Website or reference for tax question (pay, interest, $30,000, court)

[deja-zebbie]

Hi Folks,

I'm not sure if this is the correct part of CityData to ask this question...but hey, it's about Finance (my finances).

I have a question which relates to taxes, I've asked it of my CPA and the information she printed out for me said certain monies "MAY be taxable" as income. I disagree that the funds in question ARE taxable as it was money that was ALREADY taxed, but hey what do I know, I'm no accountant. Actually, we have a sort of running "agree to disagree" on this subject. Thing is it I cringe everytime I have to pay taxes on money that WAS taxed already.

Still, I'd like to find another source, specifically if I could find something -->in writing<--- to find out if such money IS taxable.

Anyone on this list have an idea of where to get information on such matters?

Thanks,
zebbie

[sweetana3]

A tax attorney. If you dont believe your CPA, you need someone with more knowledge.

Or go to a law library and do your research into court cases and such. I used to do it years ago. Now they have Lexus/Nexus research services also if you can find any that will allow your use. Maybe call a law library?

Why dont you post your question and see if you are shot down on CityData forum and why? I had lots of people think they had money that was not taxable and they were wrong. Misinterpretation. If it has been taxed before and you did not do something dumb like put pretaxed income in an IRA, it generally is not taxed. There are some interesting exceptions but without data, cannot help you.

[Moonlady]

First place I'd look is on the IRS website, irs.gov. They actually have the entire tax code out there. If you can't find what you are looking for there, you could consult a tax pro (just because someone is a CPA doesn't mean they have a wealth of tax knowledge) and then the tax attorney just because that's probably the most expensive route.

[forest beekeeper]

Pub 17 is the first place to look, whether online or in print.

Then each individual area has it's own pub to explain the details.

All pubs are available online at IRS.gov

[bibit612]

Also check the Revenue Services site of your state website in top of Pub 17 and irs.gov.

[deja-zebbie]

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll check out the IRS Pub 17 and then if I can't find what I'm looking for, I'll post on City Data (which I didn't realize one could do).

Again, my thanks to all.

Zebbie

[sweetana3]

Just remember that people call the IRS to get very complex questions answered and the people who answer are not the agents but customer call people. They are paid way way way less than the outside professionals. We all used to laugh at those who called to check their CPA's answers. They would accept the answer from someone paid $30,000 but not from their accountant who was paid over $250,000 per year, Even as an auditor, my education was so much less than the usual CPA's and even much much less than a tax specialist who concentrates on tax law.

It used to be that we could compute a return or audit report by hand and get it right. Now you need sophisticated computer programs to do the same type of computations and it changes constantly with each new bill signed by the President.

Warning. Taxes are so complex that most "interesting questions" require quite indepth research.