miorelli@pwa-b.UUCP (Bob Miorelli) (01/16/86)
This is the time of year when we all start to think of taxes. Actually, I started long ago -- for the past several years I have been a tax preparer AND tax course instructor for H & R Block -- a second job. I would be glad to answer questions of a general nature to the net, or to specific questions via e-mail. Stick to the federal taxes only -- I know nothing about Canadian taxes or about most state tax returns. Ask the questions to me directly and ask for a posted answer if you feel it is of general interest. Now, a couple of hints: Don't overlook income averaging (Sch. G). You must have supported yourself (not claimed on your parents' return) for 1984, 83, and 82. Same for your spouse if married. Worth looking into. Also, did you buy a NEW (not used) diesel powered car in 1985?? If so, there is a credit for it. Get the long form (1040) and a Form 4136 to claim the diesel credit. Also applies to vans and pickups for personal use. Doing your own taxes and need info?? Get Publication 17 from the IRS by far the best available (and fairly readable, too). Also, bookstores have a book (yellow cover) by J.K. Lasser. It's good. Avoid the H & R Block book -- just enough info to wet your appetite to get you into one of our offices. Good Luck!! -->BoB Miorelli, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft H & R Block -- -->BoB Miorelli, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft philabs!pwa-b!miorelli utah-cs!utah-gr!pwa-b!miorelli
wrf@ernie.BERKELEY.EDU (W. Randolph Franklin) (01/22/86)
I get the feeling that the IRS is trying to terrorize the large tax prep services and turn them into agents of the IRS instead of the customer who is paying them. The goal appears to be that, 1) in any grey area, the tax prep firms will favor the IRS since they have so much to lose if they get on the IRS's blacklist, and 2) the firms will do a lot of the IRS's routine checking for evasion. Assorted evidence for this: 1) A court has ruled that an accountant's working papers prepared for his client are not privileged and can be read by the IRS. 2) the new rule that requires a taxpayer to sign a statement for the preparer that he has car records. The taxpayer who does his own work doesn't have to sign it (he is still liable under general rules of course). 3) The proposal to file returns electronically where the taxpayer would sign a statement for the preparer. If there were a disagreement between the IRS and the taxpayer, say, as to the authenticity of the signature, whose side would the preparer be on? Why is H&R Block so eager to help the IRS minimize its paperwork? I suspect that you can (legally) pay lower taxes by doing your own more agressive return than by using large firms. What do people who work at H&R Block think about the IRS's chilling effect on them? Finally, whenever I talk to H&R Block people, they always try to make me feel good about going to them by giving me case histories of people who did something slightly wrong and were sent to debtors' prison (or whatever). Suppose I wanted, as is my legal right, to use a tax shelter that on the IRS's abusive shelter list. (The IRS can disallow my claim but I still, if I am careful, have the right to try.) Would H&R Block agree to prepare such a return? Wm. Randolph Franklin, UC Berkeley, Arpanet: wrf@ernie.Berkeley.EDU USPS: Computer Science Div., 543 Evans, University of California, Berkeley CA, 94720, USA 415-642-9955