Category Archives: Bergen Bar Tax Bulletin

Written by: Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Items:

1) Call the Midwife?
2) The Dirty Dozen, Again?
3) IRS Side Gig

1) Now, I am not going to ask you what you did last week. Heaven knows I didn’t do much myself, but certainly, there has been a swirl of activity affecting our tax administration system and the rest of the world. I’ll take it back: if you are a practicing lawyer, you probably do know what you did last week and at least who you will bill for all that time. The old tired joke goes that the young lawyer dies prematurely, goes to heaven, and meets St. Peter at the pearly gates. St. Peter says to him, “We were expecting a much older person.” The lawyer says, “I’m barely 45.” St. Peter responds, “Oh, we were judging from your billing time records.” If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of federal employees, you may have a tougher time deciding whether you are staying or going and what you did last week. And the IRS is no exception. Apparently, the same offer has been made to the Internal Revenue Service to trim the fat of our bloated government. Helping the trimming, the former Commissioner took off on January 20, 2025. And of course, the question then came up of who would replace him. Now, there is no cause for alarm because we now have an Acting (soon to be fired, retired, let go or downsized) Commissioner. IRS Chief Operating Officer Melanie Krause will become the Acting IRS Commissioner. The deputy commissioner who could have become Commissioner “retired” two weeks ago. What a coincidence. So Krause has moved into the new acting position. She is relatively new to the IRS, having joined in October 2021. But no matter, she spent 12 years in the federal oversight community in the Government Accountability Office.

Now, all of this would be ordinary, except that Krause also maintains an active license as a registered nurse. That is just perfect. Everyone knows these days that nurses are far more important than doctors. If you don’t believe me, catch the PBS series called “Call the Midwife.” It will make you glad that you went to law school instead of medical school. Someone at the IRS has realized that the system is currently sick. So, it’s time to call the midwife or at least a registered nurse. By the way, IRS employees have been prevented from skipping and grabbing eight months of free pay until the end of tax season. Come May 15, I am sure thousands, some with great relief, will find employment elsewhere. What effect this will have long-term on tax administration remains to be seen. Thousands of robots coming?

2) Annually, the Internal Revenue Service publishes the Dirty Dozen list. The IRS warns that these things are common schemes that threaten taxpayers’ tax and financial information. It is not a formal listing of agency enforcement priorities. But it has become somewhat of a tradition. So I list here the notorious dozen: email scams of all varieties; bad social media advice: online account help from scammers; fake charities; false fuel tax credit claims; credits for sick leave and family leave; bogus self-employment tax credits; improper household employment taxes; overstated withholding scam; misleading offers in compromise; ghost tax return preparers and lastly, new client scams where cyber criminals impersonate new potential clients to trick tax professionals into responding to their emails. Be on alert as well for those false emails asking what you did last week. IRS would like taxpayers who have been involved as a victim in any of these to file form 14242 with the Internal Revenue Service at 24000 Avila Rd., Laguna Niguel CA 92677.

3) The US District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a permanent injunction against a Miami tax return preparer named Jean-Lewis. It appears Mr. Lewis had simply started a side gig involving filing tax returns for taxpayers. It was simple: he would prepare a tax return for the clients and give them a copy. He would then create a phony tax return file it with IRS requesting a larger refund. When the refund was received he would make sure the client got that which was set forth on the return he had provided. The difference was Jean-Louis’ profit. So he has been banned from doing most anything having to do with federal income tax returns and has been ordered to pay up $245,275 in ill-gotten gains from his side gig. He has also declined the position of Acting, Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue as he said, “it is not my type of gig and besides, it lacks job security.”

Questions or Comments   should be sent to:    Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com

Written by: Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Items:

• IRS Gone?
• Tax Season Internal and External?
• IRS “Buy-Out”

1) This is going to be a short bar bulletin. In fact, I’m getting this ready even before our new President takes office on January 20. Those who know me realize I am a first-class procrastinator but this time I hope to have my feet in the sand when this bar bulletin actually gets sent. So, I thought I’d take the time right now on a rainy, chilly, dismal kind of New Jersey day to bring you some frightening news about the likelihood of a mess in tax administration about to happen. Now, you may recall that Congress actually funded the Internal Revenue Service in a meaningful way after many years of delay. But now that is one of the areas the President will be looking at to cut and if rumors are to be believed, eliminate. Now, your guess is as good as mine as to what will actually happen after January 20. Tax law is wed to politics. It’s not like a science with immutable rules and results. Even the great Einstein said he couldn’t make sense of it. The problem is, it is whatever Congress says it is. If the Congress is married to the Executive branch, the potential for disruption is present. It’s a shame as the IRS has recently gotten its computers working reasonably well, and its website is simply first class. But any plan to reduce funding and make the IRS and DOJ an arm of the executive is complicated, messy, as well as, I’d guess unconstitutional. “If they can’t follow the agenda, they should leave.” And they have started to do just that. The Commissioner of IRS, Dan Werfel, announced the other day that he will resign on January 20. His term was to go until 2027. IRS top brass always stay through at least a year or two to ease a transition. So, the world of tax administration that we lawyers and accountants contend with will be something as yet unseen. The promise to eliminate the income tax is more concerning but highly unlikely. All this does not seem to add up to a successful Trump term in office with pandemonium in tax administration. So, cutting and firing senior officials at the Internal Revenue Service and losing senior lawyers at DOJ makes no sense and claiming to eliminate the agency altogether sounds truly ridiculous. Or does it? See Item #3. Needless to say, 2025 will be an interesting year.

Among tax ideas floated these days are: eliminate the income tax; make tips tax free; acquire Canada and Greenland (will they be tax havens?); restore the Salt deduction (We in NJ would love that one). Once details seem “real”, if there will be any, I will be glad to let you know. These are strange times in many ways and the tax world is no exception.

By the way, far from being early this Bull ended up late. Typical.

2) An annoying fact of life is that tax season starts in January. But not to fret. You can always visit the IRS website at the Get Ready Page to view key information such as steps to make filing easier, gathering and organizing tax records and life changes that could affect a refund. Or instead you could simply board a plane to somewhere warmer and put this stuff off until the very last minute. Oh, by the way, we will have a brand-new Federal agency on Jan 21. That will have all kinds of fun things to do. The External Revenue Service. It will collect all the Tariff money from Canada and Mexico and the rest of the world too without passing any cost to us citizens, so there will be another tax season coming. An External Tax Season. I’ll let you know when.

3) Where will the ax fall at IRS? The federal “buy-out “may result in whole sections of IRS deciding to grab 8 months of severance and run. You may want to get your 2024 tax return in asap. The idea of eliminating the IRS as an agency sounds beyond the realm. But why not just privatize it? Have a bidding for the job. Like what NASA did to the space race. Maybe even let that high bidder get a cut of the action as well. It’s not a new idea just another complicated and messy one.

Questions or Comments should be sent to:  Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com

 

Written by: Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Items:

1. A Plea for Monica McGinley
2. See the Drones in Your Hood                                                                      

1. Chances are you have never heard of Monica McGinley. The poor woman is an unfortunate soon-to-be tax felon. She was recently indicted for tax fraud and theft of government funds by a Grand Jury sitting in Greenbelt, Maryland. According to the indictment McGinley assisted with the preparation and filing of false tax returns so that she could receive large refunds from the IRS to which she was not entitled from 2014 to 2024.

McGinley allegedly claimed nonexistent payments or withholdings and requested nearly $12 million in refunds. The IRS issued refunds to McGinley totaling over $1.5 million. In one example, she received a U.S. Treasury check for over $1 million. McGinley, the poor girl, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the theft of government funds and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the six counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. Now is that any way to treat a misguided, otherwise honest, and incredibly cunning taxpayer during the holiday season? The other day, Pres. Biden commuted the sentences for 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole before he hands over power to President-elect Trump on January 20. These folks will be getting a break in true Christmas spirit. The fact that they are all convicted murderers, rapists and kidnappers is beside the point. Biden has for years sought the elimination of the federal death penalty. He wanted to move to commute these folks so that incoming Pres. Trump who has vowed to restore a speedy return to federal executions could not have his way. Biden said that “In good conscience I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.” Earlier this month, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1500 people and pardoned 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes, and of course, his son Hunter walked away from a guilty plea to tax violations and firearms-related charges. But where does that leave poor Monica? Did the IRS really send her a million-dollar check? Monica obviously knows the ins and outs of dealing with the IRS. Perhaps Trump can both pardon her and name her new Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

2. Here in New Jersey and in a bunch of states across the country, people have been straining their eyes looking for drones. Of course the federal government has said all of the sightings except for a hundred or so have been determined to be not credible. Years ago, I bought a pair of Sears binoculars for $20 at a local garage sale. The other night I declared a “Drone-athon” in my neighborhood. Ten people showed up. Within minutes, around 9 PM, it was clear to me and the group that at least two of these drones were flying high and nearby. They were flashing red and green. If you download an app called flightradar24 it can tell you where all the planes and helicopters are in your area. These were not planes or helicopters.

So I state unequivocally that you are not losing your marbles if you think you have been seeing drones. But what are they up to? The list of theories is getting longer by the day. Some are confident they are searching for lost nuclear bombs. Others that it is an attempt by Amazon to demonstrate its ability to deliver really big car sized packages. Some believe it is part of the Trump deportation promise using a claw like device he once saw at Seaside Heights to remove millions of illegal aliens. My favorite is that it is part of the inauguration spectacle planned for January 20 which will spell out MAGA in huge letters country wide. Not sure about that one as a slight glitch could turn it into an embarrassing MAGGOT. And of course it could be the Russians just having some fun. But here and now is my own theory. The IRS recently announced that it will be sending $1400 to taxpayers who were eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit even though they never claimed it on their tax returns. These payments will be made either by direct deposit or sent by paper check. Eligible taxpayers will receive a separate letter notifying them of the payment. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue said “these payments are an example of our commitment to go the extra mile (That’s the hint) for taxpayers.” At least 1 million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible. Now the drones make sense. I forecast in the next few weeks correspondence from the Internal Revenue Service with attached paper checks $1400 each will be drifting down from drones in your neighborhood. Keep a watchful eye. Credit should go to Shadow President Elon Musk for coming up with this novel high tech idea. It’s hard to state but if the checks don’t come this way, then the drones are in fact from an alien source like in “War of the Worlds” the 1953 film. A great holiday classic to watch with the entire family. Oh yes, the Red and Green lights are an alien attempt to communicate their message: We are here to “Stop (Red) you from Going (Green)” just like in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” the film from 1972. Please forgive me for “droning” on. I just couldn’t resist.

Questions or Comments? Please email: Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com.

Written by: Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee 

Current Items:                                                              

1. Tis the Season to be …Fraudulent

1) Well, it all started with that: “It was the night before Christmas and all through the house…” You know the business about the place being real quiet and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that you know who would soon be there. Kids of all ages set out cookies and milk and perhaps treats for reindeer as well. My son-in-law who happens to be Jewish, one year dressed up as Santa Claus and snuck outside around his house at night so that he would be recorded on his ring system.

The next day the kids were incredibly wide-eyed to see Santa Claus actually stomping around their neighborhood. At my age, I don’t remember having much belief in Santa Claus, but then again, I did become a lawyer. Frankly, I think the kids hate to put their parents on the spot so they go along with their parent’s silly conduct. After all what’s the damage? Just a tiny bit of kid fraud. Then there is the gift business. That didn’t even start with ole St Nick but maybe thousands of years before. You know just as well as I do that every consumer product is decked out with holly and is offered for sale with special discounts during the Christmas season. Things that nobody really wants or needs. So the whole ball of wax is based upon us fooling each other. Acting well, fraudulently. Is it any wonder that cybercriminals would jump on this season to capitalize on the foolhardy snow sled, ice-skating, snowmen-making dreamers we turn into at this time of year? While visions of sugar plums dance in their heads, crooks say, is the best time to relieve them of their excess dollars and assets.

If you haven’t already received a phone call, you’ll be getting it soon. Your kid has been taken by some cop in a distant place and the poor kid needs bail money immediately. They even have his voice mimicked just enough so you’re convinced. Even though sensible people know it’s not possible, you’d be surprised at the millions of dollars that are forked over. So it’s the peace on earth and goodwill to men that gets us every time. We lower our guard thinking we hear angels in our belfry when it’s really just the wind whistling through the hole in our head. Now annually the IRS reaches out to taxpayers to alert them to the common scams that are going around while the snowflakes are falling. These include all variety of emails and telephone scam calls as well as fraudulent promises by tax return preparers for exaggerated refunds that seem to fall out of the snow laden clouds. Fake deductions and credits for childcare and employee retention are the icing on the evergreen tree.

For those who may have an IRS tax debt, greasy looking phony lawyers and accountants pop up promising $.10 on the dollar reduction in the tax bill. Many of the scams are aiming for your Social Security number. Recently at a doctor’s office I was given a form to fill out and there was the line requesting by Social Security number. I looked around the office to see whether my doctor was part of a cabal stealing Social Security numbers and selling them to some faraway land for unimaginable amounts. I didn’t fill it in. No one seemed to notice. There’s another reason to remain vigilant about tax and business scams of all kinds. You could actually make a buck. Legally. IRS says that anyone experiencing scams or encountering promoters or tax preparers peddling schemes should file Form 14242, Report Suspected Abusive Tax Promoters or Preparers. Send that form with any supporting materials to the IRS Lead Development Center IRS, 1973 N. Rulon White Blvd., Ogden, UT 84404. The lead development center within the office of promoter investigations follows up on each referral. By the way, to get yourself out of the credit card hole you’ve dug buying all those gifts, consider filing Form 211 to request a possible monetary award. You see, there really may be a Santa Claus after all.

2) Not to be outdone by the fat guy in the red suit with the long white beard, IRS recently announced that the interest rate it applies to taxes owed has dropped to 7%. That’s the same rate they pay on overpayments/refunds.

Enjoy Your Holiday. Be Grateful at Thanksgiving and Generous at Christmas and Chanukah

If You Were a Turkey

Wouldn’t it be pleasant
To perhaps be a pheasant?
Or maybe a goose
Out on the loose?
But when leaves turn red,
You’d be filled with dread,
If you were a turkey.

Why, if you were a turkey,
You’d be on the phone all day,
Talking with your lawyers,
Having bills to pay
To settle up the life jams,
Waiting for the roast yams.

If you were a turkey,
You’d be gobbling with your friends
Kissing good bye to hens;
Wishing if somehow
You could be some other fowl.

So when it’s time to sup and sip,
Include this prayer upon your lip:
Be grateful for all you see
And that a turkey you will never be.

 

Questions or Comments should be sent to: Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com

Written by: Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Item:

1) Just How Smart is AI?

1) On the eve of the most historic presidential election in the history of the United States it does seem a little silly putting together a bar bulletin dealing with taxation. Now all the polls have been done and results tabulated and it’s clear one or the other of these candidates may actually be elected. You don’t need AI to understand that. So instead of trying to come up with something truly witty I thought I would just employ AI to do it for me. Now I will confess that my young nephew married and a new father gave me the idea. Holding his new baby with one hand he said as a matter of fact, if you can’t think of something why don’t you let AI write your bulletin? So not to kill a lot of your time as well as mine I took his advice. Now Chat GPT and things like it seem to be the future. So I downloaded the app and asked a simple question: Why do people cheat on their income tax returns? In a matter of one or two seconds this is what AI had to say:
People may cheat on their income tax returns for a range of reasons, from financial pressure to personal beliefs about the tax system. Here are some common motivations:

1. Financial Strain: For some, tax payments create a heavy financial burden, and they may feel that misreporting income or claiming unearned deductions is necessary to make ends meet.
2. Opportunity: The self-employed, freelancers, and those who receive cash payments may have more freedom to underreport income since it’s harder for tax authorities to track these earnings compared to salaried employees.
3. Belief that “Everyone Does It”: If people perceive tax evasion as common, they may feel less guilt about doing it themselves, rationalizing that it’s a widespread, socially acceptable act.
4. Distrust in Government: Some may cheat on taxes if they feel their money isn’t being used wisely by the government or that they’re paying more than their fair share. They might justify it as withholding support from wasteful or ineffective spending.
5. Perceived Low Risk of Getting Caught: If people believe the risk of being audited or penalized is low, they may be more willing to take the chance.
6. Complex Tax System: A complicated tax code can lead to mistakes, intentional or otherwise. Some people may take advantage of gray areas, interpreting laws in their favor or under-reporting simply because it’s difficult to understand exactly what’s required.
7. Sense of Entitlement: Some may feel they deserve a break from paying taxes, perhaps because of a perceived contribution to society or a belief that they’re unfairly burdened by the tax code.

Ultimately, while the motivations vary, cheating on taxes often involves a mix of personal financial considerations, beliefs about fairness, and perceptions of the system’s enforcement effectiveness.

So there you have it, unedited straight from cyberspace. I have no clue who wrote this, but it wasn’t me. Frankly, it’s a damn good response. Very scary. Can it write briefs, memorandums, an essay, a book, some poems, some jokes. So who has been writing all these bulletins for the last bunch of years? Makes you wonder.

2) BTW the tax brackets for 2025 are on the IRS website and the standard deduction limits too…or you can just go to AI and ask it.

Questions or Comments should be emailed to Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com.

 

 

Written by Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Items:

1) CLE Sting?
2) Tax by the Numbers

1) Scott Joplin was born November 24, 1860, in Linden, Texas, and died on April 1, 1917, at age 48, in New York City. He was the son of a slave. He is remembered as an American composer and pianist. He was called the “King of Ragtime” and composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ballet and two operas. One of his first and most famous written in 1899 was called the Maple Leaf Rag. Joplin considered Ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls, but it found its way to honky tonks and smoky bars as well.

Some say his death in 1917 marked the end of the ragtime era. If I could hum a few bars of the Maple Leaf Rag to you right now you would immediately recognize it unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 50 or 60 years. Many people rediscovered Joplin’s music in the early 1970s when Robert Redford and Paul Newman starred in a classic “revenge” movie called “The Sting”. Now, I am sure lawyers who are reading this get daily notices of CLE seminars on every imaginable topic. I saw one the other day on dog law.

But I suggest that you put this bulletin down right at this moment, stop reading, and watch The Sting. This is especially true if you happen to be involved in criminal defense work. More so if you are advising a certain person about a sentencing to occur on July 11, 2024. The movie is set in 1936. Redford and Newman are professional grifters. They are looking to revenge a mob killing of a friend. The movie was inspired by the true life brothers Fred and Charlie Gondorff and the 1940s book called “The Big Con.” In the movie, an elaborate plot is contrived to fool Robert Shaw as Doyle Lonnegan, the mobster; yes, Shaw is the same guy from “Jaws” who didn’t do well there either. Very cautiously, Newman, as the older and wiser Henry Gondorff, councils Robert Redford, the young Johnny Hooker, that they must take their time in erecting an elaborate horse racing betting parlor.

Throughout the movie, Scott Joplin’s masterpieces are played in the background, including the Entertainer, which became a worldwide sensation. That’s another one you will know instantly from the first two notes. As the plot unwinds Redford gets more impatient all the time. Near busting, he turns to Newman and utters these words: “Why are we waiting? Those guys are not that smart,” referring to Shaw and his henchmen. Newman responds with the blockbuster: “Neither are we”.

This year, July 4 and July 11 are days that will be remembered. One will celebrate the birth of the United States, and the other the sentencing of a felon who used to be president of the United States. I’m not taking sides here, but from my work in criminal tax cases, after a conviction, the defendant has to take responsibility for his actions and show some remorse. Promising revenge, unless you happen to be Robert Redford or Paul Newman, will not work. Defense lawyers must get control of their clients. People do tend to make up stories that they may eventually actually believe. Others care little for the truth and deserve all that comes their way. Newman taught Redford to never insult the opposition, their intelligence or preparation, and to never refer to them as “thugs”.

The Sting was nominated for 10 and won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. In 2005, the movie was preserved in the United States National Film Registry, being culturally historic and significant. In 1976, Scott Joplin was awarded a Pulitzer Prize posthumously for his ragtime compositions. The Sting should be allowed as CLE credit for lawyers as well.

2) To legitimize this bulletin as tax-related, I note the Social Security annual wage base for 2024 is $168,600. That’s an $8400 increase. The Social Security tax rate on employers and employees remains at 6.2%, and both pay the 1.45% Medicare tax on all compensation with no upper limit. The standard deduction for married couples is $29,200 and single taxpayers $14,600. The tax rates remain unchanged, but the brackets themselves are wider for 2024 due to inflation during the 2023 fiscal year. There, done. Now go watch the Sting.

Questions or Comments should be sent to: Theodore M. David, Chairman at Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com

Written by: Theodore M. David,
Chair Tax Law Committee

Current Items:

1) Inheritance Time Bombs
2) IRS Interest Rates
3) Everybody Gets One?

1. Boy, how things have changed. There was a time when I looked forward to getting the Journal of Taxation, Estate Planning and New Jersey and County Bar Journal magazines. I would read them cover to cover if for no reason other than to check to see whether or not a professional article of mine had been published. Some of them were kind enough to put your picture. Looking back at some of the esoteric topics I wonder if even tax lawyers ever got around to reading them. I made a habit of never rereading them myself. I would order reprints and send some to clients in another act of vanity. At least one of my earlier essays on the role of disclaimers in estate planning ended up being cited in New Jersey Statutes Annotated. I kept that particular volume in my office for years. My secretary kept track of all of those publications in folders that grew to overtake filing cabinets over my more than 40 years of practice. I can’t remember the last time I saw any of these magazines. I know the New Jersey Bar Journal still appears in my mailbox from time to time but the others seem to be long gone. All those professional magazines that I paid such attention to have been replaced by the AARP magazine. The latest addition has a fetching Brooke Shields on its cover with two articles of interest that I have in fact read. One is a lengthy discussion of how to live much longer. “Your Total Guide to Health Risks in your 70s.” If you are not quite there yet, it still has some pretty good advice: Eat well, exercise, have some decent relationships, lower your stress and visit a doctor from time to time. It reminded me of an article I did for the ALI – ABA Journal called “Can Lawyers Learn to be Happy.” The second got my attention immediately it was called “Inheritance Time Bombs, Six Ways to Avoid Family Feuds.” Now I didn’t write this nor am I cited so my picture is absent but it still may be the kind of thing you may want to consider sending to your clients or considering for yourself. So here they are: #1 The caregiver conundrum. Should you leave the house to the kid who moved home to be cook/chauffeur/ nurse’s aide/ therapist for the past decade? What about the other children? #2 False expectations. Your kids think you will be leaving them caviar and champagne but all they will be able to afford is barely pretzels and beer; #3 Trust issues. You want to leave money for all of your kids but are concerned about one of the youngest who has a fondness for blackjack tables and fast living; #4 The blended family problem. You want to leave your assets to your new spouse and children from a previous marriage not to your stepchildren. #5 A business problem. Only one child has been involved but you have two other kids. How can you create a plan to avoid the drama? #6 Skipping generations. Your kids seem capable and secure as adults so you decided to mostly bypass them and give to your grandkids instead. The author of the article is Laura Petrecca and she says older Americans hold nearly two thirds of the country’s wealth which is about $93 trillion in assets that could pass to younger generations. It’s time, she says, to work out your “battle plans” that can help you avert disaster. I’ll add that it may be time to hire an estate planning lawyer before the bombs start bursting in air. And to join AARP… it’s got some pretty good articles.

2. IRS has announced that interest rates will remain the same for the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2024. For individuals the rate for overpayments and underpayments will remain at 8% per year, compounded daily.

3. My grandson loves to play soccer. I’ve watched him as a little boy run all over the field with boundless energy. Alex just turned 16 and is more serious about the game. But I remember fondly when he was perhaps five or six running in every direction at the same time. My son-in-law, God bless him, has been an organizer of teams, coach, assistant coach and a scout leader to boot. When the kids were done knocking themselves out one of the parents would bring muffins or cookies for all to share. When the season ended without any consideration to who had won how many games every player got a trophy. Russell made sure of that. Therapists these days say such affirmation is good for any kid’s ego. It helps them recognize that hard work pays off and can be rewarded. So coaches dig into their own pockets and use their imagination and Internet surfing ability to provide those prized trophies. The kids feel good, the parents are proud and the coaches enjoy every bit of it. I’ve been told over the years that once you work for IRS in any capacity you will always be treated as family. So it is with some dubious parental pride I am proud to report that the IRS has recently won a Certificate of Excellence and Accountability Award for the second year in a row. I don’t know whether they got a trophy but there was a ceremony held on May 16. The award is the highest form of recognition in the field of federal government financial management and performance reporting. I’m not sure exactly what that means but it sounds like it was trophy worthy to me.

Questions or Comments should be sent to:Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com

Written by: Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Items:                                                             

1. IRS Field Trip? 
2. Time’s Almost Up                                                                    

1. There are two things that all kids look forward to during the regular school year. The first, of course, is the snow day. You may be old enough to remember when they used a blast or two on the fire warning siren to let you know it was okay to roll over and stay in bed. These days, everything is connected to your phone or Alexa in every room of your house. Worse yet, in many school systems, the kids are never released to go out to play in the snow but are responsible for online work. I thought this technological revolution was supposed to result in us having fun and more time for it? Read More

Written by Theodore M. David, Chair, Tax Law Committee

Current Items:
1) Who Was That Masked Man?
2) Lawyer Well Being?

1. I still have an antenna on my roof. I’m sure passers-bye in my neighborhood scratch their heads in wonder why have I not taken the thing down. Little do they know the reason is simple: It still works. I know even as you read this you’re in disbelief. We’ve grown so accustomed to cable and Internet that the thought that free television would arrive by a silly-looking metal contraption is hard to imagine. I was talking to a good friend of mine who was beside themselves about the cable company that was ripping him, like the rest of us, off. I simply said “George, why not use an antenna?” He looked at me as if I had two heads. An antenna? Now granted you will not get the hundred-plus stations and all the fancy other Internet apps either but you won’t pay a dime and should the cable go out in your neighborhood and your Internet fails to work real TV from your antenna may then make you quite happy. And you never know what is going to pop up on the screen. There is no guide button. Last Saturday for example out of nowhere the Lone Ranger and Tonto in black-and-white leaped out of my set. It’s amazing how quickly we can go back in time to the 1950s when Clayton Moore, who was actually Jack Carlton Moore born in Chicago, Illinois, donned the mask of the Lone Ranger and Harold Jay Smith an indigenous Canadian from the Mohawk tribe had been born in Ontario, Canada became Tonto. If you were around in the 50s you may have caught one of the 221 episodes of The Lone Ranger. You may know that Tonto named the Lone Ranger’s horse Silver when he spoke the sentence “like a mountain with snow, silver white” in describing a horse he and his partner Lone Ranger had found in a canyon suffering from injuries. Tonto did not seem to be at all disturbed by playing second fiddle to the Lone Ranger. They were a team that wandered about Texas doing good and chasing evil. Harold took the name Jay Silverheels but before he was Tonto, Harry Smith was actually a lacrosse player for the Toronto Tecumsehs. He also played on teams around the country as well as right here in Atlantic City. In 1938 he was second placed Golden Gloves Middleweight champion. By the way, he was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997. Tonto got to wear that suede fringed jacket that hippies thought they invented in the 60’s. The show ran from 1949 through 1957 on ABC. It was the highest-rated TV program in the early 1950s and ABC’s first true hit. Even as a kid I wondered how was it that he and his partner seemed so well-clothed and fed with no apparent source of income. Recently I learned it had to do with the Lone Ranger finding a silver mine which then financed his wanderings. So here was a hero risking his life without pay. I warn that the 50’s vocabulary as it was used on the Lone Ranger may offend these days where mere words can be so upsetting. Tonto was referred to as an “Indian” and at times “Injun.” Women were “gals” or “girls” and senior citizens were “old-timers.” And just about every female in every episode was a damsel in distress. The producers probably never heard of Yardville, New Jersey’s own straight-shooting Annie Oakley who like women today needed no male savior. But it was the 1950’s after all and a much different view of the world. They say the show was inspired by a real Texas Ranger named John Hughes in the old Wild West but there is also another possible inspiration in the more likely Bass Reeves the first black deputy marshal west of the Mississippi. Reeves wore disguises and worked with a Native American as a partner. In the show, it was always clear who the good guys and bad guys were. Where are the Lone Rangers these days? They are out there. Like some of the IRS criminal agents that I met along the way. They seemed to be working for a higher purpose. Chasing the bad guys. The FBI says there are about 4000 known gangsters in the states. Mostly centralized in New York and New Jersey. I remember there being less than 200 IRS criminal agents in all of New Jersey with a population of nine-plus million people. That’s 45,000 per agent. They must feel at times like well…the Lone Ranger. IRS announced recently that the Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, Jim Lee, will retire effective April 6. He has led the criminal division since October 2020 with a staff of more than 3200 criminal investigation employees which includes 2200 special agents. Another Lone Ranger rides into the sunset Kemosabe. So who was that masked man? Hi-Yo Silver! Away!
   2). The New Jersey Lawyer magazine, No. 346, February 2024 caught my eye with a cover “Lawyer Well-Being.” In the course of my 50 years in law, I had published more than 52 professional articles. Frankly, some were so esoteric and boring as to make your eyes bleed. But the one I got the most feedback on was called “Can Lawyers Learn to be Happy”. That one may still be out there in cyberspace. But the article in this February journal about “Stress” written by the Hon. Kevin G Callahan JSC (ret) provides 20 suggestions that may make the job of lawyering a lot more tolerable. It is equally valuable for any stressed-out professional in any field. I won’t rattle off all twenty and they are all fairly obvious. It’s their application that is the problem. The judge says: find quiet time; remember your family and friends; check your spending habits; have a long-term plan or goal; don’t lawyer 24/7; change careers within the law if it is truly driving you crazy; avoid excesses; watch for signs of burnout; stay organized and if your new to the business of law find a mentor. I’ll add: Money won’t really make you happy; try to be more Lone Ranger than Perry Mason.

Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may
Old time is still a-flying
And this same Flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be a- dying.
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Questions or Comments   should be sent to:

Theodore M. David                        

e-mail: Tdavidlawyer@gmail.com.