The system is so complicated that these entities have no fucking clue what's going on.


How big is the tax code? I'll let these guys tell you: The tax code is

Quote :

"U.S. Representative John Hostettler (R-IN) "the Internal Revenue Code and regulations add up to one million words and is nearly seven times the length of the Bible" U.S. Representative Rob Portman (R-OH) "The income tax code and its associated regulations contain almost 5.6 million words -- seven times as many words as the Bible. Taxpayers now spend about 5.4 billion hours a year trying to comply with 2,500 pages of tax laws...." U.S. Representative J.C. Watts, Jr. (R-OK) "The heart of IRS abuse lies in the existing tax code. Most of the folks who work for the IRS are good people just trying to do their job, but they are caught in a bad, overextended tax system. At 3,458 pages, twice the length of the Bible, it's impossible for the average taxpayer to know, understand, and accurately apply its provisions. The length is twice that of the Bible! Even tax experts cannot do so reliably." U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL) "With its 6,000 pages and 500 million words, the complexity of our tax code is the prime source of frustration and anger felt by millions of Americans toward their government." U.S. Representative Bill Archer (R-TX) "The Internal Revenue Code and regulations now come in at one million words and 9000 pages." U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) "The Bible, the guide of our lives, is 1,291 pages and contains 774,746 words. But the Tax Code and its regulations which are referred to by some as, 'a person's worst nightmare come true' is 9,471 pages and over 7 million words." U.S. Representative Vito Fossella (R-NY) "the tax code runs 17,000 pages and contains a mind-boggling 5.5 million words. By way of comparison, War and Peace is only 1,444 pages and the Bible checks in at 1,291 pages." U.S. Representative Jim DeMint (R-SC) "The federal tax code with its 44,000 pages, 5.5 million words, and 721 different forms is a patchwork maze of complexity and a testament to confusion over common sense." U.S. Representative Walter Jones (R-NC) "The IRS tax code is 44,000 pages and growing" U.S. Representative Bobby Jindal (R-LA) "The current tax code is almost 60,000 pages, longer than the Bible" U.S. Representative Dave Hobson (R-OH) "the current tax code, which at 1.3 million pages is twice the length of Tolstoy's War and Peace" U.S. Representative Nick Smith (R-MI) "the federal tax code has about four times as many words as the bible. Accompanying the law are a staggering two-and-a-half million pages of regulations" ...and President George W. Bush (courtesy of Professor Paul Caron of the TaxProf Blog) "The tax code is a complicated mess. You realize, it's a million pages long." http://www.trygve.com/taxcode.html "

Then you have this:


Imagine a company like VISA.
They have thousands of accountants.
They have hundreds and thousands of employees.
They make millions and millions of documents, transactions, etc.... per month.

Can someone please tell me how much manpower, time, and money it would take for a separate entity to go in there and make sure they are doing their books right?


fuck the system.

I just fired a (private and [not my] family owned) company that's been around for 40 years. They fail at keeping me informed about my finances. I have no clue about my standing from 2009 whether I owe or not] and claimed to have filed extensions on my taxes for more time. They were not telling the truth. Of course, the responsibility of not knowing they CANT file for more than 1 extension is all my fault Fuck the system. If I knew everything about taxes and accounting, I would do it myself. But that reverts to argument #1: NO BODY KNOWS HOW TO FUCKING DO THEM!!!!

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 2:56 PM. Reason : .]

12/6/2010 2:54:02 PM

the first thing i notice is all the (R-XX)s

12/6/2010 2:57:20 PM

the first thing i notice is all the GeniuSxBoY ITT.

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 3:23 PM. Reason : it's not that complicated...like at all...just learn how to read]

12/6/2010 3:22:10 PM

Quote :

"the first thing i notice is all the (R-XX)s "

Thats because Democrats dont pay taxes so why worry about how many words are in the tax code.

ZING

12/6/2010 3:25:14 PM

The IRS is the dirtiest government entity. They will straight up lie to your face and try to make you feel like you know nothing.

12/6/2010 3:45:54 PM

Quote :

"[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 3:23 PM. Reason : it's not that complicated...like at all...just learn how to read]"

OMG why didn't I think of that! Just learn how to read. It's obvious I don't know how to read being on the internet.

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 3:46 PM. Reason : .]

12/6/2010 3:46:42 PM

In fact I think that the IRS are the dirtiest muthafuckers on the planet.

12/6/2010 3:47:45 PM

^^That's what I'm saying man.

12/6/2010 3:52:45 PM

So is the pizza place getting audited??

12/6/2010 3:53:21 PM

Even if the IRS weren't dirty, they'd be dirty by negligence since it's impossible to completely understand the tax code in its entirety.

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 3:56 PM. Reason : damn apostrophes]

12/6/2010 3:53:50 PM

Quote :

"So is the pizza place getting audited??"

No. but I don't want to be caught with my pants down when they do either.

12/6/2010 3:55:33 PM

I'm pretty sure TurboTax knows how to do your taxes.

12/6/2010 3:56:37 PM

Quote :

"they'd be dirty by negligence since it's impossible to completely understand the tax code in it's entirety."

That's your opinion.

There is plenty of shit out there that is just as wordy as tax code...but a lot of it is repetitive. You don't have to know every single page of tax code to be a competent accountant and not fuck someone over. You learn the basics and the important stuff and when you come upon something that you're confused about, you look it up.

12/6/2010 3:57:32 PM

^Thank you, Genius. That leads to argument #2 in my original post.

12/6/2010 4:03:07 PM

The soap box called and wants its thread back

[Edited on December 6, 2010 at 4:05 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2010 4:03:51 PM

^^Yeah...shit happens. But don't blame it on tax code.

Maybe you should have kept on top of them a little better. Not suppose to be your job, but if I owned my own business, I'd speak with my accountant all the time.

12/6/2010 4:06:02 PM

Quote :

"I owned my own business, I'd speak with my accountant all the time"

Oh yeh? Whatcha gonna talk about? Taxes? You know enough about taxes to hold an intelligent conversation about your taxes? If you know enough about your taxes, you wouldn't need to talk to them about your taxes.

12/6/2010 4:10:39 PM

just keep on them about making sure everything is good. Maybe even a frequent review of the situation would probably be in order.

I do feel your pain though, the IRS sucks mad balls.

Don't pull a Joseph Stack though.

12/6/2010 4:15:17 PM

I see a lot of Congressmen spewing verbal diarrhea about something they know little about. How is this different from anything else?

12/6/2010 4:18:47 PM

Quote :

"The tax code is"

written by Congress. What do you expect?

12/6/2010 4:26:55 PM

Quote :

"Thats because Democrats dont pay taxes so why worry about how many words are in the tax code. ZING"

if only i were a democrat and didn't pay taxes

12/6/2010 4:28:15 PM

I am a w-2 employee, but I have a lot of business expenses for which I am not reimbursed to include office supplies (I work from home), mileage, postage, and meals with clients.

If I understand correctly, provided my business expenses exceed 2% of our joint AGI we can itemize right? Anyone know of a CPA or tax preparation person they trust in the Fayetteville Area? I really don't want to go to an H&R Block type place.

12/14/2010 10:02:19 AM

^you would be correct there. You can deduct the amount that exceeds 2% of your joint AGI. However the deduction for meals with clients is limited to 50% of the expenses.

12/14/2010 12:25:50 PM

^with these expenses, I can include my home office expenses (that portion of utilities and so on) since I do not have a dedicated office that I drive to since I am in the field every day right?

My company's closest office is about 99 miles away and i only go there for quarterly meetings.

12/22/2010 9:26:35 AM

^ are you in outside sales? Can you explain how that works?

12/22/2010 10:27:29 AM

my company administers retirement plans for non-profits and also we do independent wealth management. That being said, I am in a different location each day helping my group and individual clients. I cover Fayetteville to Wilmington.

That being said, I am home based with a room dedicated as an office which serves as storage for files, marketing materials, and literature as well as I work from home one day a week and many long hours in the evenings and weekends.

12/27/2010 10:24:57 AM

Now: "The tax code is way too complicated! I just don't understand!"

<congress simplifies code>

Future: "WHERE ARE MY DEDUCTIONS??? "

12/27/2010 10:30:43 AM

That's a lot of that being saids in one reply.

That being said, your room dedicated to being used as an office can ONLY be used as an office 24/7/365 to be used in this calculation. A deductible computer cannot be used for anything personal, strictly business.

That being said, you can fully deduct office supplies, travel expenses, and postage. Be careful with deducting meal expenses (entertainment & leisure).

That being said, find a tax professional and make sure you cover every deduction with receipts/names of people & places involved.

12/27/2010 10:34:23 AM

I heard on the news this morning that the IRS is going to make people who are doing deductions wait until late Feb to file their taxes, due to the recent changes and complications in the tax code by Congress.

Reference link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704278404576037620134601708.html

12/27/2010 10:39:35 AM

Quote :

"Anyone know of a CPA or tax preparation person they trust in the Fayetteville Area? I really don't want to go to an H&R Block type place."

pm sent

12/27/2010 10:42:46 AM

^^ Basically Congress took their sweet ass time deciding what to do and it's going to take the IRS at least a month to make the tax forms, thus the delay.

[Edited on December 27, 2010 at 10:43 AM. Reason : a]

12/27/2010 10:43:34 AM

Yeah, its fucking gay. I love doing my taxes as soon as possible.

12/27/2010 12:36:56 PM

Quote :

"That being said, your room dedicated to being used as an office can ONLY be used as an office 24/7/365 to be used in this calculation. A deductible computer cannot be used for anything personal, strictly business. "

Are you sure? Last I read,it seemed you could deduct the percentage of it used for work. LIke if he uses it 90% of the time for work, he gets up to 90% of the value deducted.

12/27/2010 1:15:02 PM

In relation to mileage, my closest group is only 22 miles away. Am I able to deduct that mileage or is it not enough round trip even though I am not actually going to my company's office?

1/3/2011 9:10:08 AM