Nurse Outduels IRS Over M.B.A. Tuition

Nurse Outduels IRS Over M.B.A. Tuition
by Laura Saunders
Monday, January 11, 2010
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How One Woman Went to Tax Court and Won Deduction

A Maryland nurse accomplished two rare feats in her battle with the Internal Revenue Service: She defended herself against the agency's lawyers and won, and she got a ruling that could help tens of thousands of students deduct the cost of an M.B.A. degree on their taxes.

The U.S. Tax Court handed Lori Singleton-Clarke her victory last month, saying the 47-year-old Bryantown, Md., woman had properly deducted nearly $15,000 in business school tuition. The Tax Court ruling should make it easier for many other professionals to deduct the expense of a Master in Business Administration degree.





After getting word of the court decision, "I nearly yelled the roof off the house," Ms. Singleton-Clarke says. "I still can hardly believe it."

The IRS's rules on deducting work-related tuition are complicated and onerous, ultimately preventing most students from deducting their tuition. But this case clarifies the rules and will likely lead to more taxpayers taking the deduction, tax experts say.

Few taxpayers decide to go toe to toe with the IRS as Ms. Singleton-Clarke did, arguing her case without a lawyer. For good reason: In 2009, individuals won only about 10% of about 300 such cases, according to data from Tax Analysts. Ms. Singleton-Clarke fought her case in Tax Court, a venue where taxpayers don't have to pay the contested tax before going to trial. The court has a special procedure for small cases.

Some of the losers, such as several dozen tax protesters who defended the filing of frivolous returns, were tilting at tax windmills. Others were simply on the wrong side of the law, including a horse enthusiast who wanted to deduct his hobby losses, an unsuccessful comedian who tried to classify his expenses as business losses, and an attorney who claimed over $100,000 in medical deductions for his visits to prostitutes.

Of the few who did prevail against the IRS, nearly half came to court on a single issue: requests for "innocent spouse" treatment that decouples a spouse from a partner who is a tax cheat. This provision has been used mostly to protect unknowing wives against their husbands' tax misdeeds. One of the spouses granted relief last year was formerly married to an investment banker who didn't pay his taxes after his bonus didn't come though.

Ms. Singleton-Clarke's encounter with the tax system shows what it can take for one individual to prevail over the IRS against the long odds: favorable facts, obsessive organization, and fearlessness. She says she didn't have a lawyer because she couldn't afford one.

Her odyssey began in 2006, when she filed her 2005 return. It showed just over $50,000 of income, several smaller deductions, and one large one—for $14,787 of expenses for an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix, an online school. Ms. Singleton-Clarke deducted the tuition because her tax preparer told her she met the law's narrow definitions.

When the IRS audited the return in late 2006, she conceded all the IRS's challenges to her deductions but one. She dug in her heels on the tuition deduction because, after looking at a complex diagram in IRS Publication 970, she believed she qualified for it.

The audit process first involved several rounds of confusing IRS correspondence. "At one point I had three requests for the same records, each with a different contact name. I had to spend hours calling to figure out who needed what," says Ms. Singleton-Clarke, a steely but soft-spoken woman.

After that she was summoned to an IRS office in downtown Washington where she had to provide more copies of her résumé, a job description, and other records. She felt overwhelmed and intimidated.

Both the IRS's actions and her reactions are typical, says Christopher Bergin, president of Tax Analysts, a group that fights for tax-system transparency and since l972 has won a series of freedom-of-information cases against the IRS. "Without doing anything illegal, they muscled her. That's what they do. The pressure can be terrifying," he says.

A spokesman for the IRS says that it never comments on issues with specific taxpayers.

As Ms. Singleton-Clarke held fast to her conviction that she deserved the deduction, she drew on skills she developed as a nurse responsible for dealing with doctors who may have infringed hospital rules. That was why she studied for her M.B.A., she says: "I didn't want to feel outmatched by surgeons who didn't want to talk to me."

When the IRS again denied her deduction by mail after her meeting with the agent, Ms. Singleton-Clarke wound up going to Tax Court to set a trial date. But when she came to court in November 2008, it seemed that everyone else had settled their cases: "There was just me by myself at one table and the [IRS] tax team of at another in a big courtroom."

The tax team consisted of a two attorneys and several assistants or paralegals. Ms. Singleton-Clarke had been told to bring copies of her documents in triplicate, including a time line of her career. Judge Stanley Goldberg questioned her closely and complimented her on her record-keeping during the hour-long trial. "The whole time," she says: "I was thinking, here is this god-like man who is going to make an important decision for me. But he wasn't a bully. I had met with the bullies before."

Reached Friday by phone, Judge Goldberg said: "I remember the case well because Ms. Singleton-Clarke was so articulate and well-prepared. Too many taxpayers are not."

Ms. Singleton-Clarke's victory came when the ruling was issued a year later. It is unusual in that it helps not only her but others as well. Decisions in small cases aren't allowed to be cited as precedent. "But everyone uses them," says Melissa Labant, a tax expert with the American Institute of CPAs. "This case definitely provides a road map others can use, especially M.B.A. students."

Casey Johnson's Death! Part 2...

From a 'sweet' billionaire child to lonely addict in a perpetual downward spiralComments: 15

By LUKAS I. ALPERT and EMILY SMITH

Last Updated: 4:05 PM, January 6, 2010

Posted: 3:41 AM, January 6, 2010

If there was ever a poster child for the notion that money can't buy you happiness, Casey Johnson was it.Being born into a life of extreme affluence with nearly endless options, Johnson was the classic poor little rich girl -- beset with health problems and inner demons that ultimately overwhelmed her.

As the daughter of Woody Johnson, billionaire owner of the New York Jets, and heiress to the vast Johnson & Johnson family fortune, Casey had so much, she didn't know what to do with it.
"I have so much stuff that, you know, it's almost embarrassing, it really is," she told Page Six Magazine in 2008. "I got my first Chanel bag at 12. I got a $17,000 gold Cartier watch when I was 15.Still, she hinted that there was a dark side to too much money."There's nothing left to want," she said.Those close to her said Johnson was miserable for much of her 30 years -- battling a debilitating case of juvenile diabetes she was diagnosed with at 8 and never truly becoming comfortable in her own skin."Her problems went way beyond drugs, alcohol and diabetes," said one friend. "It was also mental and emotional problems. She had this destructive inability to cope. She would say, 'I have problems in my head.' "A family source largely blamed her diabetes.

"I cannot stress enough this idea between mental health and depression being linked to auto-immune issues," the source said. "For her, depression was a day in, day out issue of dealing with diabetes."Johnson's troubles came to a head just before New Year's. She was last heard from, via Twitter, on Dec. 29, and was found dead in her Los Angeles home six days later. The cause of death has yet to be determined.It was a stunning decline. When Johnson first appeared on the scene a decade ago, she impressed veteran socialite-watchers as what one called a "sweet, gorgeous kid." She had graduated from a top Manhattan private school and been accepted to Brown University -- but then dropped out in her freshman year to take a job interning with PR queen Lizzy Grubman, Gawker.com reported.
She soon gravitated to the fast-moving set -- becoming BFFs with fellow blond heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton and hitting the nightlife scene with a vengeance. There wasn't a club banquette she wouldn't dance on or a paparazzi she wouldn't pose for.
But while Paris managed to turn her partying into a brand and Nicky chose a quieter life, Johnson appeared to never learn how to switch gears, and began a decade-long run as a gossip-page wild child."I [saw] the changes," said Joan Jedell, publisher of Hampton Sheet magazine. "When I first saw her, she was this sweet, gorgeous kid. But over the years, this beautiful girl had just spiraled downward. It was very sad." One of her biggest regrets, Johnson once said, was that she had never agreed to join Paris in her hit reality show, "The Simple Life." Johnson had reportedly been Hilton's first choice as a partner but turned it down. Hilton then turned to another pal, Nicole Ritchie, who became a star as a result of her participation. Making matters worse, Johnson had always kept her family at arm's length, pals said.

She hadn't spoken to her father for seven years when she died, one said.

But a family source insisted that simply was "not true," adding the pair's relationship was "strained, but not broken."

Her father was a huge supporter of diabetes research, pouring millions into the cause, largely all in an effort to help his little girl.

Still, Casey couldn't hide that she was upset by the distance between them.

When asked by Page Six Magazine about her fractured relationship with her father, she started to tear up, saying, "It's not like I got arrested for prostitution or a DUI . . . I didn't do anythingShe also had been fighting with her mother, Sale Johnson, for months over custody of her adopted daughter, Ava
When talking about raising her daughter, Casey said she planned to do things differently than her parents, especially when it came to money. "Nobody taught me how to handle my money. I don't want that for Ava," she saidThen there's the infamous feud with her aunt, Libet, whom she accused of stealing her boyfriend, John Dee, in March 2006 Libet was 56; Casey, 26.

While Sale Johnson long fought to stop Casey from adopting little Ava from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan three years ago, several sources close to the family said the mother had still been in denial as to her daughter's deteriorating condition.

But the possibility that Casey would be found dead at such a young age was something that had been openly discussed among family members, a source said."Numerous times, it had mentioned in that house that Casey wasn't going to live to 35 anyway because she was really sick," the source said.

Things only got worse when Johnson moved to Los Angeles and fell in with an even wilder crowd. When she tried to adopt, her mother fought her at every step, knowing it was a bad idea.

Soon, Johnson became a regular feature on gossip pages that detailed her fiery relationship with then-girlfriend Courtenay Semel, who once allegedly beat the heiress to a pulp and set her hair on fire.

Johnson later made headlines again when she was arrested for breaking into a pal's house, stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and clothes and leaving a vibrator in her bed.

By that point, Johnson's mother had wrested away custody of Ava, and the family took steps to cut her off financially, hoping it would drive her to seek help.

Instead, Johnson remained holed up in her rented house, without power, water or gas because she couldn't pay the bills.

A Johnson family source insisted that "stories of Casey's drug-taking have been really overblown" and that her diabetes was to blame for many of her woes.

But in Johnson's final months, friends said, she was downing industrial amounts of prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Klonopin and Adderall, as well as other illicit substances. Despite claiming to be in love with her new gal pal, rubber-faced reality star Tila Tequila -- to whom she had just gotten "engaged" -- Casey was clearly miserable."I don't know if this was an accident and she didn't mean to die," said a pal. "She took enough drugs every day to kill her."

If there was ever a poster child for the notion that money can't buy you happiness, Casey Johnson was it.

Being born into a life of extreme affluence with nearly endless options, Johnson was the classic poor little rich girl -- beset with health problems and inner demons that ultimately overwhelmed her.

As the daughter of Woody Johnson, billionaire owner of the New York Jets, and heiress to the vast Johnson & Johnson family fortune, Casey had so much, she didn't know what to do with it.

"I have so much stuff that, you know, it's almost embarrassing, it really is," she told Page Six Magazine in 2008. "I got my first Chanel bag at 12. I got a $17,000 gold Cartier watch when I was 15."


Still, she hinted that there was a dark side to too much money.

"There's nothing left to want," she said.

Those close to her said Johnson was miserable for much of her 30 years -- battling a debilitating case of juvenile diabetes she was diagnosed with at 8 and never truly becoming comfortable in her own skin.

"Her problems went way beyond drugs, alcohol and diabetes," said one friend. "It was also mental and emotional problems. She had this destructive inability to cope. She would say, 'I have problems in my head.' "

A family source largely blamed her diabetes.

"I cannot stress enough this idea between mental health and depression being linked to auto-immune issues," the source said. "For her, depression was a day in, day out issue of dealing with diabetes."

Johnson's troubles came to a head just before New Year's. She was last heard from, via Twitter, on Dec. 29, and was found dead in her Los Angeles home six days later. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

It was a stunning decline. When Johnson first appeared on the scene a decade ago, she impressed veteran socialite-watchers as what one called a "sweet, gorgeous kid."

She had graduated from a top Manhattan private school and been accepted to Brown University -- but then dropped out in her freshman year to take a job interning with PR queen Lizzy Grubman, Gawker.com reported.

She soon gravitated to the fast-moving set -- becoming BFFs with fellow blond heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton and hitting the nightlife scene with a vengeance. There wasn't a club banquette she wouldn't dance on or a paparazzi she wouldn't pose for.

But while Paris managed to turn her partying into a brand and Nicky chose a quieter life, Johnson appeared to never learn how to switch gears, and began a decade-long run as a gossip-page wild child.









"I [saw] the changes," said Joan Jedell, publisher of Hampton Sheet magazine. "When I first saw her, she was this sweet, gorgeous kid. But over the years, this beautiful girl had just spiraled downward. It was very sad."

One of her biggest regrets, Johnson once said, was that she had never agreed to join Paris in her hit reality show, "The Simple Life." Johnson had reportedly been Hilton's first choice as a partner but turned it down. Hilton then turned to another pal, Nicole Ritchie, who became a star as a result of her participation.

Making matters worse, Johnson had always kept her family at arm's length, pals said.


AP
Casey Johnson
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She hadn't spoken to her father for seven years when she died, one said.

But a family source insisted that simply was "not true," adding the pair's relationship was "strained, but not broken."

Her father was a huge supporter of diabetes research, pouring millions into the cause, largely all in an effort to help his little girl.

Still, Casey couldn't hide that she was upset by the distance between them.

When asked by Page Six Magazine about her fractured relationship with her father, she started to tear up, saying, "It's not like I got arrested for prostitution or a DUI . . . I didn't do anything."

She also had been fighting with her mother, Sale Johnson, for months over custody of her adopted daughter, Ava.

When talking about raising her daughter, Casey said she planned to do things differently than her parents, especially when it came to money.

"Nobody taught me how to handle my money. I don't want that for Ava," she said.

Then there's the infamous feud with her aunt, Libet, whom she accused of stealing her boyfriend, John Dee, in March 2006. Libet was 56; Casey, 26.

While Sale Johnson long fought to stop Casey from adopting little Ava from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan three years ago, several sources close to the family said the mother had still been in denial as to her daughter's deteriorating condition.

But the possibility that Casey would be found dead at such a young age was something that had been openly discussed among family members, a source said.

"Numerous times, it had mentioned in that house that Casey wasn't going to live to 35 anyway because she was really sick," the source said.

Things only got worse when Johnson moved to Los Angeles and fell in with an even wilder crowd. When she tried to adopt, her mother fought her at every step, knowing it was a bad idea.

Soon, Johnson became a regular feature on gossip pages that detailed her fiery relationship with then-girlfriend Courtenay Semel, who once allegedly beat the heiress to a pulp and set her hair on fire.

Johnson later made headlines again when she was arrested for breaking into a pal's house, stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and clothes and leaving a vibrator in her bed.

By that point, Johnson's mother had wrested away custody of Ava, and the family took steps to cut her off financially, hoping it would drive her to seek help.

Instead, Johnson remained holed up in her rented house, without power, water or gas because she couldn't pay the bills.

A Johnson family source insisted that "stories of Casey's drug-taking have been really overblown" and that her diabetes was to blame for many of her woes.

But in Johnson's final months, friends said, she was downing industrial amounts of prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Klonopin and Adderall, as well as other illicit substances. Despite claiming to be in love with her new gal pal, rubber-faced reality star Tila Tequila -- to whom she had just gotten "engaged" -- Casey was clearly miserable.

"I don't know if this was an accident and she didn't mean to die," said a pal. "She took enough drugs every day to kill her."

Casey Johnson's Death!

I heard about the death of this Johnson and Johnson heiress the other day while on twitter after seeing a few tweets going back and forth by Tila Tequila and Perez Hilton..Which sickened me to say the least both accusing the other of wanting Publicity! Needless to say I didn't think much of it...Casey Johnson's name did not ring a bell with me ..until now and after some extensive research I realized who she was.

Then there are all kind of articles when you google her on Tila Tequila( girlfriend and fiancee) Nikki Hilton and Bijou Phillips ( friends) and there you see them bommb rushing Tila Teqila's residence to retrieve Casey's belongings and dogs..

Did everyone of them forget that there is a woman who is dead? People tend to allow their own personal feelings to interfere with what's right and what's wrong. To me both sides are wrong, wrong, wrong! Still to me Nikki and Bijou were very much out of line for even going to the residence! The police were wrong for allowing this to happen, do they get special treatment because of their name sake? Arrangements should have been made for them ( Nikki and Bijou) to retrieve their friend's things and further more it should have been the family's place to do this!

The question to Tila was "where were you when she was home alone?" If I am correct in my assumption she and Casey had a disagreement and was taking soem time apart! Now to me it seems like if you're a friend then you should be there when your friend is suffering heartache! So my question to Nikki and Bijou is where were you while she was there by herself? hmmmmmmm...Interesting !

I have included some articles on this matter..tsk tsk tsk People Grow up and remember that there is a Woman who is Deceased!

I viewed her pics also and you could see the major difference in her appearance...I'm just sayin'


Baby-oil heiress Casey Johnson's rich-and-famous friends went to the dogs for her yesterday, wresting her orphaned pooches from weepy and whiny fiancée Tila Tequila -- along with a Range Rover-load of clothes and toiletries.

"They don't care about the dogs. They are putting them to sleep to bury with Casey," a sobbing Tequila told camera crews as hotel heiress Nicky Hilton and rocker offspring Bijou Phillips hauled the lap pups away.


One of the dogs, Zoey, was especially doted on by Johnson.



Nicky Hilton picks up Casey Johnson's clothes and dogs from Tila Tequila.
Photos: Hilton, Phillips collect Johnson's things from Tila Tequila
"Casey would want the dog buried with her, and Zoey was like a daughter to Casey," a source told RadarOnline.

Phillips, however, answered "no" when asked if the dogs were going to be put down.

Earlier, Tequila, the pint-sized reality-TV star, called 911 to accuse Hilton and Phillips of busting into her house.

"Today these 'mean girls' bombarded my home, to try to take the pups away so they can put them to sleep so they can bury the dogs with Casey," she wrote on her blog Tila's Hotspot. "I had to call the police because they were getting very violent outside of my house . . ."

On TMZ and Radar videos, cops stand by while the celebutards load up racks-full of clothes, boxed-up insulin and toiletries -- and Johnson's two dogs -- in Hilton's black SUV. LAPD spokeswoman Officer Rosario Herrera said two squad cars were dispatched to Tequila's house at around 2 p.m. to respond to a report of a "verbal dispute."

Johnson's remains will be flown to New York for a funeral Sunday, E! online reported.

Casey's family, meanwhile, is livid over Tequila's Twitter rants -- especially the claim that she was planning to meet with the family.

"Not true," a family spokesman told The Post.

Friends told The Post they've been horrified by Tequila's behavior since Johnson's death.

"She keeps Twittering about her grief and her 'wifey,' but we know she's just using Casey's death for her own publicity. It's disgusting," said a friend.

"We all want Casey to be remembered as a classy girl, not as somebody connected with someone like Tila.

"The truth is that if Tila did really care about Casey, where was she when Casey was truly in need, when Casey was on her own before New Year?

"Why did she leave her on her own for days without worrying something could have happened or realizing she was dead? Somebody needs to shut this evil little girl up."

Cops interviewed Tequila -- whose real name is Tila Nguyen -- yesterday, particularly regarding online comments she made about Johnson's abuse of prescription drugs, several news outlets reported.

But authorities say there were no signs of foul play or suicide.

It also emerged yesterday that Johnson, the daughter of Jets owner Woody Johnson, died owing hundreds of thousands of dollars. She was last heard from Dec. 29, and her body was found in her LA home six days later.

Court documents showed that Johnson owed $105,740 to a Los Angeles Porsche dealer, and owed a nanny service more than $20,000 for care provided to her adopted daughter.

Additional reporting by Tori Richards in Los Angeles

Get Paid to Return to School....

Obama will give you $2,500 a year to go to school
(ARA) - By now, everyone knows that the Obama administration's stimulus bill is designed to get the economy moving again. However, you may not know that most of the bill's $70 billion for education will go to low- to middle-income individuals.

A major part of the bill is a $13.8 billion tuition tax credit boost called the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This tax credit reimburses 100 percent of the first $2,000 of educational expenses for lower income students. For the next $2,000, students will receive a 25 percent reimbursement. In short, lower income students will receive $2,500 in education reimbursements per year.

The bill also features other benefits for low-income students. Families that do not earn enough to pay income taxes can receive a $1,000 education refund.

"These kinds of incentives from the government don't come along very often," says Janet Hill, financial aid and education counselor at ClassesandCareers.com, a free online education service. "If people have been thinking of going back to school, now would be the time to do it. If they are hurting financially, they can easily get the money they need to get a degree." These benefits are set to expire after the 2010-2011 school year.

Fortunately, thanks to a growing number of online education options, degree-seekers can take advantage of President Barack Obama's stimulus bill without leaving their jobs. Sites like Classes and Careers.com have helped nearly 500,000 degree-seekers get their stimulus money and enroll in online universities.

"We help people learn how to take advantage of this bill," says Hill. "All they have to do is visit our form and fill it out. We guide them through the rest."

If you are a low-income individual and want to get money to go back to school, visit ClassesandCareers.com, fill out their form, and indicate which schools you may be interested in. An education adviser will contact you and help you get your share of President Obama's stimulus money to go back to school.

Sponsored content provided by ARALifestyle. Copyright ARAnet, Inc.

Keyshia Cole is Congratulated by Monica on her engagements..

Monica confirms Keyshia's engagement via twitter..

Singer Keyshia Cole’s boo bear “Boobie” popped the big question on New Years Day and of course she didn’t hesitate to say “Yes”. Her BFF Monica confirmed the news via twitter and also confirmed that Keyshia will be expecting a baby boy in March.


Wanna say congrats to my girl. It's so beautiful to be in love. Too bad people can't keep a secret like me. Lol. Oh and KC is thinking about
about 23 hours ago from Echofon

Joining Twitter. Lol. She said I gotta show her. So we will see. Anyway live ya KC, your a great godmother to my boys so I'm 200 percent
about 23 hours ago from Echofon

Sure your gonna be a great mother & wife. God is taking u just where he wants u to be, u have his favor &u have me. Think NOTHING of others
about 23 hours ago from Echofon




And they're opinions. Stay prayed up and let God be your guide and ONLY source of strength. Love ya twit-fam. Nap time for real now
about 23 hours ago from Echofon


Congratulations To Keyshia and her Boobie...she deserves to be Happy and she will be a great mother!!

A Moment of Reflection.... I Thought I Knew

I stare off into space thinking back way back , maybe it was the picture that an old classmate posted on Facebook that triggered so many memories. A time when I knew everything so I thought come to find out at age 30 I actually had no clue...Which took me back to a time when I felt or rather I thought that I knew what Love was, its funny now that I think of it I just felt that when you Loved someone then that was suppose to be enough! I never thought about the compromising, working together to make things work or finding someone who is compatible versus finding someone who just takes your breath away on sight!

And the growing up getting out on my own after I made 18 ..lol now that was a trip because I wasn't really on my own until a few years later..Bills, bills and more bilss is what I got along with stress and bad credit!!! We at such a young age really convince ourselves that we know what we want out of life never taking time to actually make a plan and work on a blue print and the factthat there really isn't a force behind you to motivate and encourage you , somehow they've vanished! Somewhere along the way my dream vanished also.

I forgot about the passion, what really made me happy . Life took over and going immediately into survivor's mode I merely existed. Losing people to either death or by distance I lost a part of me and you can tell a person exactly what they mean to you but if they're not caring or feeling the same way..they vanish and deep inside thoughout life you hope and pray that somehow, some way the two of you would come back in contact but do you still have anything in common?

Now that I have a blue print and a clearer knowledge of what Love really is..Do I really know?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2010....

I WOULD FIRST LIKE TO SAY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!! I WOULD TO WISH EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU LOVE, JOY AND PROSPERITY IN 2010!! ALSO I HAVE AN ONLINE MAGAZINE THAT IS VERY HOT!! AND ENTERTAINING FOR THE GROWN AND SEXY ONLY!! VISIT IT AT www.confessions-magazine.webs.com and leave a comment or Join!!


I am going to be doing special articles for my Blog in 2010...Created to be entertaining as well as informative, motivating and inspirational!!!


Be Blessed!!
Angela Wilson