Refund Deadlines

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a refund deadline. Did you?

Apparently the IRS gets to cap how long you have to request a refund, then the money becomes theirs. Nice, eh?

The various rules seem to work against large companies and trusts, and in favor of the little guy who makes informal requests, provided they document them properly.

I think. I am ~so~ not a numbers & taxes person. If I've piqued your curiosity, check out the original article on accoutingweb for details.

Sight Seeing SFO

Now that the IVAA Summit is done, Candy finally has some free time. Here is a quick picture she took of Lanel and the Golden Gate Bridge.


Candy will be back at work Monday morning, bright and early. So make sure you all send her an e-mail welcoming her back!

As Long As We're Picking on Handheld Users...

"Blackberry Addiction" is a term slowly sliding into our collective consciousness. Basically, a Blackberry addict is someone who finds herself compulsively checking their email and sending text messages via a hand held device (aka "Crackberry"). It has a few different permutations and repercussions.

The first is health-related. Similar to carpal tunnel for typists and "mouse wrist", handheld device addicts are developing strains and sprains, primarily in the joint at the base of the thumb, and are even losing partial functionality in the affected hand in some cases.

The second is, believe it or not, legal. Apparently technology addiction is getting so bad in sectors where employees and executives are required to be tethered (albeit wireless-ly) to the office via devices that a recent Rutgers University study indicated lawsuits may be next. Compulsive workers who cannot unplug from the office wake up and realize they are unhappy with their lives. Rutgers associate professor of management Gayle Porter theorizes that they will start looking for someone to blame and will start at the office.

Finally, there is the stress factor. A device that is supposed to free up time and increase efficiency slowly becomes a leash, tying people to their job all the time. No matter how much people love their jobs, they need time away, too. There's a reason many major employers require people in high-stress positions to take a sabbatical every few years - reduced stress results in increased efficiency when people come back; if they never get away, thanks to their handhelds, efficiency decreases.

Just a little something to think about...

Pay Attention to the Road!

How many times a day do you find yourself saying those very words, especially when you are stuck behind drivers paying more attention to their cell phones than the traffic they're in? It could be worse! At least they aren't text-messaging and driving. You hope.

Texting and driving is becoming a bigger and bigger problem as more people find themselves "unable" to drive from point A to point B without using their wireless device to check email or text messages.

There is a bill in the Washington State Senate (it flew through the House) to ban texting and driving. While there are a number of factors driving this law, the big push came after a man caused a pileup on Interstate 5 outside Seattle that shut the highway down for over an hour. He was checking his email while driving.

Texting is not specifically banned anywhere, but Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, California and the District of Columbia have all outlawed the use of handheld phones while driving.

Texting is not the only distraction drivers face, but after a 2006 study showed drivers on cell phones are as impaired, if not more so, as drunk drivers, well... Maybe it's time to turn the ringer off til we get where we're going. Or at least pull off the road.

Greetings from San Francisco!

Candy is currently attending the IVAA Summit in San Francisco. She has asked me to post some pictures of her experience while we all eagerly await her return.

Lanel of the OffAssist Team

Lana of the OffAssist Team

IVAA Summit Picture

Everyone Wants Their Own "Space"

That's right. Apparently both Microsoft and Reuters are gearing up a place for numbers nerds to get connected.

Details are available in the links, or you can check out the accountingweb article which boils it down to the basics.

As I understand it, they are both trying to tap the social networking site craze, with Microsoft even going so far as to say they want the Dynamics Live Beta Community to be a "MySpace for financial pros". They do seem to have slightly different target markets though. If I am understanding the sites properly (keeping in mind I am not a finance person), Reuters is targeting the stock watchers, day traders and market watchers, people they currently reach through other venues. MS, on the other hand, seems to be targeting business financial pros in general, CFOs, accountants, and others.

Either way, with luck, there will be a new resource for finance jokes for the newsletter ;-)

Can the CAN-SPAM Act?

Yep. We need to can "Can-SPAM". At least, that's what most email security professionals say, according to John P. Mello's article, "Junk the 'Junk Email' Law".

The law isn't working and spam is getting WORSE. I agree with the article that "opt-out" is an asinine model - why is a spammer's right to annoy me with unsolicited offers (many tied to illegal activities) more important than my right to not be subject to this nonsense? An "opt-in" model, better yet a double opt-in (already in use by ~many~ legitimate email marketers) would also be easier to enforce, since spammers would be required to show PROOF that the recipient has opted in. The burden of proof should lie on the offenders, the spammers, not everyone else, and current law instead makes people prove they have opted-out.

Extension Assistance...?

If you filed an extension for your 2006 income taxes, you've earned yourself another six months and now have a bit of leisure to decide HOW to prepare them.

Paper is good, but complicated for your average individual taxpayer. Software is good, and getting better, but still best-suited to relatively uncomplicated tax situations.

For complex taxes, especially for the self-employed or anyone who has experienced a major (taxable) life change like a death or lay-off, a tax pro is your best bet, with doing it yourself and having a tax pro review it running a close second.

For do-it-yourself types, USA Today test drove the two biggest tax software programs in the country. Here's what they thought of Turbo Tax and Tax Cut. AccountingWeb.com had a few words on the subject, too.

Narrowed by Vista

Wow.

I'm not tech-y enough to restate the argument, so first check out this Forbes.com article on DRM (digital rights management) and Vista.

The whole DRM thing is more political than I want to get into, but I think the industry is shooting itself in the foot. Because we could record songs off the radio onto cassettes did we stop buying albums or CDs? No. That pretty much defines my point of view on this one.

However, I really, really want to know. Is someone at MS on heavy-duty medication? They added a "feature" you cannot opt out of to Windows that makes it EVEN SLOWER. Dude. I already despise the load time for XP, or the downtime I get trying to run two or three applications while the virus scanner is doing its thing, and they made it SLOWER.

Yea, I'm not going to be switching my OS anytime soon. Are you?

It's a Rap!

Okay, not so serious, but fun.

Head over to YouTube and enter "turbo tax" in the search bar (or click here for a list). My favorite is "Yo Momma, Taxes, Death".

Intuit sponsored a contest called "Tax Rap" asking people to submit homemade rap videos about taxes, and some of them are a riot. I know it's not serious news, but with the filing deadline less than a week away, who needs serious?

Excise Tax Abuse

I'll apologize in advance because the IRS press release I'm citing is a couple months out of date, but, since April 15th is only two weeks away it's still pretty relevant for those who have yet to file their taxes.

The IRS, in February, issued search warrants and sent special criminal investigators to seven tax preparation businesses they suspected of inflating their clients' excise tax refund amounts, including a couple here in Texas.

Truthfully, the telephone excise tax refund is, to me, at this point, almost more trouble than it is worth. How much is this IRS investigation costing taxpayers, particularly honest taxpayers who had no desire to cheat the system? Probably a lot more than we want to know, what with criminal investigators being flown to locations, seizing property, and the usual government mound of paperwork entailed. How many times have I posted about this refund in the last few months?

Really - don't they have other things to do, like, oh, ~simplifying~ the tax code? I'll take that over a little one time refund any day!