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Old Fri Mar 11, 2016, 04:18pm
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Adam Adam is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2003
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BatteryPowered View Post
Everyone needs to be careful with their hoity toity attitudes related to the filing of taxes. Are you 100% certain you are following every rule about mileage and expenses?

If you have a very hectic day at work and forget to log the starting mileage when you leave the office, do you use the assignment software measurement (because in many that is just an estimate based on a zip codes)? You may be padding your mileage.

Mileage that is part of the commute is not deductible (at least it wasn't in the past) so technically the mileage from the site to you home is not deductible (that is the return leg of your commute). Again...padding the mileage here?

If you attend a camp and your spouse goes with you so they can have a get-away and relax, are you separating the cost of the meals so you only deduct the cost of YOUR meal (and recalculating the taxes and allocating the tip)? If not, this is claiming a deduction for something not associated with officiating.

Those would also constitute tax fraud. Not at the level of someone under reporting, but a crime is a crime. People make mistakes when tracking income and expenses...if you missed one game on your income calculation do you file an amended return or do you intentionally leave your income understated? Isn't that filing a false return?

How about other items on the return? Every item EXACTLY in accordance with current IRS code? Are you sure?
Getting details wrong (which mileage is deductible and which is not) is completely different than simply refusing to report a good chunk of your income simply because you didn't get a 1099 for it.

Either way, you're liable to pay taxes, but there is a moral and ethical component to underreporting (or failing to report) that does not apply to misunderstanding the byzantine IRS rules.

Now, if one is under the mistaken impression that income that doesn't come with a 1099 does not have to be reported, we can now declare that delusion to be dismissed.
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