I don't know the answer to that, and neither do you. Regardless, let's audit your taxes for the past 5 years ago and see which way your mistakes lean. How does that sound?
You mean in the past we didnt have as open a process? The problem with the current situation is what exactly? Your article also mentions the vetting process is just as tough as it was for Bush's appointee's.
Doc Savage Fan
Lifer
- Nov 30, 2006
- 15,456
- 389
- 121
That sounds great...I have nothing to hide. My audit risk is next to ZERO according to TurboTax. I also did not report any deduction for office in home which I'm rightfully entitled to...if anything I've overpaid my taxes the last 5 years because I'm too lazy to go through all the gyrations to take that particular deduction. But hey...if you want to believe I willfully cheat or make 'mistakes' only to my advantage...go for it.
My point was...what's the probably of flipping a coin 10 times and having it come up 'heads' every time? Not good...not good.
sactoking
Diamond Member
- Sep 24, 2007
- 7,639
- 2,909
- 136
I won't speak to the business deductions, there's not enough info.
On the charitable donations:
The IRS says you have to document donations of over $250 with a letter from the charity, but you are not to include that letter with your return. Instead, they use statistics to determine if your deduction is out of line and needs to be audited. Hers didn't trigger an audit, thus her total deductions weren't out of line.
Now she's being asked to go back 2-4 years later and find 49 letters to substantiate the deductions. In theory, should she have them? Yes. Is it plausible that she lost 3 of them? Yes. Is it possible she lied about 3 of them? Yes. Taken in a vacuum, the fact that she produced 94% of her letters leads me to believe they were legit. In light of the fact that she didn't trigger an audit, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt.
On the mortgage interest:
The 1040(a) instructions don't cover this topic. They state that if it's a first or second home, it qualifies. If you get a 1098, put that number on the line. Nowhere does it address if the home sold and you owe interest still. If you're a taxpayer doing your own taxes and you read the 1040(a) instructions, do you think that you need clarification? I'd bet that at least 75% of us would say 'no'. Even if you do say yes, where do you go? Do you have access to CCH? Do you know how to do tax research? I'd bet that anyone who's not in the tax field would say 'no' or is lying. If she paid someone else to do her returns, it's not her problem. Her preparer would be liable for the errors. That's why they have E&O coverage.
Like I said, I won't speak to the business deductions since I have no info. But as someone with personal tax experience I don't find either of the other two issues to be out of the ordinary and they're certainly not prima fascie evidence of malfeasance.
On the charitable donations:
The IRS says you have to document donations of over $250 with a letter from the charity, but you are not to include that letter with your return. Instead, they use statistics to determine if your deduction is out of line and needs to be audited. Hers didn't trigger an audit, thus her total deductions weren't out of line.
Now she's being asked to go back 2-4 years later and find 49 letters to substantiate the deductions. In theory, should she have them? Yes. Is it plausible that she lost 3 of them? Yes. Is it possible she lied about 3 of them? Yes. Taken in a vacuum, the fact that she produced 94% of her letters leads me to believe they were legit. In light of the fact that she didn't trigger an audit, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt.
On the mortgage interest:
The 1040(a) instructions don't cover this topic. They state that if it's a first or second home, it qualifies. If you get a 1098, put that number on the line. Nowhere does it address if the home sold and you owe interest still. If you're a taxpayer doing your own taxes and you read the 1040(a) instructions, do you think that you need clarification? I'd bet that at least 75% of us would say 'no'. Even if you do say yes, where do you go? Do you have access to CCH? Do you know how to do tax research? I'd bet that anyone who's not in the tax field would say 'no' or is lying. If she paid someone else to do her returns, it's not her problem. Her preparer would be liable for the errors. That's why they have E&O coverage.
Like I said, I won't speak to the business deductions since I have no info. But as someone with personal tax experience I don't find either of the other two issues to be out of the ordinary and they're certainly not prima fascie evidence of malfeasance.
If Rush Limbaugh made this same mistake on his taxes I would see it as a non-issue; an honest mistake.
Mani
Diamond Member
- Aug 9, 2001
- 4,808
- 1
- 0
I don't excuse any of the dems responsible for this, but it's amazing how many people in this thread are stupid/naive enough to think this is exclusive to dems or Obama cabinet members. Small-scale tax evasion or mistakes like this affect a huge percentage of people in high income brackets, and republicans are just as guilty if not moreso.
Well Turbotax may claim that, but as a senate-confirmed nominee, it hardly matters what Turbotax says. It's an automatic audit going back 3 years or more, IIRC.
And I wasn't claiming you willfully cheat or make mistakes on purpose, I'm merely suggesting that if we audited a random person, the chances are fairly good that we'd find some error or another.
i wonder how an average citizen would do in this process, i'm guessing alot of us would fuck alot of stuff up.
jonks
Lifer
- Feb 7, 2005
- 13,918
- 20
- 81
I don't know that toe-tapper is code for gay, I was referring to Senator Craig who literally tapped his toes.
Nothing wrong with gay obviously. But being a closeted gay who hypocritically pushes anti-gay legislation, preaches family values and morality while condemning marriage equality efforts? Yeah, something wrong there.
I prefer my officials to be having anonymous sex in public restrooms :thumbsup:
anyways i don't really give a fuck what these people do with their personal lives, including whether or not they screwed up their taxes. Can we talk more about experience, intelligence, goals, skills, etc?
Oh ok, for a minute I thought you were talking about Jim McGreevey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McGreevey
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