Disaster tax situations

[Steve]

As a way to keep our finger on the pulse of the economy, how many of you reading this know of people who are just having disastrous situations with their taxes. What are some of the stories you hear of?

The stories I hear make my jaw drop.

I heard of one story the other day where a person found out he owes $6500 on his taxes and in order to try and pay it, his gf has offered to get a part time job as a bartender.

I heard of another story where a person is trying to write off their sister's kids as dependents in order to lower their tax bill.

Lastly, another who was being paid cash all year long from one client for services rendered and thought they were free and clear of having to pay tax on that money, only to find that the client filed a 10-99 on that money and now they will need to pay taxes on a years worth of income. The worst part is all the money has already been spent.

[swstout]

As a way to keep our finger on the pulse of the economy, how many of you reading this know of people who are just having disastrous situations with their taxes. What are some of the stories you hear of?

The stories I hear make my jaw drop.

I heard of one story the other day where a person found out he owes $6500 on his taxes and in order to try and pay it, his gf has offered to get a part time job as a bartender.

I heard of another story where a person is trying to write off their sister's kids as dependents in order to lower their tax bill.

Lastly, another who was being paid cash all year long from one client for services rendered and thought they were free and clear of having to pay tax on that money, only to find that the client filed a 10-99 on that money and now they will need to pay taxes on a years worth of income. The worst part is all the money has already been spent.

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." — Albert Einstein, physicist. The current tax code is 66,000 pages long. At a college reading level, it would take 330 hours just to read it! During the Bush administration there were one code change per day. So far under the Obaman administration - 12 per day. If you read it straight through starting today, there would be at least 1,068 changes by the time you finished.

The IRS, yesterday, reported that tax payment problems has increased by 38%. There is no doubt there is a problem! The question is how we and I mean "we" can work to change it?

Steve

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

April 15, 2009

Remember, today is not only the day to settle up with your 2008 tax bill. It is also the day to make your first quarterly estimated business tax payment for your 2009 taxes.

Good planning today will save you lots of headaches a year from now.