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From the “eeeewwwww” tax file

June 13, 2009

Here's another, and somewhat disturbing, take on the proverbial death and taxes connection.

Toe_tagA former mortuary worker convicted of carving up and selling cadavers donated to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) medical school has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.7 million in fines, restitution and unpaid taxes..

Last month, a Los Angeles jury found Ernest Nelson guilty of of one count each of conspiracy to commit grand theft from the UCLA Willed Body Program, grand theft, grand theft by false pretenses and — here's the tax part — failure to file an income tax return for 2003 and four counts of filing a false tax return involving the 1999 through 2002 tax years.

As Paul Caron in the TaxProf Blog notes, it always comes down to taxes.

In Tax Update Blog, Joe Kristan suspects that Mary Shelley's horror classic "would have been a different story if the peasants that came after the Monster and Dr. Frankenstein and his faithful body-snatcher, Igor, were IRS agents."

And Peter Pappas in The Tax Lawyer's Blog takes a more modern Young Frankenstein view of the icky body parts selling scheme.

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The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

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TAX-SAVVY WAYS 
TO WRAP UP 2026

It’s over! With October’s extended filing deadline behind us, it is now time to focus on year-end moves to reduce your 2026 tax bill. 

You’ll find ways to do just that on the Tax Tips page (see the More Tax Posts drop-down menu at the top of the blog), as well as the separate tax tip pages for each month, notably October through December. If you’re on the Tax Tips page, you’ll find a monthly list at the end of this column. If you’re on another blog page, you can head straight to the October tips; at the bottom of that tips page you’ll find links to all the other 11 months’ collections of tax advice.

Not to spoil what you’ll find in that tax advice, but it does cover such things as tax deductions for charitable donations, investment moves that could reduce tax due, and ways to max out your tax-favored retirement savings. 

Finally, as the year winds down, things get hectic. There are lots of other things to occupy our time, like the much more fun upcoming holidays. But don’t lose sight of taxes, since timing is key. To be of use, most tax moves must be made by the end of the tax year. That’s Thursday, Dec. 31, which also is the last business day of the year. 

So that you don’t miss that final tax year deadline, also keep an eye on the countdown clock below. It will keep you on top of just how much time is left to make important, tax-saving moves. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

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