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"Blade" files appeal in Atlanta

Kelly Phillips Erb Nov 23rd 2009 @ 5:00PM EST Filed Under: Tax, Celebs & Money

The Wesley Snipes show was back in federal court in Atlanta, Georgia. The actor, however, was noticeably absent as his attorneys did the talking.

Snipes, who was sentenced to a maximum three years in federal prison for his convictions on tax evasion charges in April 2008, had vowed to appeal and on November 20 his attorneys made oral arguments in appellate court. The appeal focused on two issues: that the three year sentence was "unreasonable" and that the actor should have been granted a pre-trial hearing to decide whether his trial should have been in New York instead of Florida.

Continue reading "Blade" files appeal in Atlanta

IRS still not done with Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis

Zac Bissonnette Nov 20th 2009 @ 2:00PM EST Filed Under: Sex Sells, Tax, Celebs & Money

Earlier this month, Girls Gone Wild promoter Joe Francis plea-bargained his way out of a possible prison sentence for charges related to filing false tax returns. By pleading guilty to filing false tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers, Mr. Francis was sentenced to time served and one year of probation, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Initially accused of taking $20 million in fraudulent tax deductions, Francis ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, the newspaper reported.

"It took us seven months, but in the end we demonstrated that the felony tax charges never should have been brought in the first place," Brad Brian, Francis' lead trial attorney, said in a statement.

But now the IRS is back for more.

Continue reading IRS still not done with Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis

Aaron Carter tripped up by IRS tax lien

Kelly Phillips Erb Nov 20th 2009 @ 11:00AM EST Filed Under: Tax

Aaron Carter is having a bad week. Just days after his elimination from Dancing with the Stars' ninth season, news surfaced that Carter was slapped with an IRS lien worth more than $1 million. The liens, which were filed in Los Angeles last week, date back to 2003.

Carter has been trying to repair his bad boy image in recent months, including adding a new management team. Carter's current manager, Johnny Wright, told ET News, "It is unfortunate that while Aaron was a minor, his finances were grossly mismanaged by his previous team which has lead to the current situation of which he was unaware of until today. Aaron is working with a new team to take appropriate actions towards speedy resolution of the matter and looks forward to putting this behind him and moving forward with the next stage of his music career."

Continue reading Aaron Carter tripped up by IRS tax lien

Ask the Dolans: How does the tax free gift exclusion work?

Ken and Daria Dolan Nov 20th 2009 @ 10:00AM EST Filed Under: Tax, The Dolans, Video

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Everyone should be so lucky as to know some one like Maria! Maria is about to make some friends and family members very happy. Her generosity is incredibly uplifting in today's tough times. Watch this week's video to hear her plans and Ken and Daria's advice.

Dear Ken and Daria,

How much money can I gift to someone without anyone having to pay taxes, and how many people can I gift money to?"

--Maria

To learn more about taxes, retirement planning and debt management, visits Dolans.com.

Zsa Zsa Gabor owes IRS $118,321

Zac Bissonnette Nov 17th 2009 @ 5:15PM EST Filed Under: Tax

After losing about $7 million in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, 92-year old Zsa Zsa Gabor now has the IRS to deal with.

On Oct. 5, the IRS filed a lien for $118,321 for the years 2001 and 2002 with the Los Angeles County Recorder of Deeds.

According to The Associated Press, "Gabor lawyer Chris Fields estimates that Gabor lost about $7 million in Madoff's Ponzi scheme and the tax bill is part of the fallout. Fields says third-party money managers invested Gabor's money with Madoff."

How losing money in 2008 would lead to additional taxes being owed for 2001 and 2002 is a bit of a mystery to me. It's possible that she was trying to work out her tax issues with the IRS but with the losses to Madoff, no longer has the money to pay her back taxes.

When the Madoff fraud was first revealed, Gabor's husband, the 64-year old Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, lamented that the couple "might be forced to sell our Bel Air home."

Hopefully the IRS will be lenient with the couple in light of the massive losses they sustained at the hands of Bernie Madoff.

Surprise! There's no news on tax credits

Kelly Phillips Erb Nov 17th 2009 @ 2:30PM EST Filed Under: Tax, Taxes-tax credits

Headlines across the country are blasting that millions of taxpayers may owe come tax time because "the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit," as the New York Daily News put it.

It sure makes for dramatic news coverage... only it's not quite right.

The government didn't make a mistake when calculating the Making Work Pay tax credit and this most definitely isn't something just hitting the radar of taxpayers. It just makes good headlines now.

The issue of too much withholding has been making news since the inception of the credit in early 2009. Yahoo even appeared to revamp an earlier version of the CNNMoney.com story released on this past Tuesday, titled "Stimulus surprise: 15 million people may owe taxes" from a piece released six months ago. Clicking on the link from the prior story, formerly here, now gives you a 404 error. Hmm.

Continue reading Surprise! There's no news on tax credits

Really want to save the world? Quit having kids

Zac Bissonnette Nov 16th 2009 @ 11:30AM EST Filed Under: Tax

The IRS recently updated consumers on all the tax savings you can get from making your home more green-friendly. Installing energy efficient windows and doors, insulation, roofing, HVAC, water heaters, and biomass stoves can save you a boatload of money on your taxes.

But will doing all those things really help the environment? Yes. But ya know what will help mother nature a hell of a lot more?

Not breeding.

Continue reading Really want to save the world? Quit having kids

E-filing tips that should save time, if not money

Kelly Phillips Erb Nov 14th 2009 @ 10:01AM EST Filed Under: Tax, Technology, Taxes-income-tax-basics, Taxes-advice

If the trend in e-filing continues, the IRS expects more than 100 million individual taxpayers to file their tax returns electronically for the 2009 tax year.

More than one-third of those taxpayers will file by personal computer; the remainder will use a professional tax preparer or free file at an IRS site. No matter how you choose to e-file this year, following are some tips to make it as easy as possible.

Continue reading E-filing tips that should save time, if not money

IRS' e-file program gaining users

Kelly Phillips Erb Nov 14th 2009 @ 10:00AM EST Filed Under: Tax, Taxes-income-tax-basics, Taxes-advice

Chances are, you filed your federal taxes electronically this year.

According to the IRS, about two out of every three individual taxpayers elected to e-file in 2009, up almost 6% from returns filed electronically in 2008. That works out to just a few million returns shy of 100 million individual returns, or 67% of tax returns.

It's a pretty incredible increase for the IRS e-file program which began just more than 20 years ago. In 1986, the first year of the program, just 25,000 refund-only returns were accepted in three locations, less than 1% of the returns filed in 2009.

Continue reading IRS' e-file program gaining users

Worried about the national debt? Donate money to pay it down!

Zac Bissonnette Nov 12th 2009 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Tax

With the national debt growing at a frantic pace, a lot of Americans are terrified about what it will mean for our economic futures.

Luckily, you can help. CNNMoney senior writer Jeanne Sahadi reports that under an obscure 1961 law, you can make tax deductible contributions to help pay down the national debt. On average, about five donations are made per week and so in 2009, there have been just over $3 million in donations -- whose impact was quickly reversed by government spending on just 666 clunkers under the Cash For Clunkers program (funny how that math works out, just sayin').

Continue reading Worried about the national debt? Donate money to pay it down!

Home buyer tax credit extended & improved!

Ryan Minick Nov 12th 2009 @ 11:00AM EST Filed Under: Borrowing, Real Estate, Tax, Video, The2MortgageGuys, Mortgages, Taxes-advice, Taxes-tax credits

The first time home buyer tax credit has officially been extended. If you're an existing home owner you may also qualify for the tax credit if you're planning on buying a new house! Check out this week's episode of Show & Tell with The 2 Mortgage Guys and we'll fill you in with the "nuts & bolts" of this new program. You can also get the complete details by visiting federalhousingtaxcredit.com.

Ryan Minick and Steve DeLon are The 2 Mortgage Guys. Subscribe to their newsletter or visit them at www.The2MortgageGuys.com.

Spanish league soccer players won't strike over taxes - yet

Kelly Phillips Erb Nov 10th 2009 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Tax

Soccer fans across the world can collectively offer up a sigh of relief: there will be no strike for soccer players in Spain. At least for now.

Spain's Professional Football League, the governing body that manages the major professional football leagues in Spain, has been making noise about going on strike. The organization is more or less the equivalent of the MLS here in the US since football in Europe is really soccer; the U.S. version of football is referred to as, well, American football.

Continue reading Spanish league soccer players won't strike over taxes - yet

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