Gearing Up....

Finishing CPE, starting to think about next tax season, thinking tax implications of short sales and repos will be a hot issues. A few good links here:

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com

Thoughtful also that the IRS has posted a summary of the tax implications of debt forgiveness.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=174034,00.html

Tax deadline, again. But at least it's October

Yup, tomorrow is the drop dead deadline. A couple of return packets came in Friday morning. So I did a few returns Saturday. But all in all I think we're in good shape. The nice thing about the last minute returns as you don't have to promise anything, but if you can pull it out in time, you're the hero (and of course just wind up encouraging them to procrastinate again next year).

Tax deadline or no deadline, it's October, my favorite month, even if out here in lotusland it's only a pale shadow of real October, as experienced over at the Daily Kvetch for instance. (No envy here, no sirree.) The boys and I went out to pick pumpkins this afternoon. This being rural ag country, the local elementary school holds a fundraiser at the pumpkin patch. This also being tony wine country, said pumpkin patch is at one of the swankiest vineyards around. Anyway, we returned home with various misshapen gourds to enhance our home decor.

Last Sunday SGH had to work so the boys and I rounded up a young friend and tromped up to the top of one of the highest ridges around:

That's Morro Rock off in the distance. Sort of gives you a little perspective. So I guess Fall isn't that bad here in the land of no seasons either.

Big Hair

This I've learned from my distance learning course in business law (contracts).

You are not authorized to be a pundit on the subject of contracts unless you have big hair.

The videos date from about 1981. It all looks like a very dull episode of Cheers.

Soccernomics

Just spent a hard day at youth soccer; those snack stand duties are never-ending. Guess it pales in comparison to the lousy days B1 and B2 had on the soccer field - both were on teams that lost badly, and both were goalies on the receiving end of the five goal rule. (This means that after the opposing team is more than five ahead, they have to stop scoring. Instead they pass the ball back and forth to each other in a mocking manner, while you, as goalie, are left to aimlessly ponder all those goals that sailed past you, landing you in this miserable state.)

Youth soccer around here is an elaborate behavior modification program, not just for the kids, but for the families as well. The newest twist this year is snack stand duty, a staple of little league (apparently) but new to those of us who only do soccer. So I'm out there first thing in the morning hawking overpriced root beer and Nerds candy to seven year olds (part of a balanced breakfast, I'm sure), so that our registration fees will only increase by five dollars next fall instead of ten. How about we all go home, feed our kids a frozen waffle or two, and save the money we would have spent on overpriced snacks for next fall's registration fees?

Kvetchy on the subject of fundraisers, because it is fundraising season at school as well. We give this one a miss, and just write a check directly to the PTA instead of buying overpriced candy and gift wrap. The kids don't quite understand why we pass this opportunity up, but they are resigned by now. SGH came up with a radical new fund-raiser idea: the adopt-an-elementary-student program. For the price of a Starbucks coffee a day, you can sponsor the education of an elementary student. You will receive a photo of your student, and weekly correspondence from your student. Periodically, you will be apprised of your student's academic progress. In fact, you will even be invited to meet with your student's teacher to discuss your student's unique situation.

Or maybe we'd all rather just do another jog-a-thon.

Messiesscorp Season

Everyone knows about tax season, but what sometimes escapes attention are the subtle rhythms that define our days the rest of the year: the mild bustle that accompanies the quarterly payroll tax deadlines, the 1099 activity in late January (or early February...or late February... or ...), even the eerie feeling along about August 10 that something needs to be taken care of sometime soon. After all, it's only been a year or two since the IRS dropped the "first extension" and "second extension" rigamorole for individual tax returns.

And if it's September...your tax preparer might be busy working on S-Corp returns for people who have only the vaguest idea when and how they became S-Corps in the first place. Happy Messy-S-Corp Season. (And woo hoo, since taxable income/loss flows through to the individual tax return, most likely no tax liability. And no tax liability equals no late filing penalty. So Messiesscorp season just may extend into mid-October.)

CPE

Clock's a-ticking, gotta get those hours. Wasted way too much time over the past six weeks shuffling between Boss A, who says "do it this way, it's cheaper, and better" and Boss B, who says the same. Last year I punted and went to the online CPE provider whose logo is the little paper airplane. I embarrassed even myself. This year, determined to actually acquire some knowledge in addition to the course hours, I buckled down this past Saturday and slogged through eight hours of home study (or in this case, office study, since I couldn't get access at home, even with legitimate passwords). I won't tell how many hours it took, but it wasn't eight. Only 22 more hours (or the relevant factor thereof) to go.

We're wilting here in the heat, a condition very unfamiliar to us. The whole family except me are laid up with a bug - I think it's the one the pediatrician, in her professional capacity, refers to as "school crud". Its symptoms are general logieness and irritability, punctuated by violent spells of coughing. We decided some videos were appropriate, but in retrospect maybe "Goldfinger" wasn't such a great choice for a nine year old. (Useful if you want to figure out how to kill a baddie quickly in a bathtub, though.)

Brings back memories of a sweltering Memorial Day weekend years ago, BK (before kids), when SGH and I spent the whole sweaty weekend watching Barry Lyndon. Boy did we know how to party.

Domestic Economy Returns

Domestic Economy Returns...length of stay uncertain.

Yes, it's fish or cut bait here at domecon. Thank you to those who have kept me on your blogrolls despite months of inactivity. I promise (well maybe) to make it up to you.

In the meantime, I wish I had profound insights about the state of the American consumer, but I don't .

What have I been up to while I've been away? Finished a bunch of tax returns. Whiled away the month of May with some payroll activity and some business property statements (answering questions like, "wait, you mean they tax my photocopier?"). Spent quality time with SGH and the offspring. Ran a couple of road races. Read the new Harry Potter book (more on that below). Finished another accounting class (ask me about consolidated financial statments - just ask me). Took an all-American family camping vacation. And now I'm back at my station, staring a bunch of September 15th and October 15th deadlines in the face, coming up against the wall with my CPE hours, and on and on.

But enough whining. Back to Harry Potter. Great minds out there have subjected the Harry Potter books to some exhaustive financial analysis and come up with these insights:

Death and Taxes - the Blog brings our attention to some estate planning issues that arise in Harry Potter that might not arise in, say, Illinois. (Caution, Book Five Spoiler, sort of.)

Juan E. Pardinas from CIDAC points out how certain aspects of Hogwarts Castle resemble the Mexican tax system. (No spoiler here, just an analogy I never in a million years would have thought of.)

Megan McCardle of the Guardian points out some fundamental economic inconsistencies in J.K. Rowling's treatment of magic as a commodity. She says it works in Lord of the Rings but not in Harry Potter.

On the meta-level, marginal revolution tells us exactly why J.K. Rowling makes the big bucks and why she is so much more able than Shakespeare or Homer to leverage the market.

And finally, for those who haven't seen it, I bring you Harry Potter's correspondence with a Nigerian scam artist, courtesy of scamorama.

Happy reading!