A Brooklyn tax preparer has been getting big federal refunds for his clients by declaring that New York State is a separate country. Under the preparer’s logic (OK, we’ll use that word, advisedly, for now), wages earned in the state are “foreign” income, qualifying NY filers for the foreign earned income tax exclusion. No surprise that federal officials respectfully disagree with the tax pro, Garry P. Webb-Bey, and have hauled him into court. According the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit, Webb-Bey has frivolously claimed $335,000 in refunds and his clients have received actual IRS checks totaling more than $97,000. You can…

Albert Einstein once said that the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. Now some tax scholars say a ruling on what is — or more precisely, isn’t — taxable as income in legal awards is equally incomprehensible. On Aug. 22, a Washington, D.C., federal appeals court judge ruled that the U.S. government cannot tax money individuals receive as compensation for emotional distress and other intangible injuries. Some brief background: In 1994, Marrita Murphy filed a complaint with the Department of Labor claiming that her former employer, New York Air National Guard, had blacklisted her because…

This day has always been special to me and my family. It was my late brother’s birthday. When he was a small child, he thought the flags were put out for him. We let him keep thinking that. They are still out there for you today, little Bro. Later, when the hubby and I lived in the National Capital area, we’d regularly head up the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and visit Charm City. One of Balmer’s many charms is Fort McHenry (which I mentioned in this earlier post), where Francis Scott Key penned his joy at seeing Old Glory still waving after…

Call it the IRS version of Crime Stoppers. You know, the program in almost every community where law enforcement solicits the public’s help in nabbing bad guys. Now the federal tax collector wants to hear from people who’ve received fake IRS e-mails purporting to send you a refund in exchange for a little bit of your personal financial information. I got one just this last weekend. If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid this garbage, you can see what it looks like here. The IRS has set up phishing@irs.gov, a special e-mail box, and wants recipients of these bogus refund…

"Big Love" is getting a lot of attention. Naturally, TV critics are always looking for the next HBO breakout show to fill the void that will exist when the "Sopranos" are all whacked out. But the prurience potential of a show about a fictional polygamous family in present-day Utah is also getting a lot of mainstream coverage and prompting related "news" stories. The latest example: On this Sunday's Weekend Today Show, Lester Holt interviewed a real-life husband and wife and wife. I'm sitting there in bed waiting to see what Holt, an affable TV personality, might offer on this subject…

Baseball has been very, very good to Barry Bonds, but it seems that wasn’t quite good enough for the San Francisco slugger. Bonds, along with baseball fans and non-fans alike, watched raptly in 1998 as the friendly battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa played out en route to the new single-season home-run record. McGwire’s 70 gave him the record. He and Sammy hugged. The world and Major League Baseball, which sorely needed some positive press, smiled. And Bonds seethed, deciding that he, too, wanted some of that attention, adoration and acclaim. So he turned to steroids for the added…

It’s Friday the 13th. I can hear Count Floyd now: “Oooohhhh. Scary.” It certainly is scary for some celebrities who are facing some potentially costly tax issues. Jury selection began this week for Richard Hatch, the first winner of CBS’s “Survivor.” The IRS contends that he didn’t pay taxes on his $1 million winnings from the popular show. But that’s not the only charge. The jury also will hear government evidence that Hatch spent money designated for a charity he created, filed false tax returns and committed bank, wire and mail fraud. What was he thinking? We first asked that…

Ran across an article over breakfast and I can’t resist commenting. The New York Times reports that House Speaker Dennis Hastert, apparently concerned about Capitol Hill’s (and his GOP’s) image in the  wake of several investigations into and indictments of Members and associates, has broached the subject of new ethics training for lawmakers. He wants to make sure they understand the “nuances of House rules.” Nuances? Let’s see. Bribery = Wrong! Money laundering = Wrong! Creating tax breaks for generous PAC contributors = Wr… Standard operating procedure.