Michael Doan

California wants Amazon to collect taxes on affiliate sales:

Its affiliates, paid a fee when they funnel traffic to Amazon that results in a sale, have found themselves in the middle of a battle between Amazon and several states that argue the online retailer has a duty to collect sales taxes when those affiliates operate within their state.

Though I’m part of the Amazon affiliate program, I’ve never made any money from it simply because I don’t write enough here to generate any significant traffic.

What I’m more interested in knowing is this: will my Amazon purchases be taxed now?

Lake Forest man uses fake tax theories to get tax refunds for his clients:

Cao used a theory called “redemption” or “commercial redemption” – which prosecutors called a “rejected tax defier theory.” This theory claims that the U.S. Treasury keeps millions in a secret treasury account for each taxpayer. The secret account can be used to pay a taxpayer’s debts and tax liabilities if a taxpayer sends the IRS and banks certain documents, the theory goes. “Cao’s theory is complete fiction,” the complaint reads.

I am pretty sure that his clients didn’t pay too much for his valuable tax advice. You get what you pay for.

I once reviewed my parents’ tax return which was prepared by some hack with an office and a computer with tax software installed. I’m not a tax CPA, but I’m pretty sure that it’s not a good idea to tell married couples to fraudulently file as “single”.