This is the first of two installments of this article.
I. Audit Statistics; What Are Your Chances of Being Audited?
The 2016 Internal Revenue Service Data Book (IR-2017-69) contains audit statistics for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016. Here are the audit statistics for returns filed for calendar year 2015 (“CY 2015”):
As I expected, my last column on the Oxford comma generated some lively feedback — and a topic for this month’s column. It turns out that there is another punctuation mark that causes almost as much angst among the readership as the Oxford comma: the apostrophe.
The readership is apparently in good company; in 2014, Grammarly.com crowned “misused apostrophes” the undisputed champion of its “Most Maddening Writing Error” challenge. One voter said, “[I]t seems like there is a whole new wave of people who believe that you NEED an apostrophe and an ‘s’ to make a word plural.”
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2018-02-07 13:33:062018-02-07 13:33:06Apostrophe Misuse: The 'Greatest Solecism' In the Punctuation World?
What, pray tell, does legendary football coach Vince Lombardi have in common with the comedic actor Bill Murray?
The pursuit of perfection.
“Perfection,” Lombardi famously stated, “is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
As for Murray, it wasn’t what he said about perfection, it was what his character did about it in the movie “Groundhog Day.”
The movie is set in Punxsutawney, Pa., the epicenter of this nation’s annual observance of Groundhog Day — where this morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, forecasting six more weeks of winter. In the fictional “Groundhog Day,” the main character, played by Murray, starts out as a thoroughly disgusting weatherman who ultimately wins the hand of his beautiful colleague, played by Andie McDowell.
https://www.ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/giphy-41.gif270480NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2018-02-02 10:20:002018-07-21 18:59:06Vince Lombardi, ‘Groundhog Day’ and the Pursuit of Perfection
Federal Income Tax Update
Featured PostsThis is the first of two installments of this article.
I. Audit Statistics; What Are Your Chances of Being Audited?
The 2016 Internal Revenue Service Data Book (IR-2017-69) contains audit statistics for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016. Here are the audit statistics for returns filed for calendar year 2015 (“CY 2015”):
Read more
Apostrophe Misuse: The ‘Greatest Solecism’ In the Punctuation World?
Featured PostsAs I expected, my last column on the Oxford comma generated some lively feedback — and a topic for this month’s column. It turns out that there is another punctuation mark that causes almost as much angst among the readership as the Oxford comma: the apostrophe.
The readership is apparently in good company; in 2014, Grammarly.com crowned “misused apostrophes” the undisputed champion of its “Most Maddening Writing Error” challenge. One voter said, “[I]t seems like there is a whole new wave of people who believe that you NEED an apostrophe and an ‘s’ to make a word plural.”
Read more
Vince Lombardi, ‘Groundhog Day’ and the Pursuit of Perfection
Featured PostsWhat, pray tell, does legendary football coach Vince Lombardi have in common with the comedic actor Bill Murray?
The pursuit of perfection.
“Perfection,” Lombardi famously stated, “is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
As for Murray, it wasn’t what he said about perfection, it was what his character did about it in the movie “Groundhog Day.”
The movie is set in Punxsutawney, Pa., the epicenter of this nation’s annual observance of Groundhog Day — where this morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, forecasting six more weeks of winter. In the fictional “Groundhog Day,” the main character, played by Murray, starts out as a thoroughly disgusting weatherman who ultimately wins the hand of his beautiful colleague, played by Andie McDowell.
Read more