Tax Season Tribune

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TikTok talks tax

By Kathryn Zdan, EA

Editorial Director

The IRS released its annual Dirty Dozen tax scams, and one of the threats on the list for 2025 is bad social media tax advice.1 The IRS pointed out that “social media platforms routinely circulate inaccurate or misleading tax information,” (what, really?) “including on TikTok where people share wildly inaccurate tax advice.” For example, the advice being peddled by social media influencers includes:2

  1. Oh, look. It’s Mike Giangrande’s favorite topic: anyone and everyone can claim their car as a business expense.
  2. Use tax software to create a fake W-2 with large income and withholding amounts, plus a fictitious employer.
  3. Claim your 4-pound chihuahua as a guard dog.
  4. Invent household workers and file Schedule H to claim fake sick and family medical leave wages.
  5. Anyone who’s self-employed can take the “self-employment tax credit” of up to $32,000. (The actual credit applied only to narrow COVID-19–related circumstances in 2020 and 2021.)

The frustrating thing is that when the IRS catches up with the taxpayers who fall for these scams, the taxpayer is the one liable for the tax and penalties; the influencers generally are not held accountable. However, the IRS does encourage reporting anyone promoting an abusive tax scheme by filing a Form 14242, Report Suspected Abusive Tax Promoters or Preparers.

Feb-roo-er-ee (not feb-u-air-ee) came and went in a flash!

By Diane Fuller

Contributing Editor

Have you seen the funny desk sign – “I’m silently correcting your grammar”? I love it! I would also like “I’m silently correcting your pronunciation.”

Word has it that English is crazy difficult to learn if it’s not your first language. It reflects our characterization as a melting pot, with a splash of Old Norse, pinches of Latin, a heavy peppering of Germanic variations, a soupcon of French.

So there’s obviously no consistency with pronunciation, which is a real problem. Just consider “tough,” thorough,” “though,” and “through,” and laugh. Then throw in “lough” (pronounced “lok” (Scottish/Irish)), and weep. Check out itsbobbyfinn on Instagram for an entertaining English lesson. He plays both the nerdy scold and his befuddled, frustrated alter ego who can’t pronounce words correctly because they don’t follow a predictable pattern (ear … so, fear … but, bear … but, hear … but, heard … you get the idea).

There can be some stumbling blocks even for those who think they can pronounce everything correctly: synecdoche (si-nek-duh-kee (Greek)), which is a figure of speech where a part of something is used to refer to its whole, e.g., a hired hand is a worker, floccinaucinihilipilification (flok-se-now-suh-ni-hi-li-pil-i-fi-kay-shun (Latin)), which means the act of estimating something as unimportant, and chiaroscuro (kee-ar-o-skoo-ro (Italian)), meaning the treatment of light and shadow in drawing or painting, just to name a few.

And let’s not forget about another English oddity – the silent medial “t.” “Often” is probably the most obvious example and the most oft-repeated. Often has been around since the early 1300s and used as a variant of oft, so the “t” was pronounced early on but then fell away. It’s been making a resurgence, however, so we’re not allowed to considered someone illiterate if they pronounce the “t.” When I hear the “t,” I admit to silently correcting it.

On the other hand, there’s the issue of the silent medial “b.” Consider “subtle.” Under no circumstances should the “b” be pronounced. My colleague heard the “b” included when she was at a restaurant recently and lost her appetite. It was an ignominious (on a top 31 list of mispronounced words) offense.1

Hope you’re having a great March weekend, being carefree in your floccinaucinihilipilifications, and taking in some of the rural (another top 202) charms of your area.

A few fun facts about this week’s writers:

Kathryn Zdan, EA

Kathryn Zdan, EA, spends her non-Spidell hours on photography and watching horror films (and then sleeping with the light on). She also enjoys hiking, biking, and watching foreign films.

Diane Fuller

Diane Fuller loves to read, cook, and go to Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho, as many times as possible during the year with her family including grandkids and dogs.

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