After one of my acquaintances suffered the ravages of a flood in his house caused by a leaking pipe, the difficulties of settling an insurance claim became crystal clear. Maybe it is time to get down to the tedious business of itemizing my own house and its contents. Of course, like many other things in life, there are programs available that will assist in completing this project. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal looked at several of those programs and discussed there possible use. You might find it of interest.

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash, senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has introduced a bill to Congress to raise the estate tax. According to an article published by Accounting Today, the bill would bring the estate tax back to its pre-2001 levels.

See Michael Cohn, "Congressman Proposes Raising the Estate Tax," Accounting Today (Nov. 21, 2011)

On April 7, 2011, the IRS issued a press release  entitled "Don’t Fall Prey to the 2011 Dirty Dozen Tax Scams"Hiding income in offshore accounts, identity theft, return preparer fraud, and filing false or misleading tax forms top the annual list of “dirty dozen” tax scams in 2011, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

“The Dirty Dozen represents the worst of the worst tax scams,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. “Don’t fall prey to these tax scams. They may look tempting, but these fraudulent deals end up hurting people who participate in them.”