Each year, LexisNexis honors a select group of blogs that set the online standard for a given industry. I’m honored that my blog is one of the nominated candidates for the Top 20 Tax Law Blogs of 2011, featured on the LexisNexis Tax law Community.

Each comment is counted as a vote toward my blog, so I invite your comments to support my nomination. To submit a comment, visitors need to log on to their free LexisNexis Communities account. If you haven’t previously registered, you can do so for free by following this link.

Click here and you will be led to the announcement post on LexisNexis Tax Law Blog Nominees. The comment box is at the very bottom of the blog nomination page. You will only need to fill in your name and type in Tax Problem Attorney Blog with your comments in the comment box.The comment period for nominations ends on November 18, 2011.

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Walmart Credit Card Review

After realizing that it had one of the worst corporate reputations on the planet, Walmart went on an aggressive public relations campaign in recent years. Management did a remarkable job and turned things around rather successfully. Walmart is now an industry leader in such laudable things as company-wide green technologies and environmentally friendly packaging. The corporation also provides a lot of healthy options in its produce department while giving huge support to organic farmers.

Not only that, but Walmart was the first major player in the USA to offer more sophisticated credit card terminals that accept “pin and chip” style credit cards –even while the banking industry dragged its feet in that regard. I respect Walmart for taking the initiative and making those kinds of positive changes. So I

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Recent reports have suggested that use of discounts and deal websites such as Groupon are on the decline. Vote in our poll and tell us if youve decreased your use of these sites.

For some people, shopping on discount and deal websites has become a part of their everyday life. Groupon, one of the most popular discount websites boasts over 414,000 Facebook fans on their US page and over 82,000 Facebook fans on their UK page. However a report released this week by a research group in Australia reported a 34% fall in group-buying transactions on websites such as Groupon.

Despite its success, Groupon have come under fire since they were founded in 2008 and are currently under investigation from the OFT regarding exaggerating discounts, failing to honour deals and unfair terms.

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Tax fraud penalties were recently upheld against Miguel Robleto of Oregon by the 9th circuit. These were civil tax fraud penalties pursuant to IRC Section 6663, not criminal tax evasion charges under IRC Section 7201. The difference is that although you can wind up paying a lot of money if civil tax fraud penalties are imposed at least you won’t go to jail. In some cases the IRS brings criminal tax evasion charges, and then goes after you for the taxes, plus a civil tax fraud penalty. Although Mr. Robleto probably doesn’t think so he may have been lucky that the IRS didn’t bring criminal tax evasion charges.

The civil tax fraud penalty under IRC Section 6663 is 75% of the tax that is owed. The process of imposing the civil tax fraud penalty is a lengthy one. Generally the first step is a tax audit, sometimes followed by an appeal to the Internal Revenue Service’s Appeals Division.

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Best Buy Credit Card Review

The first time I walked into a Best Buy store about 15 years ago I planned to pop into the store for 10 minutes. But I wound up spending an hour browsing up and down the aisles, and it’s still easy to get sidetracked inside a Best Buy store. They have all the latest gadgetry, from laptops to smart phones to energy efficient appliances and monster-sized HDTVs. I’m a big fan of Best Buy, which is my go-to store for off-the-shelf tech products.

When I make a purchase at Best Buy and they offer an extended warranty I always default to “no” because my research shows that extended warranties are a total waste of money. But I’m also often asked if I want to sign up for a Best Buy Credit Card, which is why it’s high time I sorted out the pros and cons and then shared them with you. So here’s a

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