GE Files 24,000-Page Tax Return

The Associated Press ^ | June 1, 2006 | Ed Donahue, A-P correspondent

[pigdog]

GE Files 24,000-Page Tax Return

WASHINGTON -- Taxpayers who gripe about long returns have nothing on General Electric Co., which filed a 24,000-page tax return this month.

The Internal Revenue Service said the company "stepped up and embraced" the new requirement for companies with more than $50 million in assets to file electronically.

If GE had sent paper forms, the return would have stacked up eight feet high ...

[pigdog]

Doncha just love those good old income tax requirements???

[pigdog]

Saved lots of trees by doing it electronically so I guess that means the IRS is enviro-friendly???

[NautiNurse]

Thank goodness for the Paperwork Reduction Act. It's done us a world of good.

[pigdog]

There's another sort of paperwork (and bandwidth) reduction called the FairTax that would do away with the 8 feet of forms OR the 237 MB of data.

It's called the FairTax (HR25) and it's now before both houses of Congress. There's a lot of good information about it here.

[Yo-Yo]

That's a heck of a lot of postcards, Mr. Forbes.

[pigdog]

Sure is ... when it could be done with - NONE!!

[null and void]

GE is much nicer than I am.

I'd've made the sons of bitches wade through an 8 foot tall stack of paper.

[Centurion2000]

I'd've made the sons of bitches wade through an 8 foot tall stack of paper.

Actually the electronic one is probably worse to read. Ever try to read 500 pages of text and math on a computer screen versus paper?

[Mind-numbed Robot]

In order to accumulate, coordinate, document and verify the data on those 24,000 pages there has to be a very large cost involved. That cost must be passed on in their prices. Those are embedded tax costs in all prices and it is true with all companies, even mom and pop shops.

[PogySailor]

I wonder if IRS employees take home database files like VA employees do?

"Hey Martha, take a look at what this guy is trying to deduct!"

[sine_nomine]

Easy - they print it all out and then read it. And make many xerox copies of it.

[null and void]

Ah, but with the electronic version all the data is in an easily manipulated digital format. A computer can sort through all the data and spot any inconsistencies in a matter of seconds.

A team of humans would take months, and since no one would be reviewing all 24,000 pages, stuff could slip by.

[1rudeboy]

Only if they like the idea of sitting in a jail cell.

[ancient_geezer]

That's a heck of a lot of postcards, Mr. Forbes.

Not one of which would be applicable to the corporate/business side of the Flat Tax.

Flat Tax as Seen by a Tax Preparer
by Vern Hoven
A Special Report by Tax Analysts Tax Notes, Volume 68, No. 6, pp 747-754.

The devil is always in the details, Flat Tax for business it's nothing but details.

[ancient_geezer]

Doncha just love those good old income tax requirements???

Jess luverly, all 24,000 pages worth :O/

 

A Taxreform bump for you all.

If anyone would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and SS/Medicare payroll taxes outright and replace them with with a national retail sales tax administered by the states.

H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

Refer for additional information:

• search: "national sales tax" OR "national retail sales tax" OR "fairtax"

[NewHampshireDuo]

Maybe they didn't separate the forms from the instructions.

[DocRock]

BTTT²⁴⁰⁰⁰

[ancient_geezer]

Maybe they didn't separate the forms from the instructions.

What is really scary is that there is more likely no instructions filed with those forms.

[Man50D]

The Internal Revenue Service says the company "stepped up and embraced" the new requirement for companies with over $50-million in assets to file electronicllay.

Does this mean companies will be fined if they do not comply? If so, it's another way for the IRS to insert its tentacles. Just another reason to abolish the IRS with the Fair Tax.

[Taxman]

A hugh and series event!

[Taxman]

PS

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing -- except extreme insanity!

[Bigun]

And there are some here who would argue that there are no costs incured in compiling that 24,000 page document.

[maine-iac7]

With the flat tax, you still have the behemoth, the IRS

With FAIR TAX - NO MORE IRS, no more tax forms, April 15 th just a good day for fishing

[ancient_geezer]

And there are some here who would argue that there are no costs incured in compiling that 24,000 page document.

Nah would cost something, ... a $29.95 copy of TurboTax would do it of course.</sarc>

[tfecw]

"A team of humans would take months, and since no one would be reviewing all 24,000 pages, stuff could slip by."

Which is why i would have sent in the paper. I should offer to pay the postage for their 07 tax form if they promise to send one in. I doubt shipping cost was the driving decision, but maybe Alice in accounting, or who ever, would get a chuckle out of it.

[null and void]

Nahhh, the "the new requirement for companies with over $50-million in assets to file electronically." is voluntary, just like the rest of the tax system...

[null and void]

Apparently, they were required to file electronically.

Basturds.

[socialismisinsidious]

I'm sure that none of the costs that corporations spend to comply with the IRS/60,000 page tax code (those costs are $ 200 billion per year) are passed down to the consumer. /s (cracking myself up this morning)