A few days ago I wrote that the IRS considers BP payments to Gulf Coast fishermen who have suffered losses as a result of the oil spill to be taxable income:
This is not a difficult call. The tax code has long considered payments made to individuals in the form of  compensation for lost wages or as [...]
Tags: Gross Income · IRS procedure · Legislative Watch
Fox News reports that the IRS considers payments made by BP to Gulf Coast workers to be taxable income:
Out-of-work Gulf Coast shrimper Todd Pellegal spent his first $2,500 check from BP quickly, paying off bills and buying groceries for his family.
He never even considered putting some of it away for taxes.
Now he’s among the people [...]
Tags: Gross Income
In a summary opinion issued yesterday the Tax Court held that an IRS revenue officer failed to substantiate expenses she claimed in her eBay business.¹Â
Below is an excerpt from the Court’s opinion in Orellana v. Commissioner, T.C. Summ. Op. 2010-51 (Apr. 20, 2010). The IRS agent/taxpayer’s admissions are stunning (emphasis added):
Petitioner argues that she was just taking [...]
Tags: Gross Income · Self-Employed Taxpayers · tax court
Did you know that Professor Paul Caron is a Bolshevik for suggesting that the tax code requires that medal-winning Olympic athletes include the value of their gold, silver or bronze medals in their taxable incomes?
Joe Kristan writes in Explaining Something Doesn’t Mean You Agree With It that the good Professor received the following letter calling him a dastardly Muscovite for [...]
Tags: Gross Income · Individual Taxation · Opinion
President Obama wants to repeal a 1989 law that treats employer-provided cell phones as taxable fringe benefits:
President Barack Obama will urge Congress to repeal a law requiring workers to pay taxes when they use employer-provided cell phones and similar equipment for personal reasons, a Treasury Department official said.
The budget proposal would end the need for employers [...]
Tags: Gross Income · Tax Policy
The IRS has long imposed an information reporting requirement on stockbrokers to ensure that stock traders report on their income tax returns the proper amount of their gross stock sale proceeds. Only recently, however, has it required those brokers to calculate and report those stock traders’ bases in the stock sold.
For honest taxpayers and their tax preparers this is [...]
Tags: Announcements · Gross Income
Robert W. Wood writing for Forbes.com says that the IRS wants to tax your bartering transactions:
The IRS starts with a down-home definition. Bartering is trading one product or service for another, whether informally and one-on-one or with multiple parties in a commercial setting.Â
[Barter] has a storied, even ancient tradition. “Our ancestors may have exchanged eggs for [...]
Tags: Gross Income
Joe Kristan has a very important post today about a Tax Court ruling that says creditors need more than a 1099-C to fix the amount of a debtors debt cancellation income.
Here is the post in its entirety:
When the credit card company settles your account for less than you owe, the tax law says you have “cancellation of indebtedness” income. The [...]
Tags: Court Cases · Gross Income
Tara Siegel Bernard wrote a Column in the Your Money section of the New York Times yesterday in which she considers whether more taxpayers will cheat on their taxes this year because of the bad economy:
With just a few more days to file your tax returns, you may be tempted — especially in this down economy [...]
Tags: Gross Income · Individual Taxation · Tax Crimes
Sometimes divorce can be a real pissing contest.
Listen to this report from the Denver Post:
When his wife needed a kidney transplant, Richard Batista gave her one of his, attorney Dominic Barbara said.
Now that Dawnell Batista has filed for a divorce, Richard Batista wants his kidney back as part of his settlement demand. Or, Barbara [...]
Tags: Gross Income · News
Wall Street Journal – Taxes Blog
