Q:

 Subject: football lights

 I noticed your response to the Florida couple who bought a house and then the woods were cut down and football lights installed.

I would recommend they question their realtor and check their disclosure forms. Sellers (at least in CA) should have disclosed this change – I can’t imagine the neighbors didn’t know about it.  It might be why the sellers moved. It might also be grounds to sue the realtor and the rescind the sale.

A:

That is a very good point.  A change that large in the neighborhood doesn’t usually happen overnight without plenty of warning.  There are often environmental impact reports and neighborhood comment meetings.  It does sound as if the sellers weren’t very forthcoming about what they know of the impending changes.  If the Realtor was also aware of those plans, it seems s/he also has a potential liability if the buyer chooses to pursue legal action for misrepresentation and improper disclosure.

Thanks for writing.

Kerry Kerstetter
 

Q:

Subject: Query: Advertising on Your Blog?

I’m contacting you from Zecco.com, the new free financial trading portal.  We launched officially in October and are now seeking blogs on which to advertise.

If you’re interested, to initiate the process, I’d like to know some stats of your site. What is your monthly traffic? What is your current CPM revenue?  With this basic data we can start the ball rolling.

Thank you for your time and information.

 

By the way, if this isn’t something you’re interested in, would you consider an RSS feed in the future or perhaps blogging on the www.Zecco.com site (we do share advertising revenue with bloggers)?

Regards,

Trish Telesco
Zecco Research

A:

Trish:

I appreciate the offer to run ads on my blog.  Unfortunately, based on similar discussions with other potential advertisers, I have learned that I simply don’t have the detailed kinds of stats that you need.

You may want to use the Google AdWords service that I have, just as you have on your website.

You may also want to approach the suspiciously anonymous proprietor of the taxblogger.org website that has very obviously been developed for the express purpose of selling ad space.  I’m assuming that they are keeping much better records of traffic for the benefit of potential advertisers than I am currently set up to do.

I also appreciate the offer to blog for your website.  However, I barely have enough time to post the few things I want to for my own blog.

Good luck with your website.

Kerry Kerstetter

Seadog Bytes recently posted this creative reminder of the new credit we will be seeing on 2006 tax returns.

IRS Announcements:

For individuals

For businesses & tax exempt organizations

Because this sounds like some kind of scam, Snopes.com explains that it is in fact true.

Thanks to Matt Drudge for this latest financial news, where a Federal judge has declared that USA currency must be redesigned to make it easier for blind people to distinguish values.

Philanthropy Expert: Conservatives Are More Generous – This shouldn’t be news to anyone who understands human nature. By definition, Conservatives and Libertarians are extremely generous with their own money, while Liberals are only generous with other people’s money, via government confiscation.

The book in which this study is reported:

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=taxfreeexchacorp&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0465008216&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Update: Thomas Sowell has an interesting look at this book’s subject.

The ABCs of Certification – A look at the often confusing alphabet soup of professional credentials.  I’m constantly having to explain to people what the ATA and ATP stand for. 

Q:

Hi, I came across your site when I was doing some research for a meeting and hoped you might be able to help me and/or refer me to some materials that might be of assistance.

 

I have been asked to address a C corp regarding structuring a gift for a non-profit capital campaign.  Of course, they want to make their gift in the most tax advantageous way and have expressed interest in possibly matching the individual gifts of the members.  I know just enough to be dangerous on this topic, but I would think this would be a charitable gift (deductible up to 10% of AGI) rather than a business expense, which would be deductible at a higher level.  Can you point me to any resources that would be helpful?  Any other issues you can think of that I might need to make them aware of?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

A:

As you mentioned, corporate charitable contributions do have a more limited deductibility than do other operating expenses.  If the 10% of taxable income limit would rule out an actual deduction for your donors, you may want to consider allowing them to use their donations to have advertising and promotional benefits, such as when large companies pay for the rights to put their names on sports and performing arts facilities.  They would then be able to deduct those costs as advertising and promotional expenses, which don’t have the 10% limit.

I hope this helps.  That’s what popped into my head from your question.

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

Many thanks for your help.  I mentioned this to them as a possibility when we met last week, so I am glad to hear that I was on the right track.

 

Thanks again,

 

Rumors fly that President Bush may be willing to raise taxes. – Unfortunately, with his track record of allowing the Dems to set policies in DC, this kind of rumor isn’t as farfetched as it should be for someone who truly supports the tenets of capitalism.

Burned Nonprofits Try to Make It Harder to Renege on Gifts – It’s about time.  Every time I see someone basking in the self-promoting publicity of a huge charitable gift that is to be made several years later, I know that the chances are very high that that person will cancel or reduce the actual amount given.  Of course, there’s rarely any mention of that change in the press.  The real lesson from these kinds of broken promises for the nonprofit organizations is to simply not rely in any way on any donations until they are actually received.  Announcements of future gifts are as reliable as political campaign promises.

IRS Turns to Eunuchs to Improve Tax Collections – A spoof on the widely publicized stories about tax collectors in India.