kcjenkins

In the midst of the IRS scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author,said she believes she may have been one of the IRS’s targets. According to Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her and “what their politics were.” While audits are not unusual, the way hers started was not. It all started with a phone call she received at her home in May of that year — a call during which she was told she would be audited. A letter that followed on May 19, 2010 solidified the IRS’s request to meet her in person two months later in July. “The IRS calls my house and says … ‘I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to be auditing your business’ and I said ‘My businesses?’ and he said, ‘You know the expenses you take off for writing,”she recalls. In addition to her academic work, she said she occasionally freelances for Catholic outlets and for the Wall Street Journal. But the circumstances surrounding the irregular nature of the experience don’t end there. She noted it was particularly surprising that she, alone, was audited. Her husband, who brings in the vast majority of the family’s income, was not included in the IRS’s inquiry — even though the Hendershotts always files jointly. Ever hear of that ? So when the agent explained that she would need to come alone and in person to discuss her “business” activity in July of 2010, the professor was perplexed. “The IRS agent didn't even let me decide when it would be good for me … He didn't want my husband to come,” she said of the meeting, which was held at an IRS office in New Haven, Connecticut. The process was a grueling one, including many questions that Hendershott felt were political in nature. Numerous records were requested before the in-person meeting, as well as during and after. “Every question had to do with bank deposits we made. Every single question,” she said. “What is this money? And I didn’t know a lot of it. We had to go to our bank and get deposits back. We had to get records showing where the money came from.” While asking about the deposits, the agent wanted to know if the monies came from groups and, if so, what the organizations’ politics were. The mention of groups, Hendershott notes, is particularly interesting, as she had been writing for numerous Catholic outlets and organizations at the time. In addition to Catholic World Report and the Catholic Advocate, she also penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal. Many of these writings were critical of President Barack Obama and his policies. And the plot thickens. Among the organizations she targeted in her writings were progressive groups highly supportive of Democratic causes, including: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics United, and Catholic Democrats. At the time, one of the founders of Catholics United, Chris Korzen, had become a target of her work, as she exposed, in her view, his true leftist agenda and some of the complicated theological stances the left-of-center organizations he associated with were taking. Plus, there were alleged financial ties with billionaire liberal George Soros. Her writings for the Catholic Advocate soon ceased because, she admits, the IRS audit silenced her. If her suspicions are true, this may have been its chilling intention. “I haven’t written for them since the audit, because I was so scared,” she said (records show her last article for the organization was on July 10, 2010 — the same month the IRS audit unfolded). She had only shared her story with friends and those close to her, but in light of the recent IRS scandal, she has decided to speak out. “It was clear they didn’t like me criticizing the people who helped pass Obamacare,” she said of the audit,” later adding, ”The IRS is very frightening.” In addition to creating stress and fear, she said that the experience came at a great emotional and financial expense for the family, noting that even after the audit the government sought more information from her. “It was like they just couldn’t find what they wanted because they wanted more and more and more,” she said. Here’s just two paragraphs from an article she wrote in March 2010, just months before her meeting with IRS officials: On its website, Catholics United describes itself as a 501© (4) non-profit organization—eligible to accept donations. But, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good emerged in 2005 as a kind of sister organization to Catholics United. A 501© (3) organization, donors can claim a deduction against personal income tax when they donate money to Catholics in Alliance. Reviewing the 2007 IRS 990 forms for both Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United raises some questions, because Chris Korzen is listed as having received $84,821 in compensation for 40 hours per week from Catholics in Alliance on the group’s 990 Form—even though the Catholics United website claimed he was the director there during the same time period. [...] Despite their inability to engage in extensive lobbying, Catholics in Alliance has been extremely successful in attracting large donors. Never a friend to the Catholic Church, George Soros, one of the earliest donors, contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2005 and another $100,000 in 2006 through his Open Society Institute. Likewise, Smith Bagley, a major Democratic donor and fundraiser, whose wife, Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, is Chairman of the Board of Catholics in Alliance, came close to matching Soros with grants from his family’s Arca Foundation. With a long history of supporting progressive organizations like ACORN, the Gamaliel Foundation, People for the American Way, and Planned Parenthood, Arca contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2007 and another $75,000 in 2008.

For Tom: It has become difficult to keep track of all the different "-gates" the Obama administration has suddenly found itself embroiled in: perhaps an appropriate name would be Gate-r-gate? And with the just concluded farce in which Jay Carney passed off all AP-related questions to Eric Holder, who in turn recused himself and told the media to please crucify the Deputy AG instead, it is unlikely that any material new information will be disclosed any time soon. However, courtesy of The Hill, we at least have some insight into the first gross offense by the administration revealed last week: the targeting of one political group over another by the supposedly impartial IRS. Specifically, attached below is the full 7 page questionnaire sent by the IRS to the Liberty Township Tea Party containing a list of 35 questions. Listed here one can find such pearls as "provide details regarding all of your activity on Facebook and Twitter", "Provide a list of all issues that are important to your organization", "do you or will you rate candidates", "you have conducted polls of of your membership to determine which candidates and issues they are supporting. Provide details on this process", "Do you conduct media advertisements lobbying for or against legislation?", "Do you directly or indirectly communicate with members of legislative bodies? If so, explain the amount and nature of the communication", and finally "provide details regarding your relationship with Justin-Bink(sic) Thomas." It appears Justin is someone who according to the Daily Kos, "claims that the government is bailing out too many people who don't want to work." Surely, for the IRS, this is "need to know" information. For the actual letter, you need to go to her link.

IRS Gave Confidential Docs to Lib Group Tuesday, May 14, 2013 The progressive-leaning investigative journalism group ProPublica says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office that targeted and harassed conservative tax-exempt groups during the 2012 election cycle gave the progressive group nine confidential applications of conservative groups whose tax-exempt status was pending. The commendable admission lends further evidence to the lengths the IRS went during an election cycle to silence tea party and limited government voices. ProPublica says the documents the IRS gave them were “not supposed to be made public”: The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year… In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made six of those public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.)

If you do that, you can not reverse it. I've used it occasionally but I find I'd rather open the forum, give at least a fast scan of the new posts,to see if there are some I want to read, before I click the Mark this forum as read option.

I've had that situation before, and while they are not subject to the payroll taxes, they ARE subject to income tax. In my case the payroll taxes had been withheld, and we had to go to the employers to get corrected W-2s and get the withheld taxes paid back to them. Was a real pain convincing a couple of the CPA's that did the W-2s, but I won them all eventually.

Thanks, I've sent them a message trying to find out where to get one of those. If I get the info, I'll share it.

Thanks for that great feedback. Don't know how many are going in that direction, but this is the time to at least consider more than one option.

Clearly you have a different definition of 'success'. And Catherine's comments sound to me like they are very realistic, not for every taxpayer, of course, but in today's world of divorce, remarriage, and broken families, it does not sound like those problems would be 'few and far between' either.

Do you remember where you found it? I've been looking, but no luck.

Now we find out from the IG report that they also went after groups with “Jewish,” “Limited Government” or “Constitution” in their names. Is it getting closer to being scary for you?

No, I prefer my sliderule. LOL Although John's abacus looks pretty neat. Where do you find those,John?

I expect there will be more of that situation for a while yet. Given the market right now. Although we keep reading that it is "coming back" it still has a way to go to meet the highs.

What state are you in?

" A married person does not need to use any protection with the spouse because there is no network involved." ​ Shouldn't that be "if" rather than "because"?

Yes. there is no 'perfect' software for all practices Not only size of practice but type of returns varies widely. Even the type of employees can make a difference in what is best for them.

They do have a tendency to expand their requirements over time, don't they?

The report claims that Lerner was aware of the targeting as early as June 29, 2011, where she was told at a meeting that groups with “Tea Party,” “Patriot” or “9/12 Project” in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny. The government agency even sought information about their family members, details of their postings on social media, and the identities of their donors. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups “immediately,” the report adds. On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement,” the report says. DOES THIS GIVE ANYONE ELSE THE CHILLS? THOSE CRITERIA SOUND LIKE WHAT I CONSIDER THE "GOOD GUYS". EDUCATING ON THE CONSTITUTION IS A BAD THING?

Don't understand your post? Since 1992 both CA senators have been Dems. In 2002, California Democrats won all eight statewide offices, and this feat was repeated again in 2010. And the Dems maintained their 34-19 edge in the 53-member U.S. House delegation, as well as controlling the State house and senate. While there have been a few GOP governors, mainly because Gray Davis was so bad, I can't see any time in the last 20+ years that the Dems have not been in control of CA? As for the Balanced budget, that is somewhat questionable. I applaud Brown for trying to balance it, something no Republican could have ever gotten through the Dem controlled legislature, but there are a lot of assumptions built into it that even liberals in CA question. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/mar/05/walters-california-budget-isnt-as-sound-as-brown/?opinion=1 http://washingtonexaminer.com/conn-carroll-the-california-spending-rush/article/2522514 http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Jerry-Brown-s-balancing-act-bucks-status-quo-4184782.php

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130511%2FA_NEWS%2F305110315 A comprehensive environmental review of Gov. Jerry Brown's twin tunnels project was released Friday. And if any electronic document can make a "thud" when it hits your computer, this one did. The review is 20,210 pages long. It will offer the most specific details yet about the project, how it will be built and how it will impact Delta residents. This is insane. Doesn't he know the state is already bankrupt? So he wants to convert from 8,000 acres at the low end to 100,000 acres at the high end, of valuable farmland into 'wetlands', using water that is already is serious shortage? And no one is locking him up in an asylum? They are planning to help him do this? Is the entire state government on drugs?

i It's there NOW, but we now know that the head of that department knew of it in June 2011. So it took two years after she knew, for her to admit it? And she knew but did not stop it? Until after the election was over? And the media knew of the complaints for years before it made any headlines on any of the main stream media. And even now, most of the MSM is reporting it heavily loaded with the excuses of "lower level employees" intended to minimize the importance. Any time anyone uses the IRS for political purposes it is BAD. VERY BAD. Everyone on all sides should be outraged at this. , I want a ton of coverage, Jainen, and not just on publication like WSJ. That's a fine publication, but hardly one read widely by the general population.

Two blondes were sipping their Starbucks when a truck went past loaded up with rolls of sod. "I'm going to do that when I win the lottery," announced Blonde #1. "Do what?" asked Blonde #2. "Send my lawn out to be mowed."

Tell her this. "The amount the bank takes out, unless you ask them to take out more, is only the amount of the PENALTY for early withdrawal, because that is the only amount they know you will have to pay. You may or may not, depending on the other items in your return, also owe income tax on the amount, but how much will depend on your tax bracket, which depends on everything else in your return. Also, in some states, you may owe state income tax on the withdrawal."

Just got this newsletter that reports the NLRB rule on posting a union friendly notice was struck down by the US Circuit Court of Appeals as violating the employer’s free speech rights and under NLRB law. To see the article go to this url http://www.laborlawyers.com/court-strikes-down-nlrb-poster-rule The National Labor Relations Board suffered another significant blow this week, when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the Board’s controversial notice-posting mandate on the basis that it infringed upon employer free speech rights, while otherwise violating the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The posting requirement, which was scheduled to take effect back on April 30 of 2012, was invalidated in its entirety. Nat’l. Assn. of Manufacturers v. NLRB. The rule would require the nearly six million employers subject to the NLRA to post notices informing employees of their rights under the Act. This unprecedented use of rulemaking triggered a severe backlash from the business community by virtue of its seemingly pro-union message. It would also render any posting violation an independent unfair labor practice, and evidence of unlawful motive, as well as toll the Act’s six-month limitations period for filing charges. In its decision, the D.C. Circuit found the rule at odds with free speech protections in the First Amendment and the NLRA, noting that the right to free speech includes a prohibition on government-compelled speech and the right to refrain from speech all together. The court concluded that Section 8© of the Act not only gives employers the right to such free speech, but also the right to remain silent, rejecting any attempt to convert a failure to speak (through the mandatory notice) into an unfair labor practice or evidence of improper motive. The court went on to uphold a lower court ruling, which held that the notice purports to substantially amend statutory language legislated by Congress, thereby exceeding the Board’s authority. Unfortunately, the court chose to bypass the significant question of the Board’s underlying authority to engage in such rulemaking. Nonetheless, the decision and its vindication of employer free speech rights is a major victory for the business community, at least so long as it withstands any further judicial challenge. The Board has said that it would refrain from implementing the rule so long as litigation as to its validity remained pending. The Board has not yet indicated whether it will appeal this decision, and may be waiting on the outcome of a similar appeal before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that remains pending. But for now, the Board has been dealt a serious setback in its efforts to impose a new posting requirement.

http://www.judysapps.com/TenKey.htm Judy's TenKey is a Windows calculator used by millions of people in over 45 countries. It has almost every feature imaginable, costs only $19.95, is easy to use, and won the Ziff Davis award for Desktop Accessory of the Year. I truly think it's worth every penny. Edit the tape and watch it "auto-magically" recalculate! Enjoy multi-level undo, sounds, auto-numlock, and more! You use a calculator every day ... why not use the best? Try it free! You can use Judy's TenKey like an accountant's 10-key adding machine, a standard calculator, or an RPN scientific calculator (see calculator syntax). If you've learned to "touch-type" on a tenkey, you'll love the optional tenkey adding machine mode, since the order you press the keys is different (e.g., 10+ 9- instead of 10-9). This is one reason so many accounting firms around the world have standardized on Judy's TenKey. This gives you the best of computer calculator and tapes, because you can label and save the tapes to the client's folder. Or print them out if you need them for any reason, whether that is an audit or for the client. And since they are saved as pdf, it's easy to send them to the client, if he has a question, etc. I have used this program for at least 10 years, and love it. Did I mention that you can configure the calculator to suit just how you want it to look?