Archive for October, 2007
Publicly shaming delinquent taxpayers
Posted by taxguru on October 12, 2007
The California Franchise Tax Board has a policy of posting the names of taxpayers (or more accurately, non-payers) who owe more than $100,000 on this special page on their website. They show the amounts and the city where the taxpayer was last known to reside.
As I’ve always mentioned, merely crossing the borders of the PRC is no reason to feel secure from the FTB’s extremely aggressive collection actions. Several of the names have non-California addresses, including some celebrities such as:
Orenthal Simpson of Miami, FL owing $1,435,484.17 for personal income taxes
Dionne Warwick of S. Orange, NJ owing $2,665,305.83 for personal income taxes
What tax collector is crazy enough to go after OJ Simpson for back taxes, knowing his method of dealing with exes (ex-wife, ex home state)?
Posted in StateTaxes | Comments Off on Publicly shaming delinquent taxpayers
Posted by taxguru on October 11, 2007
Some interesting articles from the latest Intuit newsletter:
New Tax Preparer Penalty Standards on Hold
Year-End Strategies Can Boost Clients’ IRA Benefits
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on
Posted by taxguru on October 10, 2007
House backs bill to end private tax collections – But the Senate doesn’t appear to agree; so this program will most likely continue. I haven’t had any clients encounter these free-lance bounty hunters; so I would be interested in any real life comments from tax pros or taxpayers who would like to share their experiences.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on
Section 179 not safe for do it yourselfers…
Posted by taxguru on October 6, 2007
Q:
Subject: please help
can you give me he formula on how to figure the 179 tax deduction of a 6,000 lb suv
let’s say that I purchase this year (2007) a new H2 for $70,000 dollars
can you walk me thru the total deduction?
any help would be great – thank you
A:
The amount of your Section 179 deduction will depend on the business usage of the vehicle based on miles driven, as well as your qualifying earned income. This kind of calculation is not something that can or should be done on your own.
If you seriously need to know the tax benefits before you buy your new H2, you should have your personal professional tax advisor crunch the numbers for you.
If you don’t have a personal professional tax advisor, you need to get one ASAP. Any business making enough money to afford a vehicles as expensive as that H2 is in serious trouble if you are trying to handle all of the tax and financial matters on your own.
Good luck.
Kerry Kerstetter
Posted in 179 | Comments Off on Section 179 not safe for do it yourselfers…
2008 Taxes On Dividends
Posted by taxguru on October 6, 2007
Q:
Subject: ’08 tax rate scheds
Thanks for info on the new bracket breaks. I have one comment on your page. I believe dividend income that would otherwise be in the 10-15% brackets (pre-JGTRRA) is taxed at 0% (just like LTCG) not 5%. That’s what the CBO says, but please let me know if the 5% on dividends is new information (for instance, I may have stale information).
A:
While that CCH article I quoted on the new inflation adjusted tax rate schedules didn’t specifically mention the rate for qualified dividends, you are correct that they receive the same Zero tax rate as do long term capital gains for people in the lowest tax brackets. In fact, here is how QuickFinder Online describes it:
“Tax on qualified dividends is the same rate as long-term capital gains for dividends received after 2002 and before 2011 (5% for taxpayers in the 10% and 15% tax brackets, and 15% for taxpayers in the 25% and above tax brackets). A zero percent rate applies to taxpayers in the 10% and 15% brackets for 2008 – 2010.”
I will add this info to the 2008 tax rate page on my website.
I appreciate your bringing this item to my attention.
Kerry Kerstetter
Posted in CapGains | Comments Off on 2008 Taxes On Dividends
Both sides of the Fair Tax debate
Posted by taxguru on October 4, 2007
The Lies:
FairTax is anything but – From a nut job in Kansas City
FairTax Is Pure Fantasy – More spurious attacks from Bruce Bartlett, who has yet to apologize for his idiotic claims that the FairTax is a Scientology plot.
The Truth:
A 59 minute video of a presentation by John Linder and Neal Boortz. I just finished listening to the entire thing. John Linder mentions that we CPAs are strongly in favor of this idea so that we can use our skills for more useful purposes than protecting clients from the IRS, something I have long been saying.
Posted in FairTax | Comments Off on Both sides of the Fair Tax debate
Tax Guru - Ker$tetter Letter 