Our not so silent financial partner is never far away…
Posted by taxguru on October 8, 2006
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Once a bully, always a bully
Posted by taxguru on October 7, 2006
The insatiable need to steal money from other people may be a lifelong illness for many of our rulers.
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Special QB Utilities
Posted by taxguru on October 7, 2006
Q:
Subject: Big Red Consulting / Quickbooks QuestionHi Kerry –Came across your comments on your website concerning Big Red Consulting‘s tool to transfer transaction files between companies and was looking to purchase that. I am, however, always a bit hesitant on downloading a third party tool that comes in contact with company files etc. Also curious on your experience on this tools functionality.– Essentially have two copies of the same company and need to update one computer with some but not all transactions for some vendors (payments, address changes etc) and also invoices. Simply said Computer A contains 90% of the invoice/payment transactions but need to update it with the 10% that is on Computer B without wiping out/replacing the 90% info that is on Computer A.The Big Red website seems to indicate that this is what this tool is designed to do but wanted to see what your experience is on this.Very much appreciate any feedback on this…just want to be sure to get the right tool the first time.Best Regards,
A:
I purchased my first programs from Big Red in April 2002 and have never had any problems when using them. They have always performed as advertised. Neither have I ever heard of any problems from others who I have advised to use those programs to perform their specialized tasks.
To be on the safe side and to protect the integrity of your original data files, it would be a good idea to make copies of them to work with in any process that you may be unsure of. That way, you will always have to option of going back to the pre-modified state.
I hope this helps you feel more comfortable in utilizing the handy tools that Bid Red has for working with QB files.
Good luck.
Kerry Kerstetter
Follow-Up:
Thanks Kerry – Appreciate you get getting back to me.
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More on inflation adjustments for capital assets:
Posted by taxguru on October 6, 2006
From a reader:
Subject: Re: Inflation Adjustments To Capital Gains
Many thanks for the link to the Capital Gains Index pdf file.
This is Henry Paulson’s chance to leave a real legacy at Treasury; it could be backed up by Ben Bernanke who made a good case for the necessity of raising the national saving rate to help offset the looming entitlement disaster.
Indexing cost basis would encourage more saving via lower tax rates. ( I can almost hear certain Senators supported by the MSM howling about how indexing would benefit the eeeevil rich plus how the government is going to lose so much of our money.)
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Battling the Dark Side…
Posted by taxguru on October 5, 2006
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Inflation Adjustments To Capital Gains
Posted by taxguru on October 5, 2006
I received the following email this morning:
Subject: CapGains Indexing – Legal BriefHi Kerry:Pete Sepp with National Taxpayers Union here; we corresponded several years ago about a legal brief that our foundation helped to prepare on how the President could order capital gains indexing without an act of Congress. You had expressed interest in seeing an online copy. Just thought you’d like to know that we have FINALLY been able to scan and post the whole 90-page document on our website. I invite you to check it out at:Enjoy! PetePete Sepp
V-P Communications
National Taxpayers Union
703-299-8667
pressguy@ntu.org
I wrote back:
Pete:
Thanks for passing that along. I’m also glad to see that you posted it to the Latest News section of your website.
I have been assuming that the conclusion reached back then is still the same now and have been hoping that Bush 43 can be more forceful on this issue than his father was and not rely on official legislation to enact this COLA indexing.
I wrote about this most recently a month ago, but will update my website and blog for this new pdf file.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop.
Kerry Kerstetter
I have since updated my website page on this topic to include a link to the new PDF version of this report.
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Posted by taxguru on October 5, 2006
Experts Say Retirement Portfolios Should Include Real Estate – Sounds familiar. Real estate is so much more reliable (as a tangible asset) and less volatile than are stocks.
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Section 179 and MLM
Posted by taxguru on October 5, 2006
Q:
Subject: Section 179 expense
Dear Sir:
I have dealership costs associated with a Coastal Vacations Level I, Level II and Level III that exceed $18,000. First, could these possibly qualify as a Section 179 expense for 2005. These are deeply discounted Lifetime Vacation Memberships that must be purchased in order to sell dealerships at Level III. Or, does that just refer to things like computer equipment and vehicles used by a sole proprietership.
This business had no receipts, so is it possible to take a Section 179 expense of any kind, or must I have had receipts to cover the amount I would like to expense. Would I only be able to deduct this expense once I had income from this business?
Your response would be greatly appreciated.
A:
As you can see on the page describing the Section 179 qualifications, it is only used for tangible business assets. There is no way in which memberships in a travel club or multi-level program would qualify for such classification.
Those costs would need to be amortized over their useful or class lives, which a qualified professional tax advisor can help you determine. And that would only be possible if you are able to prove that they are being used for potentially income generating business purposes and not for your own personal pleasure. I’m not personally familiar with this MLM; but many similar travel club programs routinely give the absolutely false advice that their costs are fully deductible. People are frequently getting into trouble with IRS for trying to deduct these kinds of personal travel costs because they do not have a true for-profit business set up.
If you are serious about running your multi-level business as a legitimate for-profit enterprise (the only way in which you can deduct any related expenses), you need to be working directly with a professional tax practitioner. To not do so will severely jeopardize your ability to convince IRS that you have the required profit motive and aren’t just doing the travel club thing for your personal enjoyment.
Your personal professional tax advisor will be able to assist you in determining what kinds of things are deductible, both with and without any income generated from that business.
Good luck.
Kerry Kerstetter
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Hobby or profit motive?
Posted by taxguru on October 5, 2006
From a reader:
Subject: IRS joke
From Jay Leno, about those two weeks in July when the Dodgers forgot to win:
“[That’s] 11 losses out of 12 games. In fact, today the IRS said they would no longer let the Dodgers deduct their bats as a business expense.”
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Posted by taxguru on October 2, 2006
Income tax cuts benefit all payers – Hard to believe that a leftist paper like USA Today would print anything disputing the party line that only evil rich folks benefit from tax rate cuts.
There’s no 80 percent solution for retirement
New Rules Encourage Investing in 401(k) Retirement Plans
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Tax Guru - Ker$tetter Letter 