Tax is cool

Now that it's gone away, the estate tax is getting a lot of attention.

Tax experts sharing their thoughts on the estate tax include Joe Kristan, Kay Bell, Linda Beale, James Maule, TaxProf Paul Caron, and I'm sure many others I've missed in my latest search.

But the talk isn't limited to us talk folk. Last week, Stephen Colbert did a bit on the estate tax.

"As of January 1, 2010, the 45% tax on massive inheritances is gone. But it will come back in 2011. So wouldn't this be a great year to visit your lonely, frail, unhealthy uncle? And just be by his side to make sure no one coats his banister with teflon, or hides a rabid badger in his applesauce, or replaces his Werther's Originals with Werther's Explodables."

That's right people, tax is cool.

Here's the clip from The Colbert Report last week. The estate tax bit starts at around 48 seconds in.

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The tough choices

(For those who also read Confessions of a CPA, I apologize for the duplicate post!)

As I often observe, time is the most scarce of a person's resources. (Rita Keller shared an interesting post on this topic last month.)

Over the past few weeks, I have fallen behind in even skimming the headlines of the 1000+ contents from my of my 168 subscriptions in Google Reader. With tax season barreling down on me, I've finally admitted to myself that I won't be able to keep up. So much interesting content, so little time!

Today, I created a separate folder in Reader for "Daily Reads," which also shows up as its own list on the right of this blog. It was very hard to come up with such a short list.

Some blogs not on the list are fantastic reads that require a lot of my mental horsepower to follow, and I hope to make more time this summer to summon the brainpower to read them daily. These include the tax and legal experts at such blogs as ataxingmatter, Mauled Again, and TaxProf.

Other blogs not on the list are great reads about the world of finance and accounting, which I hope to revisit with a vengeance after April 15 when I am not required to only live and breathe tax. Some of these include BookMarkLee, The Exuberant Accountant, Jr Deputy Accountant, and many, many others.

So my "Daily Reads" are not a review (though of course I recommend them all), but simply the list of what I think a tax manager like me will religiously follow when time is short.

What are your "can't miss" blogs?

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A recent surprise

After delivering several bags of clothes and household goods to my local Goodwill (in December, not January, of course!), I was surprised when the attendant handed me a pamphlet along with my receipt. The pamphlet, titled Goodwill Stores Donation Information, includes a list of "Suggested Donation Deductions."

I was surprised they provided amounts, as my experience has always been that non-profits avoid providing definitive recommendations for deductions when it comes to non-cash donations. I suppose what surprised me most was that they would actually use the term "suggested." Quite daring!

The additional description was more in line with my expectations of a non-profit: "The Internal Revenue Service allows a deduction based on the fair market value (what a buyer would pay for the goods in a thrift or consignment shop). The better an item's condition, the greater its value... Listed below are resale values of items in area Goodwill stores that you may use to itemize your deductions."

(Just to be difficult, I might argue that it technically isn't the IRS that "allows" a deduction, as the IRS does not make the rules, only enforces them. I know, I'm a pain.)

This description made sense to me, as it seems to be saying only that these non-cash items sell for the prices listed. It's like saying: "This is the information about us, and you can do with it what you choose." To me, that is quite different from providing a "suggestion." But I guess since they included the word "suggested" in the title, they are really doing both: stating facts about their prices and suggesting we use those amounts. I'm splitting hairs, aren't I?

I wish we could get this kind of guidance from the IRS. Or is it available, and I've simply missed it? Everything I've read from the IRS uses vague terms, never providing concrete numbers. And I like numbers.

I wonder if other non-profits are providing "suggested" deduction amounts, and how the IRS will factor that information into its efforts (if at all).

Finally, is it odd that I found so much to think about from a basic pamphlet from the Goodwill?

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You know you're addicted to Twitter when...

You're checking Twitter while sitting in the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco waiting for Wicked to begin.

In my defense, I had not been on Twitter for two weeks. That's a lifetime in tweets.

While waiting for the show to begin, I stumbled upon an update from favorite @taxtweet with a link to her post Another top 12 holiday tax countdown. As she notes, I was lucky enough to make Dan Meyer's Twelve Blogs of Christmas. What a pleasant surprise!

Dan is a blogging veteran at Tick Marks. I'm honored to be included in his list. In all honesty, I fear that it won't be long before top bloggers like Dan and Kay discover my secret: I really don't know what I'm doing out here in the blogosphere.

I owe a few more thanks to people smarter than me who take the time to converse with this blogging novice...

Thank you to Stacie Clifford Kitts at Stacie's Tax Tips for saying I have wit. What a lovely compliment! So much nicer than some of the things my 6 year old says to me.

Thank you to Wandering Tax Pro Robert Flach for giving this "new girl on the block" such a warm welcome. I can even forgive him often calling me Marilyn instead of Monica. :)

Thanks to Joe Kristan for saying my blog is worthy of making Dan's Top 12. I'll take "worthy!"

Happy New Year, everyone!

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