This is a Good Summer Beach Read!

Oh boy, oh boy!  Last week the IRS released the 2012 individual statistics of income, known to us tax nerds as Pub 1304.  Once again, I curled up on the couch with this 340 page document for a good read. (I am back from the beach already and hunkered down for the extended return filing season.)  Here are a few highlights:

• Almost 145 million individual income tax returns were filed for 2012, down slightly from 2011.  They reported about $9.1 trillion in total adjusted gross income and a total of about $1.3 trillion in tax liability.  About 84% of the returns were filed electronically.

• Approximately 97.2 million returns used the standard deduction.

• Almost 120 million returns reported salaries and wages in the amount of about $6.3 trillion.

• About 1.8 million returns reported about a net $5.5 billion in farm losses.

• About 1.9 million returns reported about $29.2 billion in gambling winnings.  It looks like gambling is lot more profitable than farming!  Wait a minute, maybe farming is a subset of gambling.  That could be a money raiser for the Feds.

• Approximately 4.2 million returns reported alternative minimum tax in the amount of about $32.8 billion.

I could go on and on, excitedly.  But I won’t.

VKM

Related Posts

2016 Standard Mileage Rates for Business, Medical and Moving Announced and are Down

Last week, the IRS announced the 2016 optional standard mileage rates for Business, Medical and Moving.  The rates are less than 2015.  The IRS conducts a study each year of the fixed and variable costs ...

December 21, 2015 read more...

The Secure 2.0 Act: Key Changes for Workplace Retirement Plans

On December 29th, 2022, President Biden signed the SECURE Act 2.0 into law, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This broad-reaching legislation is expected to impact tax incentives as it relates to retirement plans ...

February 6, 2023 read more...

National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2016 Annual Report to Congress – Some Key Takeaways

Every year, by law, the National Taxpayer Advocate, “an independent voice for the taxpayer within the IRS,” issues a report to Congress.  For 15 years, the National Taxpayer Advocate has been Nina E. Olson.  She ...

January 16, 2017 read more...

OH, COME ON, MR. PRESIDENT

Today’s Accounting Today has an article entitled “Obama Blames Accountants for Inversion Trend.” During a press conference yesterday, President Obama said the following: “You have accountants going to some big corporations – multinational corporations but ...

August 7, 2014 read more...