Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Helping real people win the tax game.

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CPA No Longer Chicken Of 1031 Exchanges

Posted by taxguru on August 19, 2005

Sherry recently received this from the exchange client who was the subject of this debate I had with her CPA on the definition of like kind for poultry houses.  

I thank you for the excellent service you provided us, including the “short course” for our accountant.  He told me later that you had convinced him and that he would have done just what we did.  GREAT !!!!  Look forward to your response.  Thanks again.

I should also point out that I have yet to receive a single note of disagreement over my interpretation of like kind in this regard.

This kind of thing, where I have to educate IRS employees and other tax practitioners on the proper way to handle things, has gone on for decades.  Nobody in the tax profession, especially me, can truthfully make the claim to know everything about the tax laws.  No such person exists.  The laws and rules literally change daily and we all have to learn new things constantly.  However, in situations like this, I can’t help but wonder how many people were the victims of the misinformed tax pros.  With thousands of poultry houses in this area (Tyson country), this easily could have cost a lot of farmers a ton of taxes that could have easily been legally avoided.

 

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Posted by taxguru on August 19, 2005

Feds bust two Los Angeles tax preparers for using idiotic claim that income is not subject to tax. – And all of their idiot clients will soon also be in deep doo-doo.

 

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Posted by taxguru on August 19, 2005

Previously released 2005 California tax rates incorrect – FTB is supposed to correct them next week.

 

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Employee Discounts On Taxes?

Posted by taxguru on August 19, 2005

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People have always been modifying their behavior due to the tax laws

Posted by taxguru on August 18, 2005

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Posted by taxguru on August 17, 2005

GAO Report Encourages IRS to Make Compliance Strategy Clearer 

Dana Stahl and I aren’t the only ones questioning the validity of the IRS’s “Tax Gap” figures.

“This new GAO report tells us that good numbers on tax compliance remain rare. The IRS needs more precise information about the tax gap in order to better target its resources and, as a result, stay focused on the tax cheats and leave honest taxpayers in peace.” – Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

 

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Posted by taxguru on August 16, 2005

The era of big tax cuts may be over – Our GOP rulers have very clearly shown their utter disregard for limits on government spending.  Are they going to next wimp out on reducing tax rates?  There is still one political party that strongly believes in low taxes and low government spending.

 

So, You Want to Be A Landlord… – You too could end up with a psycho tenant who uses the movie Pacific Heights as his game plan to steal your property from you, as we had back in the Bay Area.

 

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Fairy Tales

Posted by taxguru on August 16, 2005

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Advertising

Posted by taxguru on August 16, 2005

Q:

Subject: query regarding blogads on the taxguru site

Hello,
 
I manage an internet store that sells t-shirts and mugs for tax attorneys and accountants (www.taxshirts.com).  I was wondering whether your site accepted blogads, and if so, what the weekly rate is.
 
Thanks so much,
Lisa Binder

 

A:

Lisa:

Currently, the only ads I have on my sites are the standard vendor affiliate programs.  I am not set up with BlogAds.  However, you are the second person to inquire about that; so I will look into setting that up if there appears to be sufficient demand.

Good luck with your product sales.  Thank you for your interest in advertising on my sites.

Kerry Kerstetter

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Stock Picking Scam

Posted by taxguru on August 16, 2005

Today’s Braingle Brain teaser covered how so-called stock market gurus pull in gullible victims.  Again, this isn’t new, but is crucial to remember.

Ok, so here is the deal. One day, you get a call from some random guy who says “Next week, ABC stock is going to move up. I’m not asking you to buy any stock from me, but just take a look.” You do so (why not, it can’t hurt…) and he was correct. Sure enough, next week you get another call from the “Lucky Guesser”. His pick? “DEF is going to go down.” And guess what! He was right again!

For five weeks, this guy predicts the behavior of stocks. The sixth time he calls he says, “I’ve been right the past five times. This time I have a stock for you and I do want you to buy some shares through me. What do you say?”

Well, what do you say. Do you buy shares from this guy?

 

Answer:

Heck no! He’s playing you like a puppet. First week he calls 100 people, says to half ABC will go up and to the other fifty, he claims it will go down. When ABC goes up, he called the fifty he’d correctly predicted to and told half DEF would go up, and half it would go down. By the time he’s at week five, he has a few people (2-4) thinking he’s a stock market god.
 
 

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