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Former News Anchor Receives $20k Tax Bill
As the tax deadline approaches, heres a great reminder that just because your accountant says something is OK, doesnt mean you wont be in trouble with the IRS. Former TV anchor Anietra Hamper kept meticulous records of her business purchase, but according to an article in The Columbus Dispatch, that didnt matter. A tax judge found that nearly all of the business expenses Hamper deducted from her tax returns from 2005-2008 werent valid. Now she faces a bill of nearly $20,000. “I would hate for anyone else to go through this,”38-year-old Hamper told the newspaper.
During her television career, Hamper deducted clothing she wore on air. Hamper worked as an anchor for WCMH and WBNS in Columbus. Hamper made the decision to deduct her clothing purchases based on the fact that other anchors told her they did it and her accountant thought it was OK. Hamper was careful to keep her work clothes separate from her personal clothes and she kept careful records. But a couple of years ago the IRS asked for documentation of her expenses from 2005. “I knew I had followed their guidelines,” she told the newspaper. Hamper had also written off expenses for contact lenses, makeup, haircuts, magazine subscriptions and more.
But according to the IRS, she hadnt. They stuck her with a bill for back taxes and ended up auditing other returns as well. “Anietra felt, as well as I felt, that the clothing she purchased would be an ordinary, necessary job expense,” accountant Ron Lykins told the newspaper. “The tax code says you can deduct all expenses ordinary and necessary to maintain your income.”
Tax code lists firefighters, professional athletes and delivery workers as possible employees that could be eligible for deducting clothing expenses not anchors. The tax code says the clothing must not be suitable for everyday wear. “The general rule is that, where business clothes are suitable for general wear, a deduction for them is not allowable,” the judge wrote, according to The Columbus Dispatch. But Hamper wants to get the word out so others dont have to go through what shes gone through. She says to keep in mind that even if your accountant says something is OK, it still may not be to the IRS.
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