The sponsors of this board, the TMI authors and publishers, are confronted with a balancing act that seems to occur in December. I am speaking of the 11th hour Congress and their last-minute tampering with tax laws. In recent years these occurrences have not only been more common, but also more far-reaching in their impact. This year has easily been the worst in memory, and it hasn't been that many years ago it didn't EVER happen.
This balancing act is predicated upon what we prefer as customers. Getting the book in our hands too early and they miss this last-minute legislation. Getting it to us too late means we do not have the book available when we begin filing taxes. (I did my first 1040 on Jan 3 this year)
This year there were the most extensive law changes in memory that did NOT make it to publication. Is there any benefit to using this thread to express our opinion about delaying the print? More directly, would you prefer INCLUDING last-minute legislation at the risk of receiving TTB a week later? Or do you support getting TTB by the end of year at the risk of leaving out 11th hour legislation?
Before rushing to conclusions, please consider the following:
1) TMI commits to a Dec 1 inclusion date, and no other publication does.
2) There have been some occasions where the book has included legislation even after December 1, meaning they have often exceeded their commitment to us.
3) Because withholding tables are effective Jan 1, further postponement by Congress beyond Dec 24 is highly unlikely because these tables will be held hostage. This would seem to defeat an argument that Congress would delay into the following year. (although on a few minor issues, it HAS happened before)
4) The Tax Update Service and Tax Library greatly circumvents the problems by including last-minute changes even though the printed version has been delivered.
The poll would look like this:
A) I would keep the Dec 1 date and prefer receiving the book as currently distributed.
B) I would slip the date to Dec 20 at the risk of receiving the book 2 weeks later.
C) TMI would still guarantee the Dec 1 date but leave the inclusion to the discretion of TMI on a year-by-year basis, depending upon how much pending legislation is still ongoing.
You don't have to be an economic genius to figure out that TMI can live with only one of the above and cannot provide this choice on a customer-by-customer basis. Regardless of how TTB reacts to the challenge of last-minute legislation, we congratulate them for their unparalleled service to those of us who purchase their products.
This balancing act is predicated upon what we prefer as customers. Getting the book in our hands too early and they miss this last-minute legislation. Getting it to us too late means we do not have the book available when we begin filing taxes. (I did my first 1040 on Jan 3 this year)
This year there were the most extensive law changes in memory that did NOT make it to publication. Is there any benefit to using this thread to express our opinion about delaying the print? More directly, would you prefer INCLUDING last-minute legislation at the risk of receiving TTB a week later? Or do you support getting TTB by the end of year at the risk of leaving out 11th hour legislation?
Before rushing to conclusions, please consider the following:
1) TMI commits to a Dec 1 inclusion date, and no other publication does.
2) There have been some occasions where the book has included legislation even after December 1, meaning they have often exceeded their commitment to us.
3) Because withholding tables are effective Jan 1, further postponement by Congress beyond Dec 24 is highly unlikely because these tables will be held hostage. This would seem to defeat an argument that Congress would delay into the following year. (although on a few minor issues, it HAS happened before)
4) The Tax Update Service and Tax Library greatly circumvents the problems by including last-minute changes even though the printed version has been delivered.
The poll would look like this:
A) I would keep the Dec 1 date and prefer receiving the book as currently distributed.
B) I would slip the date to Dec 20 at the risk of receiving the book 2 weeks later.
C) TMI would still guarantee the Dec 1 date but leave the inclusion to the discretion of TMI on a year-by-year basis, depending upon how much pending legislation is still ongoing.
You don't have to be an economic genius to figure out that TMI can live with only one of the above and cannot provide this choice on a customer-by-customer basis. Regardless of how TTB reacts to the challenge of last-minute legislation, we congratulate them for their unparalleled service to those of us who purchase their products.
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