FALLS CHURCH, VA – Was Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin right to exclude, from her taxes, thousands of dollars in per diems for days that she worked outside the state capital?

Contributing editor Lee A. Sheppard of Tax Analysts, the nonprofit publisher of Tax Notes and other print and on-line publications, raises the thorny question in “Palin’s Reimbursement Problem,” in this week’s Tax Notes.
 
Did Sheppard find a problem with Palin's return. "Darn right we found a problem," she writes with her typical flair, "and we're going to speak directly to the American people about it."

“In 2007, " she writes, "Sarah Palin received $60,441 in reimbursements from the state of Alaska for travel expenses and per diems for days she worked outside the state capital. All of these items were excluded from the Palins’ income. There is a question about whether Palin’s per diems should be excluded from her income, which turns on whether she correctly identified Juneau as her tax home.”

Want to know what's behind Sheppard's skepticism? Read her provocative story on Tax Analysts’ Web site.