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Richard A. Chapo Profile and Articles
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1). Rental Property Tax Deductions
Own residential rental properties? This article discusses how income from those properties impacts your taxes.
What Constitutes Revenue?
Generally, rental income is defined as any revenue you receive from the occupancy or use of residential property. Rent, obviously, is included in that revenue. Many owners are surprised to learn revenue also includes rent advancements, expenses paid by a tenant and any security deposits not returned to the tenant.
2). Section 179 – Tax Relief From Depreciation Rules
“Depreciation.” For business owners, this word is the one most likely to inspire headaches and fits of cussing. The expanded provisions of Section 179 are just the medicine you need to cure the depreciation blues.
Depreciation
Traditionally, if your business property had a life of more than one year, the cost had to be deducted over several tax years.
3). Tax Returns - Should You Itemize?
When you finally decide it is time to prepare your taxes, the first question is whether you should itemize your deductions or take the standard deduction provided by the IRS.
Choices, Choices…
Tax deductions are a very simple part of a theoretically simple tax reporting system. If you’ve ever prepared your own taxes, you know this simply isn’t true.
4). Tax Quotes and Jokes for Tax Season
Like death, paying taxes is inevitable. In the case of most Americans, tax season is just around the corner. If only paying taxes was so easy.
As you begin pulling out those receipts, the eraser and reading plain English tax instructions that Einstein couldn’t figure out, you’re going to need a good laugh. Here you go:
1. I am proud to be paying taxes in the United States.
5). Fraudulent Tax Shelters – KMPG Goes Down Hard
In the largest criminal tax case ever filed, KMPG has copped a plea to using fraudulent tax shelters to bilk the government out of 2.5 billion dollars. KMPG has agreed to pay a fine of $456 million dollars, but nine of its executives still are under indictment.
Son of Boss Tax Shelters
From 1996 to 2003, KMPG promoted a tax strategy known as the Son of Boss.
6). Giving To Charities – Tax Deductions and Such
The tax code in the United States contains many provisions to promote certain behavior. One area of behavior is the promotion of giving to qualified charities.
Giving To Charities – Tax Deductions and Such
In the rush to get tax returns prepared and filed, many people absentmindedly forget to include deductions for contributions to charities. If you itemize deductions on your tax return, this can be an expensive omission.
7). 1099-MISC Forms For Independent Contractors for 2005
As we begin 2005, you’re probably not thinking about taxes at all. This is a mistake as deadlines are approaching for issuing and filing 1099s to independent contractors.
What is a 1099 MISC?
Generally speaking, the IRS requires you to report certain payments you made during the year to independent contractors. The 1099-MISC form is a single page on which you report to total amount you paid to the independent contractor during 2005.
8). What You Need To Know About Taxes If You’re Getting Married
It may not be high on the list of wedding planning activities, but there are a few simple steps that can help keep tax issues from interrupting your newly wedded bliss. If you recently married, check out your new tax situation. You might save money or even prevent the problem of a missing refund check.
The first things to handle are changes of name and address.
9). Tax Credits for Retirement Savings
It is a well-known fact that Americans are miserable failures when it comes to saving for retirement. Well, the government is offering tax credits to change this for some of us.
Tax Credits for Retirement Savings
Social security is going to be under siege as baby boomers hit retirements. Fortunately, many baby boomers have put away piles of cash in 401ks and IRAs.
10). Deducting Points On Home Refinances
Any points that you pay in the refinancing of your residence are tax deductible over the length of the loan in question. The deduction is allowable only if the residence is your primary home and the new mortgage replaces a previous one and/or is used to improve the residence. To the extent that money is taken out to pay off credit cards and non-residence costs, the points may not be used as a tax deduction.
11). Capital Assets – Gains and Losses for Taxes
Capital is a unique term when it comes to taxes. If it gains value, you pay a tax. If it loses it, you can write at least some of the loss off.
Capital Assets – Gains and Losses for Taxes
Practically everything you own is a capital asset. This is true whether you use it for business purposes or personal use. The internet revenue service is very interested in your capital assets.
12). Non-Compete Agreements In Action – Microsoft v. Google
Non-Compete Agreements are controversial documents that restrict a person’s right to work with competitors of a former employer. The effectiveness of
13). S Corporations – Filing The Election
Getting a corporation designated as an “S” can be a bit confusing. If you are committed to getting an “S” corporation, here is how you do it.
14). IRS Lock-In Letters – What’s An Employer To Do?
Employers often ask employees to designate the amount of tax withholdings for paychecks. Occasionally, employees will fail to withhold a sufficient amount in the eyes of the IRS. The IRS will then send a “lock-in” letter on the amount to be withheld. What’s an employer to do?
Withholdings
Four taxes must be withheld from employee paychecks – Medicare, Social Security, Federal Income and State Income tax.
15). Tax Season – Time for Scams
As tax season draws irresistibly closer, the scam artists are polishing their latest techniques. This article should help you keep an eye out for these nasty individuals.
Tax Season – Time for Scams
In a particularly cheeky move, scam artists have started posing in on form or another as the IRS in an effort to get you to turn over social security numbers and such.
16). S Corporation – What Is It?
For many small businesses, the “S” corporation is the business entity of choice. The “S” in S corporation refers to a tax designation. All corporation
17). Checking The Status of Your Tax Refund Online
More than a few people are happy to learn they are due a tax refund after filling out their tax returns. If you are one of these people, here is how to check the status of your refund online.
Checking The Status of Your Tax Refund Online
Before getting into checking your refund status, I feel obligated to mention a few things about tax refunds. One involves the nature of refund and the other involves Internet scams.
18). Your IRS Tax Appeal Rights
Are you in the middle of a disagreement with the IRS? One of the guaranteed rights for all taxpayers is the right to appeal. If you disagree with the IRS about the amount of your tax liability or about proposed collection actions, you have the right to ask the IRS Appeals Office to review your case.
During their contact with taxpayers, IRS employees are required to explain and protect these taxpayer rights, including the right to appeal.
19). Getting a Tax Credit for Your Kids
As you know, raising a family is a full time job and can put stress on your finances. Fortunately, you can claim a tax credit to help cut your IRS bill if you have kids.
Getting a Tax Credit for Your Kids
With a tax deduction, you are reducing the total amount of adjusted gross income you have. For instance, if you earned $50,000 dollars in 2005 and take a $1,000 deduction for something, you’ll have to pay tax on $49,000 dollars in earnings.
20). Small Business Tax Deduction - Write-Off Bad Debts
Practically every small business has receivables that it cannot obtain from clients. If your small business doesn't have any such receivables, consider yourself lucky. For those small businesses that suffer from uncollected receivables, solace can be taken from the fact you can claim a tax deduction.
Bad Debt Tax Deduction
A small business can write-off bad debt losses if it meets nominal requirements.
21). Small Employers Rejoice – IRS Simplifies Filings
One of the largest burdens on very small employers is dealing with taxes. Fortunately, the IRS has taken a major step to reduce this burden.
Quarterly Federal Tax Returns – Not!
There are millions of small businesses that labor under the burden of filing federal tax returns each quarter of the calendar year. These quarterly returns have been a major gripe of business owners who often feel they see their CPAs more than their families.
22). Gambling Income and Expenses - Tax Requirements
Hit a big one? With more and more gambling establishments, keep in mind the IRS requires people to report all gambling winnings as income on their tax return.
Gambling income includes, but is not limited to, winnings from lotteries, raffles, horse and dog races and casinos. Unfortunately, gambling income also includes the fair market value of prizes such as cars, houses, trips or other non-cash prizes.
23). Tax Deduction for Alimony Payments? - Yes!
Over 50% of marriages end in divorce in the United States. Many divorce decrees include provisions for the payment of alimony. The IRS takes the position that such payments constitute a form of income and create an alimony tax deduction for the person making payments.
According to the IRS, alimony payments are taxable to the recipient in the year received.
24). Correspondence From The IRS – Yikes!
It’s a moment every person dreads. You pick up the mail and there is an envelope from the IRS. It’s not a refund check. What do you do?
Don’t Panic
Each year, the IRS sends out millions of “correspondence audits” to taxpayers to request payment of taxes, notify them of a change to their account or request additional information. These audits normally cover a very specific issue, often notifying you of additional small amounts of income for which you owe tax.
25). Donating Cars To Charity - New Tax Rules
On June 3, 2005, the IRS released guidance on charitable deductions for donated vehicles. The American Jobs Creation Act (AJCA) radically changed the amount of the deduction taxpayers can claim for their donated car.
Fair Market Value v. Actual Sales Price
When donating a car to charity, a taxpayer traditionally was allowed to deduct the fair market value.
26). Business Name – How To Pick One
A business name can be a huge factor in the ultimate success or failure of the entity. Unfortunately, many people fail to give a lot of thought to it
27). Identity Theft – Impacting Your Taxes?
If your identity is stolen, your finances can quickly become a nightmare. A less obvious problem is the effect identity theft can have on your taxes.
Identity Theft
Generally, thieves steal your personal data for the purpose of running up credit card charges or opening and abusing new accounts. A developing trend in the identity theft field concerns schemes impacting your taxes.
28). Help Me Prepare My Taxes
Nothing leads to more gnashing of teeth than the thought of preparing your own taxes. Fortunately, there are people out there that do it for a living.
Here Are My Receipts
If the thought of preparing your own taxes makes you queasy, don’t worry. Preparing your taxes is a job that can be shipped out to others. These individuals, known loosely as tax preparers, prepare tax returns year around.
29). Tax Refund Email Scam – IRS Warning
The IRS has issued a warning regarding a phishing email scam. The scam claims you are due a tax refund, but is really designed to obtain your personal information.
Tax Refund Email Scam
Phishing scams are designed to swindle you into providing private information that can be used to your detriment. This information typically includes things like credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank accounts and so on.
30). Oscars and Taxes
Ratings for the Oscars were down a whopping 10 percent compared to 2005. Well, at least the Internal Revenue Service was watching.
Goodie Bags – Not So Goodie
Actors that get nominated for an Oscar are might happy indeed. Praise rains down upon them for a good performance and better parts are often in the offering. Win an Oscar and the world is their oyster.
31). Innocent Spouses - Relief from Taxes
Historically, tax issues arising from bad marriages fell into the category of “better or worse” for marriages. The IRS granted no innocent spouse tax relief, but has changed its views.
Tax Relief
When a marriage has problems, finances are almost always one of the elements that contribute to the strife. This can be particularly true where spouses file a joint tax return, which the both sign as tax payers.
32). 2006 List of Tax Scams Released by IRS
Every year, the IRS issues a list of tax scams. The goal is to alert taxpayers to the lack of merit of certain strategies as well as letting everyone know the IRS will not accept them.
2006 Scams
The IRS has kicked out its annual list of highly dubious tax scams for 2006. Promoters often make these strategies sound credible, but they simply aren’t.
33). Can't Find a Boss, So Become One
CAN’T FIND A BOSS, SO BECOME ONE
Written by Teena Rose, author of How to Start a Résumé Business
34). Home Office Tax Expenses
Self-employed individuals often work out of their own home. If this is the case with you, here’s a primer on home office tax expenses you can claim on your taxes.
Home Office Tax Expenses
America is a country built on small businesses. Yes, the big companies are the darlings of the media, but the guts of our economy are the little guys pursuing the American Dream from the extra bedroom.
35). Congress Considers National Data Privacy Law
Legislation was introduced into Congress this week that would establish a national data privacy law. The bill would require businesses to disclose to
36). California Businesses Incorporating In Nevada - Is It Legal?
California is a notoriously bad state to do business in. Regulations, worker’s compensation and tax issues overwhelm companies. Seeking relief, many i
37). Tax Benefits of "C" Corporations – Business Failure
Statistics show that many businesses will fail. If you can survive the first two years, chances of your business succeeding go up dramatically. But wh
38). Create Tax Savings And Transfer Wealth To Your Child With A Roth IRA
Parents must give serious thought to protecting their family through estate tax planning. While life insurance and trusts should be a part of every plan, Roth IRAs can be a simple tool for passing money to your child on a tax-free basis.
Roth IRA
First, we need a quick summary of the Roth IRA. A Roth IRA is an after-tax retirement vehicle that produces huge tax savings because all tax distributions are tax-free.
39). Marriage or Divorce — Check Your Social Security Number
Newlyweds and the recently divorced should make sure that names on their tax returns match those registered with the Social Security Administration (SSA). A mismatch between a name on the tax return and a Social Security number (SSN) could unexpectedly increase a tax bill or reduce the size of any refund.
For newlyweds, the tax scenario can begin when the bride says "I do" and takes her husband's surname, but doesn't tell the SSA about the name change.
40). Copyright – What Can You Protect?
The legal protection known has “copyright” has come front and center over the past few years with major legal rulings regarding peer-to-peer networks
41). Dear John Letters From The IRS
Undoubtedly, you are aware of Dear John letters. Often a young lady sent them to men in the military, often containing bad news. Well, the IRS sends them to taxpayers as well.
Dear John Letters From The IRS
The Internal Revenue Service sends out millions of Dear John letters to taxpayers every year. Instead of informing you of a break up, these letters let you know the IRS would like to get a bit closer.
42). 40 Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen – Failure To Encrypt
CardSystems Solutions moronic security efforts have resulted in the potential theft of information for 40 million credit cards. Hackers were able to i
43). DERAILING IDENTITY THIEVES WHILE JOB-SEARCHING, PART I OF II
Going up against identity thieves is like playing a very intense game of chess. A player makes a move, but not before thinking of the opponent’s poten
44). FORECASTING AND SURVIVING A LAYOFF OR DOWNSIZING
Dirty words for jobseekers include downsizing, acquisitions, mergers, closures, cutbacks, and layoffs. No one wants to lose their job, especially with
45). Back To School – Educators Deduct School Expenses
As teachers and students head back to school following a glorious summer, it’s time to remind teachers to organize 2004 school expenses. Under a tempo
46). Various Ford and Mercury Hybrids Get Tax Credit Certification From IRS
Starting in 2006, individuals buying hybrid cars will get a tax credit instead of a tax deduction. The IRS has just started to kick out the exact amounts you can claim for your new hybrid.
Various Ford and Mercury Hybrids Get Tax Credit Certification From IRS
Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the tax benefits of owning a hybrid vehicle underwent significant changes.
47). Automobile Tax Expenses
If you use a vehicle for conducting business, you can deduct certain automobile tax expenses from your tax bill. This is true even if you use the vehicle for personal and business needs.
Automobile Tax Expenses
The powers that be have historically written sections into the tax code promoting business activities. One of the traditional write-offs has always been the expenses associated with using a vehicle for business purposes.
48). Tax Jokes and Quotes
Do you realize that some tax forms ask you to check a box if you are BLIND?
Quote: “Two years ago it was impossible to get through on the phone to the IRS. Now it's just hard to get through. That's progress.” -Charles Rossotti, former IRS Commissioner
Disappointed that you never had time to write the great American novel? Don’t fret, just go dig out your past tax returns.
49). Doh! IRS Loses Taxes In San Francisco Bay
On September 23, 2005, the Internal Revenue Service began sending notices to tax payers in thirteen states that there may be a problem with their tax payments. Here is the scoop.
Traffic School?
It seems one of the trucks carrying the payments was involved in a traffic accident and the payments were lost. The accident actually occurred in San Mateo, California and resulted in…wait, I have to stop laughing.
50). Self-Employed Tax Strategies
Self-employed individuals always cringe at the amount of taxes the pay to the IRS and state. Here are tax strategies for self-employed individuals that reduce those tax amounts.
Tax Strategies
The good news is being self-employed is one of the best tax strategies out there. Unlike a salaried employee, the full scope of tax credits and deductions available in the tax code are now available to you.
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