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Not only have they, they also have a point based on current IRS rules/laws. Currently, if the IRS tax software screws up, it's your fault. The burden is always on the tax payer, not the IRS even if the IRS is the one that is at fault. So, who are you going to trust? The IRS who would prepare your Tax Return AND is the one who will penalize you if the Tax Return is wrong? Or the third party that guarantees their software is correct and backs it up with cash if it is wrong?

That said, I wish we could go to a simpler system that means we wouldn't need to wrack or brains in frustration every year. We could replace the entire Federal Income Tax with a 12.68% flat tax and still collect the same amount of money as we are now. See Cell B 57

Assuming you are in the US, you might want to chat with your experienced friend about his misconception, don't deduct this year, and go file some amended returns to correct any past mistakes. According to IRS Publication 526:

You cannot deduct the value of your time or services, including:

• Blood donations to the Red Cross or to blood banks, and
• The value of income lost while you work as an unpaid volunteer for a qualified organization.

This sort of thing was all well-covered in the nonprofit leadership program I attended. Your friend might want to look for some education. Here in Austin, I have gotten good material and training from the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations and Greenlights for Nonprofit Success. As a board member I like BoardSource which also seems good for Executive Director or senior NPO staff.

Personally, I volunteer my technical skills by doing constituent relationship management technical tasks (database entry, mail merges, donor research, database cleanup) to a couple of local nonprofit organizations. I do it in chunks of 1-5 hours on an ongoing basis. Took me a few weeks to get up to speed at each in order to be productive. Can't deduct my time, but mileage is deductible.

Assuming you are in the US, you might want to chat with your experienced friend about his misconception, don't deduct this year, and go file some amended returns to correct any past mistakes. According to IRS Publication 526:

You cannot deduct the value of your time or services, including:

• Blood donations to the Red Cross or to blood banks, and
• The value of income lost while you work as an unpaid volunteer for a qualified organization.

This sort of thing was all well-covered in the nonprofit leadership program I attended. Your friend might want to look for some education. Here in Austin, I have gotten good material and training from the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations and Greenlights for Nonprofit Success. As a board member I like BoardSource which also seems good for Executive Director or senior NPO staff.

Personally, I volunteer my technical skills by doing constituent relationship management technical tasks (database entry, mail merges, donor research, database cleanup) to a couple of local nonprofit organizations. I do it in chunks of 1-5 hours on an ongoing basis. Took me a few weeks to get up to speed at each in order to be productive. Can't deduct my time, but mileage is deductible.

Contributions you cannot deduct: ... The value of your time or services, ...

IRS Pub. 526

They know how much the patents are worth, there's a certain "barter" value when they decide which patents to throw in to a cross licensing deal. You could put together a barter club and exchange goods and services with other barterers, and since there's no money involved, it's not taxable. Oh, wait, it is.
Why don't these companies trading in very valuable patents pay taxes on their bartering? I wouldn't mind if they chose the taxable value of their patent trading, if that choice also determined the damages for infringement.

I believe that initially no state or local government employees participated in SS. Later, all such government employees who didn't have a pension plan were required to join in the SS system. State and local governments which had pension plans were not required to join in the SS system, but some have. Some more info here suggests that about 25% of the public service employees are not covered by SS and that most are teachers, fire fighters, and police.

Note that there is some "benefits coordination" for those that spend part of their career in SS and part in public employee pension plan instead. This "windfall elimination provision" can dramatically reduce SS benefits due to offsets applied for benefits received under their public employee pension fund.

(Railroad workers also have their own independent pension plan and are outside the SS system.)

You've got to be kidding. Here in the USA, the law is for the rich and their lawyers.

Which, of course, is why the IRS has an entire section dedicated to starting a business and why Nevada also provides the same. Heck, Nevada even has an FAQ, and the IRS gives you a checklist. I'm willing to bet that, if you hit your local Chamber of Commerce, you'll find information there, too. Heck, even my local university has online resources available for new businesses.

For the rich and the lawyers indeed.

You've got to be kidding. Here in the USA, the law is for the rich and their lawyers.

Which, of course, is why the IRS has an entire section dedicated to starting a business and why Nevada also provides the same. Heck, Nevada even has an FAQ, and the IRS gives you a checklist. I'm willing to bet that, if you hit your local Chamber of Commerce, you'll find information there, too. Heck, even my local university has online resources available for new businesses.

For the rich and the lawyers indeed.

I realize that I may incite a religious war between the TaxCut camp and the TurboTax camp, but using a $75 piece of professional software seems like a good investment. Either would probably do, though I've used TaxCut for most of a decade for my LLC, and it walks you through the business filings pretty decently.

I'll presume that you chose an S-Corp for a reason, and won't badger you about using an LLC for a two-man shop. I will strongly recommend that you go over to irs.gov and read up on the S-Corp rules. There are a bunch of very helpful publications, and the IRS has gotten much more customer-oriented over the years.

In what ways are these charities? I thought charity is about giving to people in need, not supporting political organisations.

Tax deductible charitable donations are a little broader than that. The IRS defines it here: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html#en_US_publink100049599

The interpretation must be rather broad, since Students for Sensible Drug Policy IS registered as tax-deductible (which you can find here

So I guess I'm about as confused as you are. I certainly understand Chase's position on the whole thing, but whoever set this thing up at Chase was an idiot for not pre-approving or having some control over the list of charities you could vote for. As someone else pointed out, Chase doesn't care about charity one bit, the whole thing is just an attempt to make Chase look better during a time when they look BAD for reasons I don't have to explain.

In what ways are these charities? I thought charity is about giving to people in need, not supporting political organisations.

Tax deductible charitable donations are a little broader than that. The IRS defines it here: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html#en_US_publink100049599

The interpretation must be rather broad, since Students for Sensible Drug Policy IS registered as tax-deductible (which you can find here

So I guess I'm about as confused as you are. I certainly understand Chase's position on the whole thing, but whoever set this thing up at Chase was an idiot for not pre-approving or having some control over the list of charities you could vote for. As someone else pointed out, Chase doesn't care about charity one bit, the whole thing is just an attempt to make Chase look better during a time when they look BAD for reasons I don't have to explain.

the SFLC sues people and then demands a donation to settle.

s/SFLC/RIAA/g;

What's the difference here, except that for a "donation", the donor, not the recipient, pays the taxes ...

Lousy reference, there. The IRS takes privacy more seriously than just about anybody.

After Richard Nixon misused the agency, Congress slapped the IRS with certain restrictions. To de-politicize the agency, the executive structure was purged of political appointees. All other agencies have a myriad (literally dozens, even at small agencies) of political appointees floating around whose jobs they got because they kissed some politicians ass. The IRS has only two.

There is a "Taxpayer Advocate" office that watches over the agency and is quite effective in getting the word out to Congress and the public when the agency starts being in the least bit abusive. There's a Privacy Office. There's extensive yearly training in on privacy matters. Beyond that, a privacy breach at the IRS gets you hauled away in handcuffs by officers of the Treasury Inspector Generals Office. The union for IRS workers, in fact, complains loud and long that employees are too closely monitored, sometimes being investigated, for example, for unauthorized disclosure of information just because the customer they helped happened to live near them.

If the guy got a bribe, he can report it to the IRS without the slightest worry.

Taken straight from the IRS form SS-8..
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf

Further clarification:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

If you have 1 "customer" and work more than 36 hours per week for more than 90 days, and do not have a contracted scope of work (say, completing a specific project, after which you are no longer to show up to work), they you are not a contractor doing a job, but an employee working a position. Independent contracts by law must be paid by the JOB, not by time, so a "salaried" contractor, paid a fixed wage weekly with an undetermined end date is NOT a contractor by IRS regulations.

If you are provided a workplace and equipment, or lease equipment, or are compensated for equipment required to perform your "job" that you provide, then that alone clasifies you as an employee (unless it is explicitly again a task determined position, with a contracted end date, and flat TOTAL pay for the JOB.

I have used ALL of the above reasons IN COURT againt 2 previous employers, and won.

yes, they're not "hard fact rules" but they are generally excepted, and strictly enforced rules, and commonly accepted means. When in doubt, form SS-8 is filled out and the IRS makes the determination. If not, the contractor can file social security form 8919 and shift the FICA and SS tax burdens to the employer even if you were not properly classified prior.

Taken straight from the IRS form SS-8..
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf

Further clarification:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

If you have 1 "customer" and work more than 36 hours per week for more than 90 days, and do not have a contracted scope of work (say, completing a specific project, after which you are no longer to show up to work), they you are not a contractor doing a job, but an employee working a position. Independent contracts by law must be paid by the JOB, not by time, so a "salaried" contractor, paid a fixed wage weekly with an undetermined end date is NOT a contractor by IRS regulations.

If you are provided a workplace and equipment, or lease equipment, or are compensated for equipment required to perform your "job" that you provide, then that alone clasifies you as an employee (unless it is explicitly again a task determined position, with a contracted end date, and flat TOTAL pay for the JOB.

I have used ALL of the above reasons IN COURT againt 2 previous employers, and won.

yes, they're not "hard fact rules" but they are generally excepted, and strictly enforced rules, and commonly accepted means. When in doubt, form SS-8 is filled out and the IRS makes the determination. If not, the contractor can file social security form 8919 and shift the FICA and SS tax burdens to the employer even if you were not properly classified prior.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

IRS sais this is illegal. "independent contractor" is a misnomer, and form SS-8 tells your employer wether you can or can't be a contractor.

Basically:
- if you have only 1 job, and do not contract to multiple firms
- are provided or lease equipment or services from your company needed to perform your job (including flat coverage for pager, cell phone, home internet, etc)
- If you receive ANY benefits of any kind
- If your job is not tied to a specific task with an automatic termination at completion of the task
- if you are required to attend any company meetings not directly associated with a contracted task ...then you can't be a contractor by law.

I've fought 2 FLSA cases against previous employers who pulled contractor bullshit on us, and I've also been a party to 2 family members filing work time violations against employers, and worked for 1 company that got sued by the federal government for on-call time violations.

I am VERY aware of how this all works.

It's possible to sell short in an IRA, but it's difficult / expensive to get an arrangement that will allow you to. Buying PUT options might be a better choice for betting against a stock, for a trader, provided you understand the mathematics, the risks, and requirements involved (including such risks as your broker automatically exercising an option at expiration if you fail to deliver notice to leave it un-exercised, or they fail to receive your order in time).

Generally, most brokers won't just let you as an individual open a margin account using a new IRA with them as custodian. You will probably need what's referred to as a self-directed IRA through a custodian you have paid to allow you the option of a self-directed IRA.

You will need a custodian for the IRA who is willing to let you do it, and a broker that is willing to allow you to do it, and you open the margin account with a brokerage through that custodian.

The thing with margin accounts, is they allow you to borrow money, and generate debt-financed income.

This leads to two issues with regards to the tax and other rules effecting IRAs:

(a) The IRA is a separate entity, no assets outside that IRA can be used as collateral for the margin debt. So if you massively leverage your IRA account, and manage to get into serious debt... you walk away, the broker has no recourse against you. So the broker will not be interested in opening this margin account, except under strict rules, and if you have loads of cash to invest with them.

You can't sign any agreement that gives the broker recourse against you for your IRA's activities, or recourse/any use of your income/ assets outside the IRA.

Any use of resources outside the IRA, for IRA business is referred to as a prohibited transaction, the consequence is severe:

If the IRS finds out about any prohibited transaction, they'll disqualify the IRA for tax purposes: it gets treated as if you took a distribution of the entire value of the IRA at the beginning of the year the prohibited transaction occured, which incurs an early distribution penalty, and tax is now overdue on any income from the IRA.

So brokers and your custodian should be very cautious in this manner. Your broker stands to lose money, if the IRA (with potentially limited resources) gets into debt.

Also, there is this second item, about (b) Debt-financed income.

Your IRA itself has to pay UBIT (Unrelated Business Income Tax) on what is referred to as the UDFI (Unrelated debt-financed income), if it makes more than $1000 of such income, just like all other organizations exempted from tax under 501(a) and 529(a) (Form 990-T). IRS Publication 598

Your custodian has to file the 990-T and pay the tax, if it is due. If there is not enough cash in your account to cover the tax, then your custodian must liquidate other assets in it as needed to pay the tax.

It's possible to sell short in an IRA, but it's difficult / expensive to get an arrangement that will allow you to. Buying PUT options might be a better choice for betting against a stock, for a trader, provided you understand the mathematics, the risks, and requirements involved (including such risks as your broker automatically exercising an option at expiration if you fail to deliver notice to leave it un-exercised, or they fail to receive your order in time).

Generally, most brokers won't just let you as an individual open a margin account using a new IRA with them as custodian. You will probably need what's referred to as a self-directed IRA through a custodian you have paid to allow you the option of a self-directed IRA.

You will need a custodian for the IRA who is willing to let you do it, and a broker that is willing to allow you to do it, and you open the margin account with a brokerage through that custodian.

The thing with margin accounts, is they allow you to borrow money, and generate debt-financed income.

This leads to two issues with regards to the tax and other rules effecting IRAs:

(a) The IRA is a separate entity, no assets outside that IRA can be used as collateral for the margin debt. So if you massively leverage your IRA account, and manage to get into serious debt... you walk away, the broker has no recourse against you. So the broker will not be interested in opening this margin account, except under strict rules, and if you have loads of cash to invest with them.

You can't sign any agreement that gives the broker recourse against you for your IRA's activities, or recourse/any use of your income/ assets outside the IRA.

Any use of resources outside the IRA, for IRA business is referred to as a prohibited transaction, the consequence is severe:

If the IRS finds out about any prohibited transaction, they'll disqualify the IRA for tax purposes: it gets treated as if you took a distribution of the entire value of the IRA at the beginning of the year the prohibited transaction occured, which incurs an early distribution penalty, and tax is now overdue on any income from the IRA.

So brokers and your custodian should be very cautious in this manner. Your broker stands to lose money, if the IRA (with potentially limited resources) gets into debt.

Also, there is this second item, about (b) Debt-financed income.

Your IRA itself has to pay UBIT (Unrelated Business Income Tax) on what is referred to as the UDFI (Unrelated debt-financed income), if it makes more than $1000 of such income, just like all other organizations exempted from tax under 501(a) and 529(a) (Form 990-T). IRS Publication 598

Your custodian has to file the 990-T and pay the tax, if it is due. If there is not enough cash in your account to cover the tax, then your custodian must liquidate other assets in it as needed to pay the tax.

If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the rules for filing income, estate, and gift tax returns and paying estimated tax are generally the same whether you are in the United States or abroad. Your worldwide income is subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where you reside.

They even claim the right to tax those who renounce U.S. citizenship for "tax purposes." This is defined at having an income of over about $140 k per year for five years, or having a worldwide net worth of $2 million. They make the assumption that you are guilty of leaving to evade taxes if you meet those conditions. They then claim the right to tax you for an additional 10 years, IIRC. You not only get no representation, but you get nothing else, since renouncing U.S. citizenship can only be done in a U.S. consulate or embassy -- and those are only found overseas.

If your only motivation is money, even the IRS would rather see you do the right thing:

http://www.irs.gov/compliance/article/0,,id=180171,00.html

Don't discriminate. Revoke the tax-exempt status of ALL churches . . . Make non-profits pay the same real estate taxes as everyone else, so that the free market can actually work to put underused properties to their best use.

Speaking about U.S. non-profits the bright line is "personal inurement" and I think that is a good place for it to say. http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=169403,00.html The government is therefore not placed in a position to say whether donating shoes to Africa or teaching computer skills in Dallas are more valuable. It just has to determine whether the activity results in individuals diverting untaxed income to their personal benefit. The government is also not put in a position of deciding whether atheists, spaghetti-monster-believers, or Mormons are more valuable to the communities where they exist.

Thus if the Church of Scientology loses a tax case it is because it has not respected personal inurement rules (or the related principle that donations must be gratuitous).

The U.S. system has the advantage of content-neutral enforcement but financial transparency. I would choose this result even if it means that non-profits I don't value or agree with get the benefits of the system. BTW, the rules for joint ventures and investment for non-profits are so restrictive, that some health care providers are converting from non-profits when they can. It's not a free-ride by any means.

When have Democrats threatened Churches? What 'immoral laws' are you referring to? Maybe you should look at the IRS current guidelines for lobbying by any 501(c)3 tax exempt entity. You simply can not be tax exempt and lobby to change legislation. It has been that way for over fifty years.

Separation of church and state works both ways. You keep your church out of my state, I'll keep my state out of your church.

Marriage is both a religious ceremony among a number of different religions, and a civil contract. Gays do not want to change the ceremony part, they do not wish to force churches that hate them to perform marriage ceremonies for them. There are plenty of loving, tolerant churches out there that will marry gays, they don't need to invade your cesspool of hatred.

You obviously DO want this to be a nation of religious law. You want to impose your religion's morality on everyone else. You write as if your religion were the only legitimate one, let me quote you,

"Because marriage is a religious ceremony. If you were "married" before a judge, you had a civil union, stop trying to hijack a ceremony if you don't believe in the religion and there won't be problems with it."

THE religion? There is only ONE religion that performs marriages?

I have a marriage certificate, not a civil union certificate, and I was not married by a church. You don't get to claim the institution of marriage for your religion exclusively. Seeing as how there ARE religions that perform gay marriage ceremonies, you can not protest on religious grounds unless you claim your religion is the only true religion and all others should be banned.

You don't want that, right? So you can't deny gays on religious grounds. Simply saying, 'most religions don't allow it' is no justification, if even one completely made up religion allows it, then you have no grounds, as we have separation of church and state here in the land of the free.

Aren't bribes like illegal in the US?? on the other hand could be a typo - perhaps they meant brides?

Not a typo. See e.g. Publication 525

Illegal activities. Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.

If you're wondering whether you'd get arrested for reporting illegal income, yes you certainly would. If you're wondering whether the IRS's taxing of illegal income and forcing you to report it violates the 5th amendment, yes it does, but no judge is brave enough to fight it.

Nope, any prize must be claimed. See Publication 525, page 34. The example given is a $50 prize.

Report on form 1040, line 21.

www.irs.gov uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is only valid for <a id="cert_domain_link" title="a248.e.akamai.net">a248.e.akamai.net</a>
(Error code: ssl_error_bad_cert_domain)

I'm not disputing the seriousness or your explicit policy examples, but a bad cert is a publicly-visible oversight.

That's interesting. Where I work, inserting a personally-owned pen drive to a computer on the network that gets caught in a scan results in a suspension. Inserting a personally-owned pen drive that pushes malware out onto the network gets you fired. Inadverdently attaching a spreadsheet with customer data to an email and sending it outside the organization gets you fired, everyone in your area subjected to additional training, and an executive or two dragged before a congressional subcommittee to fall on their swords. Deliberately accessing customer data to which you have no right gets you all of the above, plus you go to jail.

Other places don't take security as seriously?

I'm saving this as a great counter-example when someone claims that government agencies can't ever do things as efficiently or as well as private industry.

That's interesting. Where I work, inserting a personally-owned pen drive to a computer on the network that gets caught in a scan results in a suspension. Inserting a personally-owned pen drive that pushes malware out onto the network gets you fired. Inadverdently attaching a spreadsheet with customer data to an email and sending it outside the organization gets you fired, everyone in your area subjected to additional training, and an executive or two dragged before a congressional subcommittee to fall on their swords. Deliberately accessing customer data to which you have no right gets you all of the above, plus you go to jail.

Other places don't take security as seriously?

From IRC 501(c)(6) Organizations â" page K-4

7. Its purpose must not be to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit, even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only sufficient income to be self-sustaining.

  FAIL!

Incidentally, there's also a SSN-like entity called an Employer Identification Number. I believe that EINs and SSNs never coincide, but I'm not 100% certain.

Does this page:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html

discuss the type of number you are talking about? The page states that ITINs will only be issued to those who do not have and are not eligible for SSNs.

both F-1 and J-1 are exempt.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=131635,00.html

F-visas, J-visas, M-visas, Q-visas. Nonresident alien students, scholars, professors, teachers, trainees, researchers, and other aliens temporarily present in the United States in F-1,J-1,M-1, or Q-1/Q-2 nonimmigrant status are exempt from Social Security / Medicare Taxes on wages paid to them for services performed within the United States as long as such services are allowed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for these nonimmigrant statuses, and such services are performed to carry out the purposes for which they were admitted into the United States.

        * Exempt Employment includes:
                    o On-campus student employment up to 20 hours a week (40 hrs during summer vacations)
                    o Off-campus student employment allowed by USCIS
                    o Practical Training student employment on or off campus
                    o On-campus employment as professor, teacher or researcher
        * Limitations on exemption:
                    o The exemption does not apply to spouses and children in F-2, J-2, M-2, or Q-3 nonimmigrant status.
                    o The exemption does not apply to employment not allowed by USCIS or to employment not closely connected to the purpose for which they were admitted into the United States.
                    o The exemption does not apply to nonimmigrants in F-1,J-1,M-1,or Q-1/Q-2 status who change nonimmigrant status to a status which is not exempt or to a special protected status.
                    o The exemption does not apply to nonimmigrants in F-1,J-1,M-1, or Q-1/Q-2 status who become resident aliens for tax purposes.

This story should be tagged as a troll story.

First, the documents to which the article links were not written with the intention of convincing U.S. employers to hire students who are non-residents of the United States in place of students who are citizens. Non-resident students are likely no different than any other student in college and need supplemental income to pay for their education. The documents purpose is to enlighten employers about the facts about hiring non-resident students who are in the country on a student visa. Perhaps the author would like to take it one step further and see if they can incite hatred in legal aliens who are here working under a green card as these pamphlets surely must be convincing U.S. employers to hire foreign students studying under a visa in place of legal immigrant workers. Or perhaps not.

Second, if the author bothered to read IRS Publication 519, as the pamphlets suggest, they would have realized that any foreign student studying under a visa in the united states will fall under Social Security and FICA taxes if they are determined to have a substantial presence in the United States.

You will be considered a U.S. resident for tax purposes if you meet the substantial presence test for calendar year 2008. To meet this test, you must be physically present in the United States on at least:

      1.

            31 days during 2008, and
      2.

            183 days during the 3-year period that includes 2008, 2007, and 2006, counting:
                  1.

                        All the days you were present in 2008, and
                  2.

                        of the days you were present in 2007, and
                  3.

                        of the days you were present in 2006.

If a foreign student spends any more time in the U.S. than is necessary to attend school then it is likely they will fall under the substantial presence test and an employer will be required to pay Social Security and FICA taxes for the student they hired. A foreign student who is only available to work a fraction of each year is not a threat to the resident work force or the social services systems paid for by that work force.

As a member of the unemployed I understand the difficulties many people are going through but we can maintain a semblance of intelligence and become informed before making poorly researched rants.

As I mentioned elsewhere, there's something about Warren's claim that doesn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps there's just too little detail.

Using 2006 Federal income tax schedules (I assume he was referring to 2006 rates as he made the claim in 2007), an individual whose annual taxable income was between $60,000 and $60,050 would owe $11,564 in Federal Income Tax. Note that most people have some deductions (at least a personal deduction for themselves) so taxable income is (I think) nearly always less than "sum of hourly wage income". Note that 11,564/60,000 gives us an effective overall Federal tax rate of at most 19% - not the 30% Warren claims. Even the marginal Federal Income Tax rate in her income range was only 25% - again less than 30%.

So, maybe he or she was including state and local taxes and they are actually taxed in different localities (or, his beef is with state/local taxes). Perhaps she has outside income he's not aware of or accounting for. Perhaps he was including property taxes on homes and his receptionist has been with the company for a long time and purchased/was given in an option plan a few shares of BRK.A a zillion years ago and she cashed them in to buy a mansion for cash a few years ago - and now she has to pay property tax on on a multimillion dollar place while Warren is, I think, still living in the modest middle class house he's lived in for much of his adult life.

What is clear, the numbers may not mean quite what they seem.

A. The IRS themselves hosts an online page for tax filings. The data is sent over SSL and goes to the IRS, and IRS only.

Like this: http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

0 copies:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506t.pdf?portlet=3

Signature and date. Form 4506-T must be
signed and dated by the taxpayer listed on
line 1a or 2a. If you completed line 5
requesting the information be sent to a
third party, the IRS must receive Form
4506-T within 60 days of the date signed
by the taxpayer or it will be rejected.
Individuals. Transcripts of jointly filed
tax returns may be furnished to either
spouse. Only one signature is required.
Sign Form 4506-T exactly as your name
appeared on the original return. If you
changed your name, also sign your current
name.
Corporations. Generally, Form 4506-T
can be signed by: (1) an officer having
legal authority to bind the corporation, (2)
any person designated by the board of
directors or other governing body, or (3)
any officer or employee on written request
by any principal officer and attested

1 copy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/opinion/15dowd.html

But the barbed adjectives didn't match the muted performance on display before the Judiciary Committee. Like the president who picked her, Sotomayor has been a model of professorial rationality. Besides, it's delicious watching Republicans go after Democrats for being too emotional and irrational given the G.O.P. shame spiral.

W. and Dick Cheney made all their bad decisions about Iraq, W.M.D.'s, domestic surveillance, torture, rendition and secret hit squads from the gut, based on false intuitions, fear, paranoia and revenge.

Sarah Palin is the definition of irrational, a volatile and scattered country-music queen without the music. Her Republican fans defend her lack of application and intellect, happy to settle for her emotional electricity.

Senator Graham said Sotomayor would be confirmed unless she had "a meltdown" -- a word applied mostly to women and toddlers until Mark Sanford proudly took ownership of it when he was judged about the wisdom of his Latina woman.

2 copies:

http://pdfoxy.com/8986-excerpt-from-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-pdf.html

"Look--" he murmured, holding out his arm to stop Malfoy. Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves. Harry had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered. . . . Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood. "AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted--so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry--unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry--he couldn't move for fear.

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256 copies:

http://timecube.com/

Americans are dumb, educated ONE
stupid and they worship ONEism Evil.
It is not immoral to kill believers, for the stupid bastards EVOLVE from son
or daughter who precedes them. NOT one damn human adult has ever been
created - for ONLY babies are CREATED - and every adult has within them the LIFE given by children who DIE to give-up their lives to their parent
image - so their mom or Dad can live. Adults are EVIL to deny they evolved from children - a

At least according to the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96696,00.html/, an SSN is *NOT* required to file taxes.

Nonresident and resident aliens, their spouses, and dependents use an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) rather than an SSN. For many purposes (including credit checks) they're effectively the same thing, but it can be true (if disingenuous) for someone with an ITIN to say "I don't have an SSN".

> You're correct that an SSN is not required, but assuming you are employed, your employer IS required to file taxes in your name and that requires an SSN.

Technically, you can use an ITIN instead: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html

They're primarily for people who need to tell the US IRS how much they earnt, but are not eligible for an SSN. I was looking at getting one because I do currency trading with a broker in the US, but am UK based (it mostly just makes it easier for them to find the paperwork showing you don't owe them anything because you're not a US resident).

Your inclinations would be incorrect.

See, for instance, "Bartering income" - http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html.

Bartering occurs when you exchange goods or services without exchanging money. An example of bartering is a plumber doing repair work for a dentist in exchange for dental services. The fair market value of goods and services received in exchange for goods or services you provide must be included in income in the year received.

Of course your implication that taxes (not the maximum tax rate) were higher in 1939 is still probably false.

The wikipedia article does not spell out at what income level that 80% kicked in. Nor how it compares to the average income of the time.

According to the IRS that 1939 79% tax rate was for folks over $5m. Of course, they also claim that the 1951-1963 top tax bracket of 90% started at income of $400k. According to the census bureau, in 1967, an income of $19k would put you in the top 5% of households, equivalent to $180k today. By wild extrapolation, you might imagine the 90% tax rate to start around $3.6-4m today.

In today's terms, if income tax rate topped out at 80% but only for incomes larger than 100 million then it would have practically no impact at all and certainly wouldn't end up accounting for more than a very small fraction of all taxes collected.

And how much benefit does a $200m earner gain from that second $100m? One often hears the argument that high salaries are required in order to recruit the best talent to extremely difficult, stressful, or unpleasant jobs: is the guy working for $200m really going to refuse to work for $100m, or is he motivated by other than money? Meanwhile, $100m is all the budget cuts Obama has ordered. It's the sum total of the US investment in a smart electrical grid. It's 50 NIH grants. It's the tax paid by nearly 12,000 median-income earners.

Don't get me wrong: people with extraordinary skills ought to reap extraordinary benefits. Surely there's a point where money extra money becomes more or less meaningless.

If a person expatriates from the US, they may have to pay taxes for up to 10 years after renouncing their citizenship if they continue to have many types business dealings / or visit the US for too long a time. I see no reason why each job that's outsourced by a corporation shouldn't be taxed similarly.

The government did. At least, they printed it. They should get a cut of the money every time it changes hands. Oh, and by the way, they do.

Additionally, in support of your point someone further down the discussion linked to Publication 525 from the IRS which requires you to pay taxes on bribes, kickbacks and stolen property.

While I certainly can't attempt to answer the above, I do offer IRS Publication 525: Taxable and Nontaxable Income, which offers these gems:
Bribes. If you receive a bribe, include it in your income.
Found property. If you find and keep property that does not belong to you that has been lost or abandoned (treasure-trove), it is taxable to you at its fair market value in the first year it is your undisputed possession.
Illegal activities. Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
Kickbacks. You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or similar payments you receive in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner.

You can give up to $12,000 (2008) or $13,000 (2009+) in gifts to any single individual through the year and not have to pay a gift tax on it. However, once you gift more than that to any one person, you are obligated by federal law to pay federal taxes on it. At least, that was my understanding when I looked it up last year. However, the person receiving the gift does not have to claim it as income, as the responsibility is placed on the giver.

Sales tax is a different beast, and yes, is applied when you use the gift card at a location. So nice when the government goes double dipping in the same pool of money.

Ref: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=108139,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=97245,00.html

To leave the country, you have to pay taxes for all of your assets, and renounce your US citizenship if you'd like to stop paying the IRS.

I'm actually in favor of regulations against capital flight, but this is probably going a little too far...

What y'all are missing is that there isn't really a "charity" status where taxation is concerned in the US. Most churches are "not for profit" status, it has nothing to do with charity.

Actually, there is. 501c(3) organizations are divided into "private foundations" and "public charities." Churches fall into the latter group. I believe there are some subtle differences in how the two categories are treated in law, but I'm not an attorney nor an accountant. I only know about this since I once worked for a nonprofit that had obtained "public charity" status which apparently had some additional benefits compared to private foundations.

Here are my specifics (note that I am not in the Boston area or other similarly-congested area):

My commute is 20 miles each way. My car gets 30 MPG, and gasoline is currently around $2.20 in my area. Counting fuel only, my commute would cost me about $3 daily. There are, on average, 22 workdays in a month, making the total cost $66 to drive, again, counting fuel only. I have no parking fees at home or work.

Taking the bus (my beloved dysfunctional region has no train service yet), a monthly pass for weekdays costs me $55. This only saves me $11/month over fuel costs, or $132/year. Bus stops are within walking distance of both ends of my commute.

It was a better deal two months ago. The fares just went up for the first time in 14 years, and the monthly passes were $36 until last month.

Now, if I were to give up the car, I would say we can use the IRS rate for business mileage as a proxy for the total costs of owning the car. That rate is $0.55/mile, making my daily commute equal to $11, or $242/month. At that rate, $55 is a savings of $187/month or $2244/year.

The truth is probably somewhere in between these two figures.

Of course, public transit has other advantages. If you are an greenie, then the 3.6 MPG of a bus (or 5 MPG of a hybrid bus) can translate to as much as 144 (or 200) passenger MPG if the bus is full (trust me, the 57X is always full!). It also means you can do something meaningful with your time, instead of stewing over how bad the traffic is (I take the opportunity to read).

Proximity to a bus stop was a selling point when we bought our house.

This is in the top 17% though:
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=96981,00.html

They already bear the largest income tax burden. Here you don't even have to look it up http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=96981,00.html

If you don't know about this statute and how it operates, DO NOT claim to be an expert or authority on tax law!!! These cases hold 26 USC 83 applicable to all compensation paid for personal services -

Accorting to the Code with respects to the District of Columbia and those States of the union subject to Income from the territorial United States therefrom; NRA (8233), or pursuant confession (w8-ben) of a schedule anciliary to taxable 104NR activity (1041sk1) of Personal Services are ellected (8821) of the person

Regardless of the prior forms of entrance to the tax code, Section 83 has to do with liability to file for which personal services rendered as labor are property that is exempt from taxation. Have a nice day, without willful failure to file given this disclosure.