Dear Family,

This is SuperBowl Weekend. The world will come to halt while sports fans eat, watch, and cheer for their favorite teams. This event is one of the highest grossing events for advertising revenue – while the show’s sponsors try to outdo each other with the best SuperBowl ads. They are such works of art, the ads themselves have fans. Do you want to see them? Someone has archived the last 14 years worth of SuperBowl ads.

Courtesy of the IRS.  For more information, see the Special Identity Theft Enforcement Efforts – 2012 page.
See related article about IP PIN at MarketWatch.com this weekend.

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department today announced the results of a massive national sweep cracking down on suspected identity theft perpetrators as part of a stepped-up effort against refund fraud and identity theft.

Working with the Justice Department’s Tax Division and local U.S. Attorneys’ offices, the nationwide effort targeted 105 people in 23 states. The coast-to-coast effort took place over the last week and included indictments, arrests and the execution of search warrants involving the potential theft of thousands of identities and taxpayer refunds. In all, 939 criminal charges are included in the 69 indictments and informations related to identity theft. 

Paychex, Inc., one of the nation’s leading providers of payroll, human resource, and employee benefits solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, today released its top 12 in ’12 list, containing the top 12 potential regulatory changes that America’s small businesses need to know about in 2012. Paychex works closely with the IRS and other government agencies on issues of importance and is constantly monitoring regulatory and compliance-related matters that impact its 564,000 clients.

You may remember the story – the one about the woman who shook her son awake in the morning. “Get up and get ready for school,” she urged.  “You’re going to be late!”

“Ah, Mom,” he pleaded “I don’t want to go to school. The kids don’t like me. The teachers are against me. Even the custodian hates me. Give me three good reasons to go.”

Today TaxMama® hears from our friend Kristi who is starting a new job. “My new job requires me to wear brown pants and either a certain green or blue shirt.  I would only wear these clothes for work.  Does that qualify as a uniform?”

Today TaxMama® hears from Trina in the Tax Quips Forum who wasn’t an employee. “I started working for a newspaper company over the summer of 2011, delivering papers to homes using my own vehicle. The company did give me company checks, but they did not take any taxes out. I believe they called their employees “independent contractors.” How do I file my taxes, since there has not been anything taken out?”

TaxMama’s Tax Roundtable is a monthly live discussion open to all TaxMama Family Members and above, and all TaxMama’s EA Exam and Solving the Tax Puzzle Students.

Please mark your calendars!
It meets at 8:05 am PACIFIC on the third Thursday or fourth of the month
(unless there are conflicts)

You are invited!

2012 schedule – Please MARK your calendars:

January 26
February 16
March 15
April 12 – for last-minute questions
May 24
June 14
July 19
August 23
September 20
October 18
November 15
December 20

Today TaxMama® hears from Danny in the Tax Quips Forum with this question. “My kids stay with their mother from Sunday noon until Thursday noon; then stay with me from Thursday noon until Sunday noon. I pay $140 monthly in child support. Can I claim them in my taxes?”