Taxpayer Advocate Reports That Taxes Are Too Complicated

In the Taxpayer Advocate 2012 Annual Report to Congress, Nina Olson states that it takes U.S. taxpayers more than 6.1 billion hours to complete all the tax filings required by the tax system.

Think about this for a moment. It takes more than 3 million full-time employees to administer the U.S. tax system.

I am one, of course. Still, ... good grief!

Here are other observations:

• Individual taxpayers find return preparation so overwhelming that about 59 percent now pay preparers to do it for them. Among unincorporated business taxpayers, the figure rises to about 71 percent."
• According to a tally compiled by a leading publisher of tax information, there have been approximately 4,680 changes to the tax code since 2001, an average of more than one a day."
• From FY 2004 to FY 2012, the number of calls the IRS received from taxpayers ...increased from 71 million to 108 million, yet the number of calls answered ... declined from 36 million to 31 million."
•  ... among  the callers who got through, the average time ... waiting on hold increased from just over 2½ minutes in FY 2004 to nearly 17 minutes in FY 2012."
• The IRS receives more than ten million letters from taxpayers each year responding to IRS adjustment notices. ... the IRS ... cannot timely process nearly half of its pending correspondence...."
• In 2012, TAS conducted a statistically representative national survey of over 3,300 ... sole proprietors. Only 16 percent said they believe the tax laws are fair. Only 12 percent said they believe taxpayers pay their fair share of taxes."

 Here is one that gave me pause:

• ·        We believe it is important to increase taxpayer awareness of the connection between taxes paid and benefits received. We have recommended that Congress direct the IRS to provide all taxpayers with a “taxpayer receipt” showing how their tax dollars are being spent. This “taxpayer receipt” ... should be provided directly to each taxpayer in connection with the filing of a tax return.”

 And you knew this one was coming:

• In each of the last two fiscal years, the IRS budget has been reduced, and it appears the IRS budget will be cut further in the current year. The continued underfunding of the IRS poses one of the greatest long-term risks to tax administration today.”

My Take? I believe that the IRS is underfunded, and that such underfunding represents a risk. I point out, however, that the underfunding is greatly attributable to governmental overreach, although it may be fair to say that the President and Congress have left the overreach on the IRS’s doorstep. 

And a receipt?! No thank you. I am aware of how my money is spent. That is a big part of the problem.

I have very much come to like Nina Olson. No one in Washington will listen to this report, however. Not this crowd. Not this year.

2012 Loophole on Age 70 ½ IRA Charity Contributions

I had a call last week on what the rules are for the 70 ½ IRA owner making a direct distribution to a charity.

You may recall that – if you are a certain age – you can make distributions – up to a limit - from an IRA directly to a charity. The age is 70 ½ and the limit is $100,000. Why would you do this? There are several reasons:

(1) The first, of course, is that you are charitably inclined and have the means to do so.

(2) Second, the distribution counts toward your minimum required distribution (MRD). You have to pull the money out anyway.

(3) Third, you get to omit the distribution from income.

(a) This doesn't increase your adjusted gross income, which could have bad side effects (such as raising your Medicare premiums).

(4) Fourth, there is no charitable deduction.

(a) Which is OK, as you leave-off both the income and the deduction. In fact, you are ahead in a state that does not allow for itemized deductions.

What is the issue here? The issue is that the IRA/charity option was one of those tax law provisions extended with the most recent tax bill - the one signed in January 2013. People may have intended to make a direct distribution to charity but did not do so, waiting for clarification on 2012 tax law.

There is a surprise in the tax bill. You can still write a check by January 31, 2013 to a charity and have it count toward 2012. Let's say that you took out $26,000 from your IRA in December and made contributions of $10,000 before year-end. You can write checks for the balance ($16,000) and recast the entire $26,000 as a direct distribution in 2012.

2013 becomes 2012? I am thinking time travel, and that makes me think of....

What if you distributed in 2012? There are two possibilities:

(1)   You distributed directly to the charity

This is the best answer. You leave both the income and deduction off your return.

(2)   You distributed to yourself

            Oh oh. There are again two possibilities:

(1)   You distributed to yourself in December

                                   

As long as you write a check to charity by January 31, the IRS will consider this a direct distribution in 2012.

(2)   You distributed to yourself before December

There is nothing you can do. You will have income and a corresponding deduction. Hopefully there will be no harm, no foul. In Ohio, however, there is harm, as Ohio does not allow for itemized deductions.

There will be yet another consideration in 2013. Remember the new ObamaCare taxes (the 0.9% Medicare and the 3.8% investment income)? Those kick-in at $200,000 or $250,000 of income, depending on whether one is single or married. Now you have a very real reason to leave that IRA distribution off your income for 2013. You DO NOT WANT your adjusted gross income to hit that $200,000 or $250,000 stripe.