The Tax Preparation Blog

Posts Tagged ‘home’

Question: Is the US heading for another great depression?

The avalanche of bankruptcies has begun. Six US companies of substance have defaulted on bonds over the past fortnight, against 17 for the whole of last year. Diane Vazza, S&P’s credit chief, says defaults are rising at almost twice the rate of past downturns. Some 174 US companies are trading at “distress levels”.

The California city of Vallejo (117,000 inhabitants) has just made history by opting for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the result of tax erosion from a 26pc fall in local house prices. Half Moon Bay may be next.

Talk that the worst is already behind America seems to just be wishful thinking. In addition, forecasts indicate that the level of mortgage defaults will increase in 2008/2009 as a new range of non sub-prime mortgages ratchet up their interest rates.

How bad do you think this crisis will get?

Answer: I don’t believe the worst is over yet. It may turn around after a new president gets elected and that will take some time.<<<<<<<<<<

Mortgage assistance programs help people through patches of unemployment

Aug. 22–When Jose Palomo lost his job doing concrete maintenance for the city of Riverside, he said his mortgage lender told him there was no way he could save his house from foreclosure, especially since his father, who lived with him, also was laid off the assembly line at Fleetwood, an RV company that went bankrupt.

More Taxes or More Jobs? California Shows We Can’t Have Both

Question: What are your feelings on this?

I just got a call from my brother who lives in LA County, California. He said the headlines on the LA Times newspaper today says “LA CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS MUST LEARN TO SPEAK SPANISH.
Lessons will be given at tax payers expense.
Taxpayers in the area are already paying for shelters so that the day laborers will have a place to stand in the shade.

Answer: Looks to me like they plan to make sure the entire council is made up of mexicans….

Taft California “Gateway to the Carrizo Plain National Monument”

The Taft Roughnecks 12U Travel Baseball team will be hosting a fundraising Car Wash on Saturday August 21, 2010. The car wash will take place from 9am-2pm at the Westside Recreation Center, 500 Cascade Place. The players are asking for a $5.00 donation per vehicle.

016 2009Nov04b

Question: Can I use the closing costs of the home I purchased as an itemized deduction for my federal tax return?

Answer: Points for your mortgage are deductible in the year you close. They will be included on a Form 1098 (not a 1099 as another poster stated) that you should have received from you lender by now.

Most of the other closing costs are added to your cost basis and will reduce your gain when you eventually sell. The costs attributed to prepaid property taxes and homeowners insurance are simply funds set aside for payment of a future debt and are not added to your basis.

Property taxes get tricky. Money credited to the buyer must be SUBTRACTED from the property taxes otherwise paid in the year that you close as they are paid by the seller and you will pay them to the tax authorities for the seller’s benefit. Property taxes credited to the seller should be ADDED to any property tax bills that you pay in the year that you close — the exact opposite of the first situation.

Miami Misused Fuel-Tax Revenue to Keep City Street Lights On, Auditor Says

Miami , facing a projected $96.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, misused fuel-tax revenue to keep the streetlights on, an auditor’s report said.

Cutting Tax Return Costs

Question: I am self employed 1099 and my husband gets social security disability we paid taxes because of my self employ

We paid taxes because of my self employment but we ended up getting like 3900.00 back or 2900.00 back so basically I paid taxes because of my medicare and into social security on paper but never had taxes taken out of my income and actually got a refund my husbands income was tax free because it was disability and under a certain amount. Will I get 300.00 per person for the stimulus package or will we get 600.00 per adult? I think we grossed over 25K but didnt pay taxes like I said because we got the EIC because hubbys income wasnt earned just mine was.? I dont want you to give me the link to check how much we would get because I cant use the refund calculator because I dont know the exact amounts. My real question is if you made 25K but didnt pay any actual taxes out of your money because of EIC do you get the full 600 or the 300?

Thanks!

Answer: You should get $600 whether your husband’s SSDI was includedi n the return or not. This amount is the minimum rebate for a joint return.

TI reports financial results for 2Q10

Texas Instruments Incorporated today announced second-quarter revenue of $3.50 billion, net income of $769 million and earnings per share of 62 cents. Â

Senate Session 2010-03-26 (10:31:07-11:39:33)

Question: States Sales Tax?

I live in Canada, and am starting an e-commerce business. What I am looking for is some sort of chart that will let me know how much sales tax to charge to each state. Does anyone know. Searching the web is not always that easy.

Answer: why would you charge state sales tax since your business is based outside of the usa.
I would think you would merely have to charge a canadian tax.
Stuff from canada seems to be more expensive anyway…if you charge tax also you might have a hard time finding an audience.

I guess the bottom line would be to check with an attorney that specializes in commerce to be sure that you are required to charge state sales taxes

Global Hats, Caps, and Millinery Industry

Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Introduction to HST for Ontario and British Columbia