA or 401(k) are not. It may even be worth looking at what you have. Where are the interest-bearing investments you have, such as bonds, versus where are your capital gains and dividend-producing assets? Depending on where they are in your portfolio—in a taxable or tax-deferred or tax-free account—that might be something that’s worth looking at as to how to minimize the Medicare tax on those types of investments." Business investors should also examine their tax situation. "If you’re an investor in a partnership, or in an S corporation or some other type of flow-through entity, if you don’t materially participate, which is a tax term for whether something can be considered passive or active, that can have an impact because anything you are passive in will also be subject to the Medicare contribution tax. If it’s possible to increase your level of involvement in that particular investment that you have, such that you can get treated as active, that’s also a way to decrease [your taxes]," said Rosica. "But here we are in October, and if you’re trying to meet the 500 material participation hours [requirement], there’s probably not 500 hours left to work in the year.” Even though as part of the fiscal cliff deal at the beginning of the year Congress made permanent the patch to keep the alternative minimum tax from spreading to millions more taxpayers, Rosica noted that the AMT continues to be an issue that many people will face. “Depending on what tax bracket you’re in, if you’re in the higher ordinary tax brackets, then the gap between the AMT and the ordinary rates is wider, and therefore there is less potential to be in AMT,” he pointed out. “But certainly if you’re not in the top higher rate, and you’ve been in AMT in the past, there’s a good chance you’ll continue to be in that as well.”

http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/10/24/did-a-final-email-save-a-suicidal-man%E2%80%99s-life/ Did a final email save a suicidal man’s life? Thursday, Oct 24, 2013 at 12:21 PM PDT Glenn is calling it a miracle and it’s hard to see it any other way. A listener to the radio program who has been out of work and recently saw the love of his life leave him was about to commit suicide. They wrote one last email to Glenn, explaining that he just couldn’t fight it anymore. What happened next may have just been a miracle. On any given day, Glenn gets hundreds and sometimes thousands of emails. But yesterday during the radio show, a staff member who was monitoring his account got a shocking note: Glenn, I am sitting in my running car right now, the garage closed. I’m done. No job, no prospects. Love of my life just left me. I can’t get past that too. Thank you for getting me through a lot of things and getting me through to this point. You have saved me on more than one occasion. I don’t want to be saved anymore. I don’t want to even try anymore. God, please forgive me. Upon receiving the email, the staff reached out to Glenn’s security firm and the local police. About half an hour, the local police let them know that the man was alert and with the medical team. “A miracle. And I say this to the individual that did it. You say you don’t want to be saved, but for that to happen, it was a full-fledged miracle because there are days that people don’t check my e-mail, and for your e-mail to come in while someone was checking and them to open your e-mail is nothing but a God thing,” Glenn said. Glenn encouraged the man who wrote the note to find out why everything fell into place in such a way for him to be saved, and that he clearly was saved for a reason. “You've got something to do. Find out what it is, my friend,” Glenn said, “I would ask the audience to keep this nameless individual in Ohio in your prayers,” he added. Consider saving this ad and sharing it from time to time. If you are thinking about suicide or hurting yourself, or if you think someone you know is seriously thinking about suicide, please talk to a responsible adult or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This telephone hotline is available 24/7. The people who answer this hotline will help you.

glad they accomplished my goal.

Actually , it's already a condition, they just have not bothered to check on them. “The IRS has the same requirement for contractors, but they are monitored with much less frequency.” Of course, they blame that on their tight budget, but since it can be done with a computer check, I'm having a hard time buying it.

Thanks, Easytax.

Hundreds of employees of Internal Revenue Service contractors owe millions of dollars in federal tax debts, according to a new report. The report , from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, pointed out that the IRS’s own employees and contract employees are required under the Internal Revenue Manual to pay any federal tax debts and file their taxes on time, but employees of IRS contractors are not held to the same standards. TIGTA found that as of June 14, 2012, 691 of the 13,591 IRS contractor employees, or 5 percent, it reviewed had $5.4 million in federal tax debt. These debts were either agreed to by the taxpayers or affirmed by the court. Of the 691 contractor employees, 352 are not currently on a payment plan to resolve their tax debts. Most of the contractor employees appeared to have been compliant when their initial staff-like access was granted, but at least 319 contractor employees had tax debts assessed after they were granted staff-like access, and these employees are not on a payment plan at this time. Under IRS policy, these 319 contractor employees were not eligible for staff-like access and should not have had access to IRS facilities, systems and data, the report noted. TIGTA’s review identified weaknesses in the IRS’s existing practices that allowed contractor employees with federal tax debts and instances of nonfiling to go undetected after the IRS initially granted staff-like access because the IRS does not continuously monitor contractor employee tax compliance in the same way it monitors IRS employee tax compliance. Instead, the IRS reviews contractor tax compliance only once every five years or if the contract employee has longer than a two-year break in service. “Because many contractor employees have access to sensitive IRS systems and facilities, the IRS should address tax noncompliance for these employees in a similar manner as it would for its own employees,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. TIGTA conducted its review to determinate the effectiveness of the IRS background investigation process to identify contractor employees who do not file required federal tax returns or who owe federal taxes but are not currently on a payment plan. TIGTA made three recommendations, including further evaluating contractor employees TIGTA identified as potentially noncompliant and promptly bringing those individuals into compliance or removing them from IRS contracts. The IRS agreed with TIGTA’s recommendations and stated that it plans to establish and implement policies to ensure that contractor employee tax compliance is continuously monitored and background clearance revalidations include a tax compliance component. In addition, the IRS plans to further research and carefully evaluate the contractor employees identified by TIGTA as potentially noncompliant and refer them for additional action as appropriate. Finally, the IRS plans to convene a team to fully explore all viable options to address any future tax noncompliance. “I understand the seriousness of this issue as it relates to both our mission and responsibility to enforce tax law with integrity and fairness to all and therefore agree with all three recommendations,” IRS human capital officer David A. Krieg wrote in response to a draft of the report. “Employee tax compliance is a key foundation of the public’s trust in the IRS. The IRS remains committed to working with all contractor employees to help resolve their tax liabilities. We agree we can strengthen our existing practices by implementing all of the recommendations.” An IRS spokesperson also emailed a statement to Accounting Today reacting to the TIGTA report. “The IRS takes tax compliance for taxpayers and those who work for the IRS very seriously,” said the IRS. “For an IRS employee, failure to timely pay one’s full federal tax liability is considered misconduct, which may result in discipline or removal. With regards to contractors, the IRS remains committed to working with these employees to help resolve their tax liabilities, and we remain committed to strengthening our policies to ensure that contractor employees are and remain tax compliant. IRS is also convening a team to explore all viable options to address future noncompliance issues. The overwhelming majority of IRS contractors are in compliance with their tax obligation. "A total of 2.6 percent, or 352 out of 13,591 contractor employees, are noncompliant, and the IRS has committed to reviewing these cases and taking additional action as necessary," the IRS statement continued. "Roughly half of the contractor employees in question are on payment plans and paying what they owe. The IRS contractor 2.6 percent noncompliance rate is below the 3.2 percent average for all federal workers and retirees and the 8.2 percent delinquency rate for the U.S. population as a whole.” The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, reacted to the TIGTA report by pointing to the lower standards given to contractor employees. “Employees are held to a very strict standard, even in cases of personal hardship. If they fail to file on time or pay their tax debts, they face disciplinary action, including removal,” said NTEU president Colleen M. Kelley in a statement. “The IRS has the same requirement for contractors, but they are monitored with much less frequency.” Kelley pointed out that the NTEU has long advocated limiting the number of contractor employees at the IRS due to reasons of cost, information security and accountability. “At a time when the IRS is furloughing employees for lack of funding, why is it continuing to employ thousands of contract employees who probably cost more and hold them to lesser standards? No one does the work of the federal government better or is more accountable than federal employees,” said Kelley.

It works fine on my Win 7 also

Ranger did say the decedent was disabled, but given the broadness of the IRS definitions of 'material participation', it has to at least be considered, and I'd keep my notes on it either way

A man gets an emergency appointment with his doctor because he has some alarming and "odd" symptoms. "Like what?" the doctor asks. "Well, when I got up this morning, I put on a pair of white gloves and started calling my wife Minnie." "That's pretty weird," the doctor agreed. "Then, on the way to work, I couldn't help singing, 'Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go.'" "Kind of strange," the doctor said, "but everybody gets songs stuck in their heads sometimes." "That's not the worst of it," the man said. "Once I got to the office, I couldn't help it: I started calling everyone Happy, Grumpy, Dopey and so on. What's the matter with me?" "I'm pretty sure I've got it," the doctor says. "You're having Disney spells." -

Clearly, the land gets the stepup. But consider the possibility of the special-use valuation method for real property used in farming or other closely held business, if elected by the personal representative. She is a "qualified heir" so that has to be considered. The harvest, though, is not so simple. Rent paid in the form of crop shares is included in self-employment earnings for the year you sell, exchange, give away, or use the crop shares if you meet one of the four material participation tests at the time the crop shares are produced. Gross income for self-employment earnings includes the fair market value of the crop shares when they are used. So the first question is whether he met any of the material participation tests? May need to be treated as IRD, or on the decedent's final return.

Yes, I expect it will.