Tax Tips & News: Tax & Financial News (19)

Haiti Donations Could Lower 2009 Taxes

3 minutes read

By now, everybody is aware of the sheer devastation inflicted on the people of Haiti by a massive earthquake that struck 9 days ago. It has been estimated that in excess of 200,000 people have been killed or are still missing. The global outpouring of aide & donations are setting records daily. However, in an effort to reward those that have made donations to Haiti–as well as provide an incentive to those that have not–a bi-partisan bill is being introduced by the Leaders of the House Ways &...

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Jackson Hewitt Loses RAL Funding

4 minutes read

Jaskson Hewitt–the 2nd largest tax preparation business behind H&R Block–has lost over 50% of their Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) funding for the 2010 tax season.  Due to regulatory crackdowns, the bank that funded Jackson Hewitt’s RAL program–Pacific Capital Bankcorp Inc.–was blocked by the Office of the Comptroller, and ordered to leave the RAL business.

“It’s potentially disastrous for Jackson Hewitt,” said Vishnu Lekraj, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. “If they lose the ability to provide...

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“Death Tax” Expires, Extra Tax Planning Required

7 minutes read

The only certainties in life are Death & Taxes as the old saying goes.  But thanks to the inaction of Congress, wealthy taxpayers have one less tax to pay in 2010.  On the surface this should be a good thing, but unfortunately, it’s not that simple…

Tax planners across the country were certain that Congress would extend the Estate Tax–also known as the “Death Tax”–which was set to expire this year. The House acted, but the Senate did not. So for the first time since 1916 there is no estate tax,...

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H&R Block CEO Encourages Stifling of Competition

3 minutes read

Ahhh H&R Block.  You really are the McDonalds of income tax preparation.  It’s like I always say, if you wan’t a good burger, you don’t go to McDonalds.  Sure, it tastes good going down, but you’ll be sorry later…

Here’s H&R Block big wig Russ Smyth being interviewed about why he favors the new tax preparer regulations.  One of his answers: Because it will drive smaller Mom & Pop industries out of business.  He then quickly followed up that statement with “H&R Block encourages competition..,”

Well,...

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Taxpayer Advocate Scolds IRS

3 minutes read

In the wake of the newly imposed regulations governing paid tax preparers, Nina E. Olson of the office of The National Taxpayer Advocate–an IRS watchdog–issued a report faulting the IRS on collecting delinquent taxes. She called it “…an astonishing lack of transparency as to what is included in these revenue figures and how they are computed,”. After the IRS reported $118 Billion in collected delinquent taxes, the figure turned out to be more like $86 Billion. This 27% difference was...

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