Readers and writers blog

I wanted to write this entry about an acoustical scientist, but I discovered that accountants are more interesting, largely due to a weblog called Gina’s Tax Articles, the latest addition to our blogroll of well-written sites.

While crunching numbers may not seem as glamorous as some pursuits, many of us deal with an accountant from time to time if just for one reason — tax preparation. And you won’t find better writing in this field than that of Gina L. Gwozdz, a certified public accountant based in Bullard, Texas.

Even if you think AMT is a machine where you get money, don’t worry: While tax laws are complex, most of Gwozdz’s entries are about subjects that affect ordinary people of ordinary means — and they are written with a blessed clarity.

Now if you are a business person interested in vehicle depreciation recapture or an investor wondering about short-term stock loss versus long-term stock gain, it’s all there, too. But if you are an ordinary citizen working from paycheck to paycheck, there’s plenty to interest you in Gina’s Tax Articles.

Among the topics she discusses at the request of readers are:

• Reverse mortgages and how you can keep it all in the family. (See the entry for Sept. 27, 2006)

• Severance pay — is it subject to withholding, how is it taxed, and will it affect unemployment benefits? (Feb. 26)

• No-interest loans — for example, from parents to their children who want to buy a home — and whether the IRS will consider the foregone interest a gift subject to tax. (May 6)

• Whether a college dropout living at home and doing online studies can be claimed by parents as a dependent. (Jan. 25)

• What to do if a collection agency calls about your tax debt — yes, the IRS hires private agencies to do just that, but you don’t have to surrender. (Oct. 7)

• Is cosmetic surgery a deductible medical expense? (Feb. 23)

• Selling a frail elderly parent’s home in a way that will maximize proceeds toward the parent’s assisted living care. (April 10)

• Declaring winnings from gambling, including the possibility of declaring yourself a professional gambler in order to contribute part of them to an individual retirement account. (June 10)

• Deducting your pet’s medical expenses — yes, it can be done if the animal is an asset of a profit-earning farm business. (June 9)

• Educator expense deductions for homeschooling. (Feb. 20)

• What to do if the IRS notifies you of income, such as from a settlement, that you didn’t realize was taxable. (Jan. 28)

• Hiring your child and putting his or her pay into a 529 college savings plan. (Dec. 28)

• How long to keep records — income tax returns, escrow closing statements, securities purchases or sales, retirement plan documents, estate and gift tax returns, divorce documents, deeds — it all depends. (Nov. 19)

• Is there a best time of the year, tax-wise, to get married? (Sept. 6)

• The differences between a small business, with its attendant tax deductions, and a hobby. (Aug. 15, 16)

• How to avoid being a ‘defective’ taxpayer. (July 24, 2006)

• Should you buy a hybrid car? (July 21, 2006)

• Ever thought of deducting your child’s summer camp? (June 27, 2006)

By the way, if you are a new reader (or an old one like me with short-term memory issues), I should explain that I have been simplifying my search for diverse weblogs by using Wikipedia’s list of occupations. The first on the list was ‘able seaman,’ which produced Charles Darwin for our July 29 entry. I wanted to skip No. 2, ‘accountant,’ because No. 3, ‘acoustical scientist,’ seemed so exotic. Maybe too much so. Other than a bunch of acoustic guitar sites, my search turned up no acoustical science blogs.

But there is something exotic about Gwozdz. According to her web profile, her favorite movie is “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” If you’ve read Douglas Adams’s book, watched the TV series or seen the movie, you realize at least one CPA has a sense of the bizarre.

– Sid Leavitt