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i thought a lot of people didnt want a massive tax thread. it seemed in the other tax thread that they wanted to do it a different way. i think we should do it however jimtravel, lh04 and xnarg want to do it because they are the ones answering most of the questions in the tax forum anyway.

My personal preference would be a temporary Tax sub-forum to Finance, enabled through May.

It's hard to do follow-up in master threads and it's even harder to refer posters to previous conversations.

I prefer one thread = one topic.

That way, it's easier to refer people to existing threads such as "Stimulus Rebates," or, "Education Credits," or, "Deducting PMI,", or, "Deducting auto registration fees," or, "Can I deduct medical expenses for my fiance who lives outside the USA?" When topics are in separate threads, it's easy to link back to them but when they're streamed in one thread, that's close to impossible.

In the longer threads, it's hard to know if someones question has been answered because several pages of discussion may stream by before the person with the knowledge comes along.

The reason I say at least through May is that people would have questions about extensions, missed filing, inquiries from the IRS, rebates, etc..

I'll gladly go along with whatever works out, since I pick mostly the easier questions and leave the tough ones to the real experts

I call BS, Xnarg. You do much more than the truly easy ones.

While we're at it, why don't we break off tax from the Finance forum in its entirety and make it its own forum inside Fatwallet? I think there's sufficient variety in topics, and then we would be allowed to pin/sticky things that are of primary current interest (like all of the "how do I get more stimulus" questions) without cluttering the sticky items in Finance. This would meet the one thread per topic idea, and we could even start master threads for common topics, again, without cluttering Finance.

But I think a tax forum has value all year and shouldn't be restricted to filing season. The volume is probably higher in February, March, and April, but I know from experience that plenty of people have questions outside the season. Furthermore, isn't one of the goals of the tax thread to keep people thinking about taxes all year?

Thoughts?

I have no problem with such a setup, except that that would rely on the OP (whoever it was) to change the title to say, for example, "MASTER Payroll/Paycheck/W-2/W-4/Withholding Thread".

Unless moderators were given such powers and used them with reckless abandon, of course.

It may not be necessary to change thread titles.

Suppose someone asks about a topic and a definitive answer is provided. Then a few days later, someone else asks the same question - we could just refer the second person to the first thread, without changing the title.

I think simplicity is key.

Tax Questions:
1. Uncle put 100k in my account b/c he was afraid of banks going bankrupt, how do I record this with my income? He put it in my account Dec 2008 and CD Matures 2009. I know I have to pay tax on interest but not the 100k right?

2. Father gifted me 50k (he paid tax on it), how do I record this?

My 1st time filing tax so please dumb it down. Appreciate hlp in adv

Tax deductible question:

I am a Community College Professor and this past Summer I took the family to DisneyWorld. We drove to FL from MI (don't ask!), stayed in a hotel, and went to the various Disney parks for 6 days. On two of the days we went to Epcot and I took several pictures and obtained information that I am currently using in my class. What can I deduct? From my little knowledge, I am thinking that I can deduct everything about the drive to and from FL, and everything associated with those two days that I spent at Epcot, such as tickets, meals and two/three night stay at hotel. In addition, what I deduct would be just for myself and not my family (i.e. my meals, my tickets, etc). Does this sound correct? Am I missing anything?

Thanks for any comments and suggestions.

Evan

LH2004 said: otterpop said: Tax deductible question:

I am a Community College Professor and this past Summer I took the family to DisneyWorld. We drove to FL from MI (don't ask!), stayed in a hotel, and went to the various Disney parks for 6 days. On two of the days we went to Epcot and I took several pictures and obtained information that I am currently using in my class. What can I deduct? From my little knowledge, I am thinking that I can deduct everything about the drive to and from FL, and everything associated with those two days that I spent at Epcot, such as tickets, meals and two/three night stay at hotel. In addition, what I deduct would be just for myself and not my family (i.e. my meals, my tickets, etc). Does this sound correct? Am I missing anything?We would need to discuss more deeply exactly how important these pictures were, but from what you have said, I would not be optimistic about being able to deduct anything.

Agree. The primary purpose of your trip was personal, not business. As such, none of the trip costs are deductible. Any direct business costs, such as the costs for developing/printing the photos for use in class would be deductible. But the trip itself, no chance.

I have a wash rule question. Say I purchased several long term stocks at different times at various prices, and sold them all at once, then repurchased them soon after. Some of the sales were for a loss, others were for a gain. Do I need to claim the gain on those that were sold for more, and "wash" the rest, or can I wash the entire sale because all together, it was a net loss.

ex.

Bought 3 shares of XYZ for $10, $20 and $30 more than one year ago on different dates.
Sold 3 shares of XYZ for $15.
10 days later bought 3 shares of XYZ.

Do I claim a gain of $5 for one share sold, and "wash" a loss of $15 for two shares,
or can I just wash the whole total loss of $10? I'm hoping its the latter because it will be a nightmare otherwise.

shadow520 said: LH2004 said: otterpop said: Tax deductible question:

I am a Community College Professor and this past Summer I took the family to DisneyWorld. We drove to FL from MI (don't ask!), stayed in a hotel, and went to the various Disney parks for 6 days. On two of the days we went to Epcot and I took several pictures and obtained information that I am currently using in my class. What can I deduct? From my little knowledge, I am thinking that I can deduct everything about the drive to and from FL, and everything associated with those two days that I spent at Epcot, such as tickets, meals and two/three night stay at hotel. In addition, what I deduct would be just for myself and not my family (i.e. my meals, my tickets, etc). Does this sound correct? Am I missing anything?We would need to discuss more deeply exactly how important these pictures were, but from what you have said, I would not be optimistic about being able to deduct anything.

Agree. The primary purpose of your trip was personal, not business. As such, none of the trip costs are deductible. Any direct business costs, such as the costs for developing/printing the photos for use in class would be deductible. But the trip itself, no chance.

Thanks for the quick replies!

What if the purpose was dual; both business and personal? The information that I obtained (from both the pictures that I took and knowledge) from viewing the exhibits was critical to the material that I use in teaching my class that I could not have obtained by any other means. Isn't this similar to saying that I went to a business meeting at Disney that was beneficial (although not required) for my job?

Obviously I am no tax accountant, but I was always under the impression that if you do anything that benefits your job, you could deduct the direct expenses associated with that.

Thanks again for everyone's help,

Evan

this sort of goes along those same lines. if i have a trip to chicago tomorrow for the weekend alone for an interview for school, how much business work do i actually have to put in for the trips costs to be business deductible (im talking about a separate business that i have thats unrelated to the interview)?

jetsfan92588 said: *my business is an online business and therefore i an work on it anywhere so its not really necessary for me to be in chicago to do work on it. does this make it not deductible at all?Probably. Will being in Chicago even help at all?

If you just happen to do on the trip the same business you would do at home, that's not going to be a business expense.

LH2004 said: jetsfan92588 said: *my business is an online business and therefore i an work on it anywhere so its not really necessary for me to be in chicago to do work on it. does this make it not deductible at all?Probably. Will being in Chicago even help at all?

If you just happen to do on the trip the same business you would do at home, that's not going to be a business expense.

if i can like hand out some promo items and business cards will i be able to deduct the trip as a bus expense? also, can i deduct the entire trip or just part. i know that meals are only like 50% deductible, is that the same with the entire trip?

also, i have one more question (sorry), do i claim fees for trading stocks (buying) as an investment expense when it actually happens or when i pay the capital gains?

shadow520 said: IMO, you would have a hard time selling that in an audit. You took a family on a 6-day vacation to Disney (among the most popular family vacation spots in the world) where you spend part of 2 days doing work related research.

If you didn't take the family, or you only spend a day or two more, you'd have an easier time selling this. That, or you had iron-clad evidence that you needed to do this research from your employer. Of course, if the class you teach is "all about Disney", that would also help. But I'm still thinking this is a tough sell. Just because it might benefit your job doesn't make it deductible, but it doesn't have to be required.

However, that aside, if it is deductible, you can only deduct the parts that are directly business related. Travel for 1 person, logding for 1 room, for 2 nights, tickets for 1 for 2 days, meals for 1 for 2 days plus travel days, etc. The rest of the family's expenses are completly personal.

I agree with this and the others on this topic. I stopped reading at "I am using 2 of 6 days for business" because the trip is not "primarily" for business. The travel expenses for this trip are not deductible; however, if OP has any expenses directly related to the business (teaching?) itself while on vacation, those are deductible. This would never, ever stand up to an audit if OP tried to deduct the entire trip. Not even close.

jwmoldy said: I have a cell phone that I use for both business and personal (about 70% business) that I personally pay for. Can I deduct the portion for a business expense? Also, I have a computer that I do about 30% business work on and will need to upgrade soon--can I deduct this portion of business expense? Thank you in advance.

ETA: This would be for an employee, not for a business owner.

Generally, no, unless your employer tells you that you must have these items (a computer, cell phone, etc) and it is for their convenience, not yours. Your best bet, especially for the cell phone, is to attempt to get reimbursement or get an employer-provided phone. On the computer, same deal.

Having posted at about the same time, I disagree with the post above. [Citation: Pub 529, pp. 3-4, for depreciation of the equipment]

Oops. JT73 makes an important, and correct, point - the employer's convenience and requirement.

I have a couple clients that deduct cell phones, but they're required to have them. That is an important distinction. So my anwser, while not entirely wrong, was missing an important qualification.

azygous said: Tax Noob...

How much tax deduction do u get for charitable deduction..

e.g I give 1000$ how much money i get from the tax I paid..Do you have a receipt?

Is this cash or non-cash?

Is the organization qualified as charitable by the IRS?

Are you itemizing (filing out a Schedule A) or taking the standard deduction?

skagen said: I bought and sold precious metals this year. Both buying and selling required shipping charges amounting to a couple hundred bucks. If I can document my shipping expenses does that reduce the amount I am required to pay 28% in taxes on?

Technically, that increases your basis and reduces your sale price, which reduces the amount you are required to pay taxes on. I bought an item for $2,000 and paid $200 in S&H to get it. My total cost basis is $2,200. I sold it later for $4,000 and paid $200 to get it to someone else, netting $3,800 on the sale. My gain is $3,800 - $2,200 = $1,600, if I paid the shipping in BOTH directions.

skagen said: BTW, with collectibles such as silver, etc - it's 28% on realized gains regardless of holding period, right?

Wrong. The 28% collectibles gain tax only applies to items held one year or longer.

skagen said: And finally, if I have a loss on stocks, there's no way for the collectable gains to be offset by stock losses, is there? I have... well, over 3K in stock losses (which I can carryover but would be nice if I could use some against the other gains). I expect not, but worth asking!

Keep in mind that the 3K rule only applies if your TOTAL loss is over 3K, and you don't even get to fill out that line because you get to fill out the BIG worksheet instead. In other words, SOME of your gain is likely to be offset by losses, but how much of it depends on all of your various tax rates and the results of that really big worksheet that I'm not testing for you.