When NY State adopted same-sex marriage in 2011, the estate tax was also removed for legally wed couples. But now, The NY State Supreme court has gone one step further and ruled to refund estate taxes collected from any gay couple going as far back as tax year 2008:
Nothing brings on the cold sweats like an official letter from the Government; particularly the IRS. Like being pulled over by the police while driving, thoughts of everything you have ever done (or may have done) wrong begin to flood your mind. There are two different classes of IRS Audits: Correspondence Audits & Desk Audits.
Not every interaction with the IRS must necessarily induce flop sweat.
Case in point: A few years ago a friend of mine decided his income taxes had become sufficiently complicated to merit hiring an accountant. After examining previous tax returns, the accountant discovered my friend had claimed the standard deduction for two years when he should have itemized expenses. He filed a couple of amended tax returns and voila – the IRS wrote him checks...
