As I reported last month, I was supposed to get my economic stimulus check direct deposited some time on or before May 9. But the day came and went and I got absolutamente nada.

I then discovered that the IRS had slipped in a stipulation about how if you had filing fees deducted electronically from your return, your economic stimulus would arrive via paper check. In my case, on or around June 20.

So when I got an envelope from the IRS in today's mail, I got all tingly. Could this be it? And just when I was least expecting it? How delicious!

Unemployment is up again and so is oil, so happy weekend to everyone. Doesn't that kind of news make you want to run out to the mall this weekend and blow lots of cash? Maybe that's why a lot is hanging today on Wal-Mart's shareholders meeting.

Here are the news nuggets you need to know today:

Wal-Mart Benefits from New Merchandising Focus

The Latest Gas Pain: More Job Losses

Americans Are $1.7 Trillion Poorer

IRS Small Business Audits Increase

Japanese Black Watermelon Auctioned for $6,100

LA Sues Time Warner Cable Over Lousy Service

Ex-Champ Holyfield KO'd By Finances

Elsewhere in business news on the web...

Computer Games as Liberal Arts?

Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins)

Taxing the 'Not-So-Rich' Rich

iPhone 2.0 Takes on the World

US Automakers Catching up on Productivity

Demand for Rarest Diamonds Outstrips Supplies

US Buyers Drive Christie's $350 Million Art Auction

Investors Drool as New iPhone Nears

Betty was excited about receiving her IRS stimulus check -- but when she called to inquire about why the money hadn't arrived in her account, she was politely informed that she was dead.

Now the IRS is taking weeks to correct its mistake and Betty, who is living on a fixed income, is struggling to cover her living expenses. Check out the video below.

Last week I vented my frustration at the IRS, the government, George Bush -- anyone! -- when I wrote, Where's my stimulus check. The post hit a nerve apparently, drawing thousands of page views and hundreds of comments.

I was supposed to receive my family's $1,800 economic stimulus check via direct deposit on May 9. But the day came and went with little fanfare...and even less money. That's the day I wrote the post.

Today, a full week later, Turbo Tax sends me an email. The salient section:

Many parents are going to be unhappy when they open up their stimulus check in the coming weeks and find that the IRS didn't include their children. Despite a government push for No Child Left Behind, the IRS left 350,000 or more families behind when it comes to the economic stimulus package. The good news is that the IRS has identified the problem and is taking steps to get new checks out to those affected.

The glitch was caused by paper filers not marking a certain box and also by errors in two commercial tax preparation programs. These issues human and computer, led the IRS calculations to miss the children when calculating the rebate amounts. Thankfully affected families do not need to take any action to get the rest of their stimulus package, the IRS will be mailing the additional check out in July.

This is likely to be a bummer to many people and I can see why this is annoying. Unfortunately the old adage, "garbage in, garbage out," applies to rebate processing as well. If you filed on paper and didn't check the box, be happy you get a second check in July. If you used one of the affected programs, live with the wait or email the company and ask for your money back. In the end I'd just be happy the tax software didn't make a bigger error setting you up for an audit!

The economy isn't the only thing getting a (alleged) boost from the government's economic stimulus checks, being sent out to taxpayers beginning this past week. The political windfall is also stimulating a lot of creative fraud as well.

According to story on MarketWatch, scammers are calling and emailing consumers posing as the IRS or the Social Security Administration. The callers tell consumers they need detailed bank account information or Social Security numbers in order to process their economic stimulus checks. Those consumers who fall for the scam and reveal this information are then subject to identity theft.

The story recommends some steps consumers can take to prevent getting so scammed.

Actor Wesley Snipes was cleared of the most serious charges in his criminal tax evasion trial, but he's still going to do spend some time in the pokey.

Yesterday, a federal judge William Terrell Hodges of Federal District Court.sentenced him to 3 years in prison for willfully failing to file a tax return. That's the maximum sentence for the 3 misdemeanor counts, and it seems that the judge is looking to make an example of Snipes. He also must pay $17 million in back taxes plus interest and penalties.

Mr. Snipes' lawyer said he would appeal.

Wesley Snipes is the most prominent example in years of the government's efforts to crack down on tax deniers -- people who claim that they are not obligated to pay taxes.

For some examples of the arguments tax deniers use -- and why they don't work, check out this great series from Tracy Coenen.

This weekend I read in our local paper about an individual who almost got caught up in a scam to drain her bank account. The scammer was using the upcoming economic stimulus package to solicit personal and bank account info under the guise of the IRS.

Even though she had already provided the information she was lucky enough to change her bank account info before any funds were drained. The local IRS contact warned individuals that the IRS will not make contact via email and that scams like this are a common occurrence.

WalletPop producer Amey Stone had warned of the tax rebate scams before congress had even approved the stimulus package, but as May 2 approaches, the frequency of attempted rip-offs will only increase. The IRS already spent $42 million letting citizens know that the checks are coming, and the only requirement is to fill out a 2007 tax return. Despite the Super Bowl-sized campaign and nonstop news coverage it seems individuals are still falling for these scams.

I don't think I can put this any nicer, don't give out your personal information online! It is really that simple, if everyone stops answering these "demands" for banking info, the spammers and con artists will at the least have to move to a new medium. I understand that at times the emails appear to be legit now that the bad guys hired an English major to write them, but just delete it.

One of the most common rebuttals to dinner-table arguments for tax increases goes something like this: "You want to pay more taxes? Go for it! But leave me the heck alone!"

It turns out you actually can do that. Last year, the U.S. Treasury collected $2.6 million in voluntary reduce the debt donations. According to Wikipedia, the IRS collected about $1,236,259,000,000. I won't bore you by expressing that as a percent but suffice to say that just about no one feels strongly enough about the national debt to make their own contributions to it.

Enter California Republican Congressman John Campbell who has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives called "The Put Your Money Where Wealth is Act." The bill would place a little box on the 1040 that you can just write in the additional amount you wish to donate to the Treasury, making it easier for the millions of Americans who are secretly dying to pay more taxes to do just that.

The Wall Street Journal opines (subscription required) that"Apparently even most liberals would rather keep their money, or bequeath their estates to charity rather than to the IRS."

And why is that? I would guess that most people intuitively recognize that private organizations are more efficient at using resources to do good work than that government.

That's something to think about as we listen to politicians in an election talk magnanimously about the need to help out struggling homeowners -- with your money, whether you like it or not.

The high-profile prosecution of actor Wasley Snipes a few months before tax season was pretty clearly an effort to scare people into paying their taxes. It might have backfired given that Snipes got off pretty light, but the IRS and the Justice Department say they aren't backing down in their fight against tax cheats.

In a press release, Nathan J. Hochman, the Justice Department's Tax Division Assistant Attorney General, announced the "creation of a national tax defier initiative," According to the press release:

This initiative is aimed at stopping those tax defiers who do not meet their federal tax obligations and seek to transfer those obligations to their neighbor's back. The tax defier is not someone who has a legitimate or factual dispute about the amount of tax due ... The tax defier is someone who rejects the legal foundation of the tax system, despite decades of legal precedent upholding the system's constitutional and statutory validity, and who takes specific and concrete action to violate the law. It is this tax defier conduct, which results in fraudulent claims, frivolous returns and bogus schemes, that threatens the foundation of our tax system and must be vigorously countered.

You can read the press release for details on what exactly they plan to do. It contains lots of phrases like "strengthen and expand coordination," "Leverage expertise and resources," and "maximize our use of technology." When I hear government officials using language like that, I tend not to have a lot of confidence in their ability to get things done. But that's just me.

To learn about some of the frivolous arguments that cheats make to shirk taxes, check out this series from Tracy Coenen.

Because you really do need another reason to hate taxes and hate the IRS: A report from the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration warns that taxpayer date stored with the IRS could be vulnerable to a disgruntled employee or even an outside hacker. A hacker could "gain full control of the IRS network," according to the report.

Holy schnikes!

So here's my question: if there were a massive data breach at the IRS and someone was able to "gain full control of the IRS network" and steal the identity of pretty much everyone (except survivalist freaks who live in log cabins and don't pay taxes), what would happen?

It's not too outside the realm of possibility either. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently apologized to all three major presidential candidates after it was discovered that IRS workers had snooped into their tax records. It looks like we have a serious privacy problem over at the IRS -- and they don't exactly need to to give people more reasons to hate them.

As the threat of foreclosure continues to mount for many homeowners, the temptation to borrow against a 401(k) increases. Very bad idea, yet one that occurred to 13-19% more 401(k) holders in 2007. A recent article in CFO Magazine details a few of the ugly scenarios that can result.

Yes, many companies offer loan programs as part of their 401(k) programs as an incentive to get employees to participate. Employee loans against 401(k) balances are bad for both employers and employees. Not only is it a huge administrative headache for employers, but employees often get caught if their are any discrepancies or inaccuracies in the amortization schedule for repayment. Like the IRS will care that someone in the HR department made a mistake. The employee is solely responsible for any and all payback irregularities.

One of the advantages of participating in a 401(k) program is to take advantage of the free money from matching employer contributions as well as compound interest on contributions. Neither of these advantages occur when an employee stops making new contributions and merely repays the borrowed amount. Problems mount exponentially if an employee loses his or her job while owing money against the 401(k) balance. Just when the employee is most at financial risk, the outstanding amount must be repaid in full or the IRS will consider the loan or withdrawal as ordinary income and tax it accordingly. There is a 10% penalty if the borrower is under age 59 1/2.

The IRS does allow for hardship withdrawals from a 401(k) to avoid foreclosure of a primary residence, but the long term savings consequences are staggering. A 5 year, $8,200 loan can have a $62,000 impact on the 401(k) bottom line. Cutting expenses, renegotiating with creditors, getting a second job, are just a few of the much better alternatives for financially strapped homeowners.

The USA Today reports that, for some reason that is totally beyond me, the IRS has decided that wasting $42 million to mail everyone letters saying they didn't need to do anything special to receive their "economic stiumlus" payment wasn't enough.

No, apparently we need to be subjected to YouTube videos as well -- 4 of them. I just watched 1 of them and, frankly I can't bear any more. This is the worst YouTube video I've ever seen: boring, containing no information, and condescending, all at the same time. See for yourself below: I wonder how much the IRS blew on these videos. So far the video has received only 6,129 views. Perhaps the IRS needs to spend another $42 million to send everyone letters telling them to watch the video to find out that they don't need to do anything except file a tax return to get the rebate.

Actor Nicholas Cage is the latest celebrity to run afoul of the IRS.

According to Forbes magazine, Uncle Sam is accusing Cage of using a company he owns to wrongly write off $3.3 million in personal expenses including limos, meals, gifts, travel and his Gulfstream jet.

"In just-filed U.S. Tax Court lawsuits, the 44-year-old actor--using his legal name of Nicolas Coppola -- is disputing a personal IRS bill for $814,000 in taxes and penalties from 2002 to 2004, while his Saturn Productions of Los Angeles is fighting a demand for $988,000," the magazine said. "The feds hit Cage both ways, denying Saturn a deduction for the disputed expenses while taxing Cage individually on the perks as salary and `constructive dividends.'"

Cage's business manager, Samuel J. Levin, told Forbes the expenses were proper. The Tax Court may feel differently about the matter.

Maybe Cage should employ the legal team that got Wesley Snipes recently cleared of serious tax evasion charges. Snipes managed to convince a jury that he believed he wasn't required to pay income taxes because he didn't think he had to pay taxes. Nonetheless, Snipes owes the government $17 million in back taxes plus interest and penalties.

Cage is going to face a hefty legal bill, so he might want to unload some of his many properties such as a castle in U.K. and a multi-million dollar mansion in Rhode Island. I also have a suspicion that a "Face/Off 2" may be in the works.

--Freelance writer Jonathan Berr edits the blog Ketchup and Eggs.

As much as I hate paying taxes, I am generally on friendly terms with the IRS. Even though I help defend people who have civil and criminal tax problems, I really hold no ill will toward the IRS. Their employees have a job to do. They just enforce the law and process your forms and money.

But sometimes the IRS does silly things that make me shake my head. Take this letter written to my client: Our records show we received your original and amended tax returns on May 08, 2007 and Oct. 22, 2007, respectively. We're sorry but we can't find them, so we need your help to answer your inquiry. Please send us a newly signed copy of your amended tax return.

Translation: We know you sent us your tax returns. We even know on what dates we received them. But we can't find them. Send them again. I have a slight problem with this. If we taxpayers lose our documents and mess up in regard to taxes, we're subject to interest and penalties that are usually fairly large. Yet the IRS doesn't have to be held to the same standard. If they lose our materials, it's our responsibility to fix their problem. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it?

Incidentally, about two weeks later my client got a letter that said they found the tax returns and we should ignore the previous letter. Okay. I guess that's a big "never mind" and we should be glad. And that my friends, is how the IRS both entertains and amuses me.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.