The Tax Preparation Blog

Archive for May, 2007

Question: Amending tax return….help (Florida resident)?

I use the 1040 EZ because we do not own a home. We were told that we could have claimed the taxes we paid on our car in 2007 which was over $900 and we did not do so. Trying to amend on turbotax.com and I’m not sure what I should put it under or IF I can amend it to add car taxes from 2007. HELP????

Answer: You may deduct the sales tax you pay for the year if you itemize your deductions by attaching Schedule A to form 1040A, or form 1040. You have the choice of taking a deduction for sales tax paid or state income tax paid. Since there is no state income tax in Florida, Florida residents use the sales tax deduction when they itemize.

You are not required to save every receipt, and add up the sales tax lines on each one. Instead, based on your household income, the IRS allows you an amount called the safe harbor amount. The car you bought qualifies as an additional household large purchase. The $900 of sales tax on the car can be added to a safe harbor amount that the IRS already allows based on your income.

(On the 2008 schedule A, check box “a” for sales tax, and enter the total figure on line 5)

Since the car was bought in 2007, you can only amend your 2007 tax return. You would use form 1040 X to make the changes. If you filed 1040EZ, then you used the standard deduction in 2007.

You would only amend your return, and itemize your deductions, if the total on schedule A was more than the standard deduction you used.

Add up all your possible 2007 itemized deductions on schedule A. If you didn’t own a home, if you didn’t have large out of pocket medical expenses, and you didn’t have large out of pocket work related expenses, then the standard deduction will probably be higher. If the standard deduction is higher, you should not amend your return.

If your standard deduction is higher than the total of your possible itemized deductions, the $900 sales tax you paid on the car won’t give you any additional tax benefit. It’s only adds a tax benefit for those who itemize their deductions.

Good luck

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New IRS rule affects domestic partners

SANTA CRUZ — With the deadline to file tax returns less than a month away, a new IRS rule for registered domestic partners is catching hundreds of people by surprise.

How to Transfer Your 2007 Tax Return File Into 2008 TurboTax Desktop (Windows)

Question: Do I need to purchase a Tax Preparation Software every year?

If I want to do my own tax returns using the available commercial softwares, do I need to buy a new version every year or the software gets updated (free) every year once you buy a copy?

Answer: You have to buy a new one every year, but, you can do multiple returns using the same package So, you can find a couple people to chip in, and it;s not so expensive

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COLORADO BUSINESS AWARDS.(Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry)(Statistical Data Included): An article from: ColoradoBiz $5.95 This digital document is an article from ColoradoBiz, published by Wiesner Publications, Inc. on December 1, 2000. The length of the article is 2925 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: …

Movers & shakers.(multiple Little Rock, Arkansas-area appointment briefs)(Brief Article): An article from: Arkansas Business $5.95 This digital document is an article from Arkansas Business, published by Journal Publishing, Inc. on February 18, 2002. The length of the article is 782 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTit…

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2009: Money and politics are Weston’s biggest stories

It was a year of belt-tightening and political change for Weston in 2009. Effects of the recession were inescapable. The town clerk’s office recorded fewer real estate transactions than usual, while the number of foreclosure notices and tax liens increased.

TaxSlayer TV Commercial (YouTube Contest)

Finding the right apartment in a place like Brazil is not easy unless you know the tricks of the trade! With the value of the properties increasing every day and new real estate projects coming up right one after the other, there is no reason why one should not be eager to buying an apartment in this beautiful place. If you are hoping to buying apartments in Brazil then here are some tips on how to get exactly what you want.

To make up your mind on what exactly you want, do your own research work first. This will help you go a long way. Find out what the real estate prices are and what are the best places to invest in and why. Talk to people and search the internet. Do your own preliminary reach so that you can decide what kind of an apartment you would like to buy.

Look out for the fastest developing areas, especially if you are buying the apartment for investment reasons. This preliminary research goes a long way in ensuring that nobody manages to really swindle you into buying such apartments in Brazil that you will regret buying later.

Get in touch with the experts now and chalk out a plan with them. Talk to your agent and find out what they have to show you and say about your ideas.

It is equally important to sort out the financial issues too. In case you are taking a loan for buying the apartment, check through the terms and conditions and ask your tax planner to plan out your budget accordingly. Ensure that you have learnt all about the documents to be submitted and issues including the CPF tax number, contract drafting, agent commission, etc.

With the purchase of the apartment, you would also require to furnish certain documents and pay purchase tax @ 5% to the government. Find out if the condominium charges are applicable or not. It is also necessary that you do not forget about the council rates that are to be paid at about 1% per annum (charged on the property value of the apartments in Brazil).

Many a times people tend to forget about the maintenance issues while buying an apartment. Therefore, do try to keep in mind this factor before signing any contract of purchase. Check the credibility and the goodwill of the builders and find out what they have to offer. Ask them about the regular maintenance charges and associated costs.

Apart from these there are various other factors to be kept in mind too, such as considerations about the locality and confirming that the building has been constructed well. It also helps to find out if selling off the apartment in future would be easy or would it fetch no buyers.

Make you choice well, especially taking care of the legal matters and the tax system followed by the Brazilian government. And most importantly do not compromise on what you want! Keep looking around; since there are so many apartments in Brazil available for sale nowadays, there should be no reason for not getting what you need.

The dangers of the European Union EU

Question: Accounting help please?

1.The amount of federal income taxes witheld from and employee’s gross pay is recorded as an
a. payroll expense
b. contra account
c. asset
d. liability

2. Which of the following would be used to compute the federal income taxes to be withheld from and employee’s earnings?
a. FICA tax rate
b. wage and tax statement
c. wage bracket and withholding table

3. Payroll entries are made with data from the
a. wage and tax statement
b. employee’s earning record
c. employer’s quarterly federal tax return
d. payroll register

Any help will be gratly appreciated

Answer: This is homework *help*; you’ve merely posted your assignment. Show what you’ve done so far: what answers you’ve eliminated, what principles you believe are appropriate, and where you’re stuck. Simply handing you the answers would be cheating.

Vijay Kelkar draws up five-year roadmap for fiscal consolidation

Thirteenth Finance Commission submits report to Pratibha Patil

Steal Some Time Pt.1

Question: If I worked for only 4 months last year, can I be charged an underpayment penalty when working for a full-year?

I started my job out of college last year and only had four months of income last year. This year I have a large number of allowances on my W-4 (both federal and state of CO). Since I paid so little in taxes last year, will I avoid paying an underpayment penalty since this year i’ve already paid way over 100% of last years taxes?

Answer: Sounds like you are OK.

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Fed Delayed Disclosure of Controversial AIG Payout

In the weeks before Timothy Geithner’s confirmation as treasury secretary, his underlings at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York directed American International Group (AIG) to delay publicly disclosing that tax dollars were used to pay in full $62 billion in insurance-like bets it owed to major U.S. and foreign banks.

What can we do now? Lesson 9- inflation part 2