Can Sarah Palin dodge this one?

The latest from Alaska Report:

AlaskaReport has learned that at least 3 more ethics complaints will be filed against Sarah Palin in the near future. Of course her cronies at the Personnel Board will probably sweep them under the rug - but at least the crimes will have a light shined upon them before they do... Also - A long simmering embezzlement/IRS scandal is still being looked at by the feds. Stay tuned...

It looks like our mystery guy had at least one valid point...
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Sarah Palin's tax questions

There's been a lot of speculation about how to report irregularities in Sarah Palin's tax returns. There are two ways of doing it. The Whistleblowers scheme may lead to a cash award for the person reporting. The other way is to report fraud without claiming an award, as outlined below:

How Do You Report Suspected Tax Fraud Activity?

If you suspect or know of an individual or company that is not complying with the tax laws, you may report this activity by completing Form 3949-A. You may fill out Form 3949-A online, print it and mail it to:

Internal Revenue Service
Fresno, CA 93888

If you do not wish to use Form 3949-A, you may send a letter to the address above. Please include the following information, if available:

*Name and address of the person you are reporting
*The taxpayer identification number (social security number for an individual)
*A brief description of the alleged violation, including how you became aware of or obtained the information
*The years involved
*The estimated dollar amount of any unreported income
*Your name, address and daytime telephone number

Address for the IRS in Anchorage:

US Internal Revenue Services
949 E 36th Ave # 114
Anchorage, AK 99508-4361
(907) 271-6877

The Palins tax return for 2007 can be found here.
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Sarah Palin's wrongdoings

It's nearly time for Sarah Palin to cough up the money she owes the state for her children's travel. The ethics complaint filed by Frank Gwartney last October wasn't frivolous after all!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has until June 23 to reimburse the state for an estimated $10,000 in costs associated with trips taken by her children, under an agreement resolving an ethics complaint against her. The board found no wrongdoing on Palin's part. (as usual)

There were 72 trips and Sarah Palin will reimburse the state for 10 of them.

That's between her and the state of Alaska.

What I would like to know is how the IRS regard these trips. I have seen the Palin's tax return for 2008 but can't find the link anymore. I don't remember seeing any money for travel by her family members listed as income in there. There's no mention of travel on the 2007 document either.

Sarah Palin had to amend her tax returns and pay tax on her per diems. Did she pay tax on the family travel as well?

If she had to pay tax on her own per diems as a legitimate state official, I would expect the family travel to be even more taxable as they hold no official position in the Alaska government.

I re-read all the ADN articles related to both the per diems and the family travel but couldn't find any questions about tax on the latter. All I could find was that she was completely innocent of any wrongdoing, but being a good girl she decided to pay the state back for some of the travel out of the goodness of her heart.

In an article dated October 5, 2008, Jack Bogdanski discusses this very subject:

There is no question whatsoever that the payments for the Palin children's travel -- $24,728.83 -- were indeed taxable to Governor Palin. The money paid for Todd Palin's travel -- $18,761.37 -- might possibly turn out to be tax-free, but it would be quite a stretch. And the per diems and other travel payments to the governor herself ($16,951) may or may not be taxable, but certainly not because state law or the state payroll office says so.

(More on this from TaxProf)

What's Sarah Palin's tax liability, then? Certainly not on the $10,000 she's giving back because she did nothing wrong, but what about all the other children's trips and Todd's travel during her time in office?
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Easy money from Sarah Palin!

A nice money making program was brought to our attention by Ratfish. If anybody collects a reward, don't forget to send Sarah a thank you note... 1140 W Parks Hwy, Wasilla AK 99654.

The IRS has a whistleblower program, with rewards of up to 15% to people “who provide specific and credible information to the IRS if the information results in the collection of taxes, penalties, interest or other amounts from the noncompliant taxpayer.”

Click here to see how the program works.

It should be easy money for anyone interested.

If anyone needs documentation to forward to the IRS, it is here.
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Invite Sarah Palin (and the First Family)

State of Alaska > Governor > Invite the Governor to Meeting or Event

Please fill out the form below if you would like to invite Governor Sarah Palin to attend or participate in an event. If you have any questions regarding our scheduling process, please contact the Governor’s scheduler at (907) 465-3500.

The Governor’s scheduling office will contact you to follow up per your request. You will be notified of the Governor’s availability for the requested date.


After filling out details about who you are, what the event is about, etc, you arrive at these sections:

Is the First Family invited?: *
Yes
No

Will the media be invited?: *
Yes
No

Will there be a podium and/or microphone?: *
Yes
No

Wow! Sarah has covered all bases. She can have her blessed loving family, a photo-op and a microphone to amplify her word salad speeches all rolled into one!

Provided the people making the invitation tick the "Yes" boxes, of course...

In which case her little problem with the children's expenses will be a thing of the past. She'll never be caught out again.

All Sarah has to do is pray a lot so the IRS witches are kept away from her expenses claims forms.

To see the form in full, click here.
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