Carmine

It was Albert Einstein who said physics was easy compared to trying to prepare his taxes. You probably feel the same way. The tax code is full of oddities, and here are a few that will make you roll your eyes.

The internal revenue code is thousands of pages long. Throw in the regulations interpreting the code, and you have a wall full of confusing books. To make things even scarier, you are assumed to both know the code and understand it. That should send chills down your back.

Over the years, the code has been modified so many times that nobody really knows it all. Various sections seem to completely contradict others. Some seem to say the exact opposite of others. While this is all frustrating, it is the bizarre little sections that make you wonder what is going on in Congress. Here are some examples of strange things you will find.

1. If you have a child, you usually get to claim more deductions. In our fractured society, however, the tax code is a mess when it comes to dealing with divorces. The question is basically which parent gets to claim what? There are all kinds of rules, but one of the stranger ones has to do withkidnapping.

If your child is kidnapped, you may get to claim the child tax credit and so on. Being a tax issue, there are some strange rules. For instance, the kidnapping cannot be by a family member! If your brother drags your child off to Canada, you get no deduction. You can read IRS publication 501 to figure it all out if you are insanely bored.

2. Jury Duty Nothing beat jury duty, eh? Sit for eight hours and get paid five or ten bucks. Well, some business owners are good members of society. They will pay you normal wages while you do your civic duty. If they do, you can claim a deduction if you pay them back your earnings from jury duty. Boy, I bet your boss is going to be happy as pie when you give him or her that $5! On the other hand, a deduction is a deduction.

3. Tax Benefits of Being Blind This one is an old favorite. The government is going to give you a break if you are blind. Just check the box on line 39A. Huh? You are BLIND! Obviously, the idea is you are having someone else do the tax return, but it is still pretty funny at first glance.

The above represents only a small sampling of the oddities found in the tax code. There are plenty other such as rules regarding issuing 1099s to fishing boat crews, but we have to stop somewhere. At least now you know that you are not alone wondering if the tax system makes any sense whatsoever. If you get frustrated, take comfort in the fact former President Jimmy Carter said the U.S. tax code was a crime against humanity!

Richard A. Chapo is with BusinessTaxRecovery.com - providing information on tax deductions.