One criteria I mentioned was that you should look for a tax pro who is experienced in preparing returns for taxpayers who are in the same trade or profession. Police officers, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, teachers, outside salesmen, actors, etc should look for preparers who are familiar with the specific tax deductions and benefits that are unique to police officers, fire fighters, doctors, etc.

Similarly, if you have your own business you should seek a pro experienced in the intricacies of your type of business. Are you a service business? Do you have a retail operation? Do you manufacture a product?

I also suggested that perhaps you should look at the various tax bloggers as possible “candidates”. From their posts you should be able to get an idea of their knowledge, expertise, ethics, individual “specialities”, and availability.

In today’s world you do not need to find a tax pro located in your neighborhood. While most of the clients I have today started out that way, with either me or my mentor, as they move around the state and around the nation they continue to mail their tax “stuff” to me each season because of the relationship that has built up over the years. I have 1040 clients all over the US.

I remember during my early years as an apprentice we would get a package each year from the Netherlands. One of my mentor’s clients had retired there but still sent us the “stuff” for her US tax return.

With the economy in recession and layoffs increasing, millions of Americans are turning to the Internet to earn extra income, some even replacing their full-time jobs with businesses created solely online. The web has seen a huge increase in bloggers, eBay sellers, affiliate marketers, service providers and other online businesses in the last year.

Such an online business is unique. Individuals with such a business need to find a tax professional familiar with PayPal, shopping carts, eBay reports and other items that are unique to these online businesses. This type of business is relatively new, and most local tax preparers, however competent and experienced with general business taxation, are not very familiar with its ins and outs.

The result is that many online business owners are not getting the advice they seek, and many are overpaying their taxes simply because they, and many preparers, don’t know what expenses they can deduct and other strategies they can use to minimize their taxes.

If I may be allowed to make a recommendation: My fellow taxblogger Kristine McKinley of Lees Summit MO – a CPA, a Certified Financial Planner, the founding principal of Beacon Financial Advisors, LLC and author of the blog EBIZ TAX TIPS, offers tax advice for U.S. taxpayers who have income earned from online businesses such as eBay, blogging, affiliate marketing, etc.

Kristine has been providing tax preparation and advice to individuals and small business owners for 15 years. She can provide online business owners with help in understanding the tax rules regarding online income, and provide answers to questions such as:

* How do I report my online or 1099 income?
* What expenses can I deduct?
* What is the best business structure for my company?
* Do I need to make estimated tax payments?
* How can I minimize the taxes I pay on my online income?

You can contact Kristine at kristine@internetbiztaxtips.com. Tell her The Wandering Tax Pro sent you!

TTFN

* Kay Bell reports in her post “California Tax Refunds on Hold” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES that “the state’s controller says that if lawmakers don’t come up with a way to cover California’s $42 billion budget deficit, on Feb. 1 he will put a 30-day hold on tax refunds and some other payments”.

* Another reason not to rely on tax software, such as Turbo Tax, if you don’t know what you are doing. Kay Bell reports in her post “Geithner — and TurboTax — Grilled Again” that “Geithner acknowledged that he had used TurboTax”.

The “Turbo Tax Defense” doesn’t work in Tax Court – but apparently it works in Congress.

* Kay Bell also writes on taxes for Bankrate.com. She has begun a daily series of tax tips. Friday’s tip – “Second Chance for Economic Stimulus Check” – included the observations and insights of two of her fellow tax bloggers – Bruce the taxguy and yours truly.

* Fellow twit Cindy Morus gives us “Top 10+ Ways to Jumpstart your New Year’s Finances!” over at MEND YOUR MONEY. The list includes – “Set up an appointment with your tax professional early”. Only not too early – make sure you have all your “stuff” before you see your tax pro!

While it is not on the list, an earlier post from Cindy suggests that you “Update Your Beneficiaries”.

* If you missed the online-radio interview with Kristine McKinley of EBIZ TAX TIPS conducted by the “eBay Selling Coach” you can click here to listen.

Also appearing on an online radio program this week was TAXGIRL Kelly Phillips Erb discussing Small Biz Taxes. Click here to listen.

* Peter Pappas of THE TAX LAWYER’S BLOG suggests that we “Repeal the Corporate Income Tax and Bring Those Jobs Back Home”. Be sure to read my comment.

* June Walker provides an excellent and creative answer to a question from a psychiatrist who was confused by the Turbo Tax software treatment of psychological software he purchased in her also excellently titled post, “Software Cannot Replace Experience”. The highlights below are mine.

“Dear Dr. Mark,

* Professor James Maule has some interesting comments on depreciation in his post “Just Because It Didn’t Work the First 50 Times Doesn’t Mean It Will Work Next Time” at MAULED AGAIN.

”The depreciation provisions . . . have contributed to the current economic mess by allowing taxpayers to compute taxable income as though their economic position declined when in fact it remained the same or improved”.

Jim agrees with what I discussed at TWTP in my post “Here is Something to Think About”. He discusses the idea in more detail in “Instead of More Favorable Depreciation Deductions, Eliminate Them?”.

Goose the Tax Dog (I am assuming Goose is the name of the Dog) also adds his 2 cents on the topic in his post “Real Estate Depreciation” at THE TAX STUDENT.

I would be interested to hear your comments on what I propose in this post.

* TAXGIRL Kelly Phillips Erb points out that it seems that somewhere someone from the press is giving out bad information on BO’s stimulus package in her post “Ask the taxgirl: Don’t Look for a Second Rebate Check in the Mail!”.

Read my, and Kelly’s, lips – THERE WILL NOT BE ANOTHER “STIMULUS” REBATE CHECK! While he didn’t take my advice regarding refundable credits, at least BO listened to me about rebates.

* Right on Prof Daniel Shaviro of START MAKING SENSE – “Happiest word in the English language {is} ‘Ex”, when placed with a dash in front of the words ‘President George W. Bush’.”

* A great Q+A post from Gina Gwozdz at TAX TIPS BLOG on “1099 vs W2?” She makes the excellent point – “Your employer does not get to decide if they can pay you as a W-2 employee or a 1099 contractor. The law determines your classification.”

* Trish McIntyre of OUR TAXING TIMES provides the word on the economic “stimulus” rebate you did or didn’t receive last year in her post “Stimulus Rebate-Taxable This Year?”. The answer, of course, is NO – for both federal and state returns.

Trish points out that you could get an additional rebate added to the refund, or subtracted from the balance due, on your 2008 Form 1040 or 1040A – “For example, the full stimulus rebate a married couple with one child could receive was $1500. A child born in 2008 qualifies the couple for an extra $300.”

The 2008 “stimulus” rebate election year bribe caused tons and tons of confusion last year, completely overwhelming the IRS – and I expect the confusion to continue to apply to 2008 tax returns. As was the case with the last rebate check, there will be millions of errors on 2008 federal returns.

* I came across an interesting bit of information in my “wanderings” on Thursday – “The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the global body for professional accountants, views the U.S. tax regime as one of the world’s most complex, according to Chas Roy-Chowdhury, London-based head of taxation.”

* In item from Freep.com (Detroit Free Press) titled “Tax Rebate Impact on Economy is Weak” we learn “Two University of Michigan economics professors have some advice for President Barack Obama about how not to design his economic stimulus package. Their advice: Don’t make tax rebates a big part of it.”

The professors confirm what I have been saying all along – “Onetime payments from the government are a weak economic stimulus”.

Some statistics from the article – ”The U-M economists found that only 20% of U.S. households mostly spent their tax rebates, while about 48% used their rebate mostly to pay debt and roughly 32% mostly saved their rebate checks.”

* Always leave ‘em laughing – you will find some good parenting advice from BUSINESS PUNDIT in the post “Always Check Your Child’s Homework Before it Gets Turned In”.

TTFN