Starting in 2011 or later, the IRS will be requiring businesses to volunteer more information about their tax avoidance practices and transactions. I use the word “volunteer” loosely. Currently, businesses and even savvy individual taxpayers do all that is possible to reduce the amount of tax owed to the government, even to the point at which the practices, although not illegal, may be flagged for scrutiny by the IRS.

It seems I have paid the government more than what was necessary over the past few years. When I first started earning money outside of my primary employer in 2004 or 2005, I assumed it would make the most sense to simply claim that income as self-employment income on Schedule C of the standard 1040 income tax return. It wasn’t such a bad idea; there was not a lot of paperwork involved.

Over the next couple of weeks, six finalists will be auditioning for the opening of “staff writer” at Consumerism Commentary. Each will be providing two guest articles to share with readers. After the six writers have shared their guest articles, readers will have an opportunity to provide feedback before we select the staff writer.
This article is presented by VCMcGuire, a regular contributor to the New York Times and other publications.

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By Nora Dunn As an entrepreneur, you would think that precluding certain types of customers in favor of a smaller – but specialized – market would be akin to shooting yourself in the foot. But interestingly, one of the best ways to ramp up your business and create a solid reputation that will ensure a constant flow of customers knocking on your door is – indeed – by specializing.