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Tax deadbeats are finding someone actually reads their MySpace and Facebook postings: the taxman. State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites, from relocation announcements to professional profiles to financial boasts. In Minnesota, authorities were able to levy back taxes on the wages of a long-sought tax evader after he announced on MySpace that he would be returning to his home town to work as a real-estate broker and gave his employer's name. The state collected several thousand dollars, the full amount due. Meanwhile, agents in Nebraska collected $2,000 from a deejay after...

Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits." Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details -- there's no specified limit on what's available or unavailable -- to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify "affordability credits." (Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net

Link only is posted. The IRS code has been pledged by 0bama to be rewritten. From the article: "Obama said he's renewing his administration's commitment to a simpler tax code, which he defined as one that rewards work and the pursuit of the American dream." (video link) "For too long, we've seen taxes used as a wedge to scare people into supporting policies that increased the burden on working people instead of helping them live their dreams," Obama said. "That has to change, and that's the work that we've begun."

A co-worker sent this out and he is correct, it is simply eye-opening. Please pass this on to as many as you can. The more people learn, the better. I also recommend The Creature from Jekyll Island: A History of the Federal Reserve, a book written by Edward Griffen.

Another result of deflation: Next year, Americans may not be allowed to stash as many dollars in their company 401(k)s or in retirement plans for the self-employed...But when it comes to private pension and retirement savings plans, there's no prohibition against giving contribution limits a deflationary haircut. It isn't clear whether the Internal Revenue Service will in fact lower 401(k) contribution limits, says Mercer consultant Bill McClain. "The law is gray,'' he says.

The Internal Revenue Service has told members of the Coalition for Life of Iowa they would have to give up their 1st Amendment rights in order to be recognized as a non-profit organization, according to a complaint being pursued by members of the Thomas More Society. The organization incorporated in 2004 as a not-for-profit under Iowa law and has been operating strictly within the guidelines for groups set up for religious, educational and charitable purposes, a letter sent to the IRS last week said. "As detailed in its … narrative, the Coalition for Life carries out its tax-exempt work by...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Thousands of Americans who thought they had a secret Swiss bank account will have their names and account details given to the U.S. Internal Revenue Services under an agreement announced Wednesday among U.S. and Swiss authorities and the Swiss bank UBS. The IRS said Americans would no longer be able to evade taxes so easily by hiding their assets in offshore accounts.The agreement comes as U.S. tax authorities conduct a criminal investigation into Americans who used Swiss bank accounts at UBS AG to avoid paying U.S. taxes. The settlement follows demands from the U.S. authorities that the...

People often joke that government-run health care will have the efficiency of the motor vehicle department, and the compassion of the Internal Revenue Service. This joke will become reality if present Democratic health restructuring proposals are enacted. Under both the House and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee bills released to the public, the Internal Revenue Service will play a key role in monitoring and enforcing health care mandates against individual taxpayers. Yet the introduction of the IRS into the health care system has received scant attention. The Senate bill imposes a new requirement that all persons who...

<p>An IRS staffer who had no clue that her work e-mail was being audited got canned for sending out an anti-Barack Obama message in the heat of the 2008 presidential campaign.</p>

Now, what I have here is very long. I cannot read the entire thing. But there are summaries that I can read. This is a piece entitled, "What the Health Care Bill Actually Says," and it was put together by John David Lewis. It is from the website Classical Ideals. John David Lewis is a professor of classics at Duke University, and here is how he introduces his analysis: "What does the bill, HR 3200, short-titled 'America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,' actually say about major health care issues? I here pose a few questions in no particular order,...

While the Washington press corps was fixated last week on the latest developments surrounding President Obama’s trillion dollar co-pay in the guise of health reform, followed by backyard beer swilling, IRS bean counters quietly went about their business. Their mission? Find a way to pay for the massive zeroes this administration continues to add at the end of the government’s mounting debt. In what some privately likened to an ancient an archaeological find teeming with treasure, revenue agents discovered a potential $80 million golden pot of money – at the home of Michael Jackson. That’s what the Feds stand to...

A landmark settlement that will spare UBS a lengthy and damaging U.S. tax trial is set to be signed next week and will involve the disclosure of the biggest holders of secret Swiss accounts. "The signing will most likely take place next week," a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday. The source did not want to disclose any details from the settlement,but the New York Times said on Friday Swiss accounts in the name of U.S. residents over a certain dollar amount would be disclosed to U.S. tax authorities. Earlier this week,the U.S. and Swiss government initialed...

Here it is in a nutshell: We are required - every one of us - to report our health-insurance status each tax filing for the preceding year - I'll make this single caveat: It reads where it may be insurance companies are required to give us something like a W-2 for insurance coverage (the only date mentioned is January 31). And since it all leads to paying taxes, we'll be reporting it with our 1040s. Failure to provide insurance for ourselves and every dependent will result in a tax equal to 2.5% of our AGI (adjusted by a de minimus...

What does the bill, HR 3200, short-titled ‘‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” actually say about major health care issues? I here pose a few questions in no particular order, citing relevant passages and offering a brief evaluation after each set of passages. This bill is 1017 pages long. It is knee-deep in legalese and references to other federal regulations and laws. I have only touched pieces of the bill here. For instance, I have not considered the establishment of (1) “Health Choices Commissio0ner” (Section 141); (2) a “Health Insurance Exchange,” (Section 201), basically a government run insurance scheme...

A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall. The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union. The ads start airing at about 11 a.m. ET Thursday. The group is likely to be the biggest spender in support of health reform. The campaign will serve as...

The Internal Revenue Service has begun to send refund checks to Madoff investors who paid taxes on money they thought they had made before the massive fraud was revealed. An early trickle of refunds includes checks for substantial amounts, nearly half a million dollars in some cases. The very biggest sums haven’t materialized, however, according to certified public accountants. By some estimates, these could be for tens of millions of dollars. A handful of clients of Robert S. Keebler, a partner at accounting firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP in Appleton, Wis., have gotten refunds after filing amended returns since...

One of the most important documentaries you will ever see. Enjoy!

Tax revenues post biggest drop since Depression STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Monday, August 3, 2009 The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab. The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion. Other figures underscore the recession's impact: Individual income tax...

(CNSNews.com) - Appearing on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner floated President Obama’s next big move: a tax increase on middle-class Americans. Geithner made it clear during the interview that the administration believes that new federal revenues are needed and he declined to rule out raising taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000 per year to get those revenues. During the interview, host George Stephanopoulos pointed out to Geithner that the “Congressional Budget Office estimates that your budget will add $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.” Stephanopoulos also noted that former...

London (PTI): Hollywood star Nicolas Cage has been dragged to court by US tax officials who have demanded that the actor pay up a massive USD 6.2 million of overdue taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials have filed a case in a court in Louisiana accusing him of failing to keep up with his taxes in 2007. The actor, who won an Academy award for his leading role in 'Leaving Las Vegas', is trying to sell his home in Louisiana to recoup the cash, Contactmusic reported. This is not the first time that the 'Ghost Rider' star has messed...

Minnesota Pastor Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church got an audit from the Internal Revenue Service because he advised his congregants in a sermon last year not to vote for Barack Obama. Booth was one of several pastors who endorsed presidential candidates from the pulpit last September. The Internal Revenue Service has...

New data Released by the IRS has just shown that the top 1% income earners pays more in tax than the bottom 95% combined. An analysis of IRS data by the Tax Foundation shows that the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total income taxes collected by the federal government, the highest percentage in modern history. While the bottom 95 percent paid 39.4 percent of the income tax burden. The tax foundation rightly notes that putting this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share...

The IRS just released some interesting tax information -- the Top 1% of taxpayers is now paying more in taxes than the bottom 95%. Scott Hodge from the Tax Foundation created the chart nearby that graphs the new data. Perthaps the CD-10 candidates can advise at what higher rate do you tax the “rich” in order to make the tax code even more progressive and supposedly more “fair?” Once Obama and the Democrats in Congress get done with us, only politicians and public employees will be the rich. Yummm, pass the BBQ sauce. Who says turnabout isn’t fair play? Hmmm…DeSaulnier...

The Las Vegas Review Journal recently reported on the trial of Robert Kahre, a guy accused of setting up a scheme to pay employees in gold coins so that they may tell the IRS they were paid by the coin's nominal, face value, rather than what that gold is actually worth when converted into dollars. Not surprisingly, the story attracted many angry commenters, who hate the IRS and who hate paper currency. Now, in a case that should once again test the (established) privacy rights of web commenters, the newspaper has be subpoenad for their info. And it's not just...

It goes without saying that Obamacare would be a disaster on all fronts: quality of care, access, choice, availability etc. would be irreparably damaged. Drug companies driven by (gasp!) a profit motive would cease much of their R&D or shift it overseas where possible. These and more are all known quantities. But at the risk of being naïve it's fair and necessary to ask: when did the IRS get involved? Obviously the IRS is at the top of anyone's list of unpleasant things but their charter or mission is as follows: "The IRS is organized to carry out the responsibilities...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans think the Federal Reserve is doing a worse job than even the much-maligned Internal Revenue Service. Only 30 percent of Americans think the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors is doing a good job despite the central bank's unprecedented efforts to battle a crippling recession, according to a Gallup Poll released on Monday. That makes the Fed the worst reviewed of nine key agencies -- including the tax-collecting IRS -- the Gallup poll of more than 1,000 Americans between July 10 and 12 showed. Twenty-two percent of Americans said the central bank was doing a poor...

Now we know why the President of the United States is such a good friend of Harvard Professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates, the professor (scheduled for a White House beer-fest on Thursday, runs a charity that, until it was caught, mis-reported salaries as research grants. Heck with problems like this he could be a Presidential appointee.

Jury Indicts IRS Officer in Mortgage Refi Scheme Oakland, Calif. (July 24, 2009) By WebCPA Staff A federal grand jury has indicted an IRS revenue officer for pressuring delinquent taxpayers to refinance their mortages with a company for which he worked on the side so they could pay their outstanding tax debts. Mark Claybrooks, 41, was charged with three counts of “acts affecting a personal financial interest” and two counts of fraud for using IRS computers without authorization, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He allegedly contacted overdue taxpayers and tried to steer them toward Faith Mortgage Group in Antioch,...

April 15, 2009, tax day, came and went this year. If the IRS were a business, I would have shorted its stock. Tax revenue was down an astounding $138 billion, or around one seventh of the proposed 2010 federal budget. This 34% drop in tax revenue year-over-year is a result of reduced incomes economy-wide for both individuals and corporations. Moreover, 47% of Americans won’t owe any income tax this year, up resoundingly from projections of 38% touted by our always fiscally-inclined president on the campaign trail. I understand that in the last year people have lost a lot of money.People’s...

The images below turned up in my email box this morning. While they MIGHT be fancy cattle cars (the Nazis were fond of those if you’ll recall), they are described here as “prison cars.” They brought with them my 1997 memory of what happened to one of our folks who dared challenge the powers-that-be. It’s a long and sad story but one we should all read from the standpoint that when – not if – but WHEN the excrement makes contact with the rotating, oscillating motorized air handling device, one of those railcar cells probably has your name on it....

IRS Agent: ‘I’m Going to Kill All of You!’ Valencia, Calif. (July 17, 2009) IRS agent Albert Bront threatened to kill a group of U.S. Treasury agents when they tried to search his home earlier this week. Bront, 49, screamed, “I’m going to kill all of you!” at the agents, who had shown up at the doorstep of his Valencia, Calif., home on Monday with a search warrant. Bront learned that he was being investigated for filing false tax returns, according to a local newspaper, The Signal, of Santa Clarita Valley. When the agents tried to serve the warrant, Bront...

A friend of mine got a call from the IRS. He is getting audited. He and another friend that worked for the same company, had the boss hanging out over their shoulder, who browbeat them into taking riskier deductions than perhaps they might have. Both are getting audited. My friend is seeking the collective wisdom of the group with regards to audits. 1) total transparency 2) get a lawyer 3) a particular strategery Thank you FRiends.

It didn’t add up. The numbers didn’t add up, and the psychology didn’t add up. The numbers are one thing—how President Obama is going to provide universal healthcare and federalized education through college, and that in a time when, by his own candid admission, we have “already run out of money.” The numbers part of the mystery is slowly coming clear: The president is going to get the cash from Medicare and Medicaid, and he’s going to do it by rationing care, which is what the $1.1 billion investment in “comparative effectiveness research” is all about. (The people in my...

You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that?-Jim Malone (Sean Connery), “The Untouchables” President Obama is certainly taking Jim Malone’s advice when it comes to his spending programs. John Kyl (R-Arizona) has rightfully acknowledged that the stimulus plan is not stimulating the economy. Nor, should we have expected that it would have. The $787 billion stimulus bill was a pork-laden...

SAN DIEGO — Catholic Answers is challenging a 2008 Internal Revenue Service ruling that it interfered in the 2004 presidential election by recommending Catholic presidential candidate John Kerry be denied Communion. But one expert on free speech at the University of Notre Dame, Lloyd Mayer, associate professor of law, is worried that this may be “the right principle but the wrong case.”The IRS at first levied an income tax of $102.23 on the San Diego apologetics organization, but returned the money, without reversing its ruling, after Catholic Answers appealed it. Said Catholic Answers’ founder and president, Karl Keating: “It’s the...

- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has told a non-profit coalition of pro-life groups in Iowa to promise that it would not organize protests at Planned Parenthood abortion facilities before it is granted tax exempt status. Pro-life lawyers say the organization has steadily kept within the guidelines for non-profit religious, educational and charitable groups. However, several months after the group applied for tax-exempt status, an IRS agent contacted Coalition for Life Iowa president Sue Martinek to inquire as to whether the group engages in any "picketing" or protesting at Planned Parenthood, and questioned the group's prayer activity outside Planned Parenthood...

When you next visit your bank, spot the American flag. If the Stars and Stripes is not displayed proudly in the lobby, call for the manager. Ask if he is an agent of the US Government, a “Qualified Intermediary”, with a duty to report on the financial activities of customers with American connections, to monitor the payment of US dividends, interest and other income, to withhold taxes and make appropriate payments to the US tax authorities. Frighten him further, if you dare: tell him that British banks that are not “qualified” according to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will...

IRS Contractor Accused of Elevator Urination Detroit (May 27, 2009) By WebCPA Staff A contractor for the IRS has been charged with repeatedly urinating in a freight elevator in the IRS’s office building in Detroit, causing an unpleasant aroma. Detroit resident Michael Hicks, 55, was charged with malicious mischief and damaging government property. He faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the Detroit Free Press. According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court, the IRS had to pay $4,626.25 in "deep cleaning" expenses to mop up after Hicks. The IRS began investigating the culprit behind the repeated...

July 12th casts a shadow on our July 4th celebrations. Happy Birthday, America! This July 4th marks your 233rd birthday! God bless us all! There is another birthday, a centennial, on July 12th. The 16th Amendment turns 100. It is hardly an occasion to celebrate, but rather to mourn. That seed grew into the suffocating IRS monster that tramples on our God given dignity, rights, and prosperity. If our forefathers were alive today, they would declare it a Day of Mourning. As it is they must be spinning in their graves! They had warned that giving Congress the power they...

"Your employer could be giving you more money than you are intitled to"

According to IRS data, the bottom 50% of wage earners paid a total of 2.99% of all taxes – almost none...

Kevin Federline may be unemployed, but he still owes a ton in back taxes. According to the Detroit News, the former Mr. Britney Spears owes more than $14,000 to the IRS, and they want him to pay up ASAP! The IRS has slapped a lien on well fed K-Fed in the tune of $14,371.

RANGEL: 'NIECE' NO KIN OF MINEBy PHILIP MESSING Last updated: 10:53 am June 23, 2009 A "crook"-friendly Port Authority cop who got lenient treatment from superiors believing she was Rep. Charles Rangel's niece is not related to him, the congressman said yesterday. PA brass had walked on eggshells while probing Lt. Coretta Smith's alleged attempts to get a mentally disturbed gunman on a flight out of JFK and to spring a trio of suspected pot smugglers from jail, sources said. "Not only am I not related to this so-called niece, [but] I don't know her and don't know anyone who...

MIAMI, FL -- Marlon Moore is in federal custody and is scheduled to go before a federal judge on Thursday. The US Attorney's Office says that Moore sent fraudulent documents to the US Treasury Department and the IRS seeking payments for over $14 trillion. Federal investigators also say that Moore claimed he was owed a $10 million refund on his income tax return. Marlon Moore is facing charges that he obstructed and impeded IRS laws.

Newspaper story on gold and tax fraud brings out the crazies. And the Feds wants their name, SS# and credit card data. Ah Las Vegas. Home of gambling, sin and hardcore libertarian, anti-government gold bugs. The Las Vegas Review Journalrecently reported on the trial of Robert Kahre, a guy accused of setting up a scheme to pay employees in gold coins so that they may tell the IRS they were paid by the coin's nominal, face value, rather than what that gold is actually worth when converted into dollars. Not surprisingly, the story attracted many angry commenters, who hate the...

With federal spending in 2009 at 28% of the economy and deficits heading north, Democrats are eyeing tax increases on everything from soft drinks to electricity to health benefits to charitable contributions. But the palm for creativity goes to the Internal Revenue Service, which is contemplating a new tax on the use of business cellphones. The IRS believes that some percentage of the costs incurred by employees using company-provided wireless devices should count as a "fringe benefit" and thus be subject to taxation. Since workers inevitably end up taking personal calls or emails, the thinking goes, it's only fair that...

No raids. No guns. No ICE. And the taxpayers don't use a dime of border patrol money to get it done.

Is that work issued BlackBerry really a taxable “fringe benefit?” The IRS seems to think so and is looking for ways to improve compliance of a tax that has been on the books for two decades. Get ready for a potential bookkeeping nightmare. The Wall Street Journal on Friday highlighted an IRS notice (Notice 2009–46, pages 13-15) June 8 detailing plans to tax company issued mobile phones. The Journal calculates: The Internal Revenue Service proposed employers assign 25% of an employee’s annual phone expenses as a taxable benefit. Under that scenario, a worker in the 28% tax bracket, whose wireless...

The use of company-issued mobile phones could trigger new federal income taxes on millions of Americans as a "fringe benefit," spurring efforts by the wireless industry and others to kill the idea. The Internal Revenue Service proposed that employers assign 25% of an employee's annual phone expenses as a taxable benefit. Under that scenario, a worker in the 28% tax bracket, whose wireless device costs the company $1,500 a year, could see $105 in additional federal income tax.

The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees' use of work cellphones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as a fringe benefit. The proposal is one of several options the IRS put forward this week on the tax treatment of employer-provided cellphones. Current law already requires that the value of those cellphone services be included in a worker's gross income, unless the employee keeps detailed records showing that the cellphone is used for work only. But as a practical matter, many companies don't enforce the record-keeping requirements. The IRS proposals from this week aim to...