Posts tagged as:

taxes

Breaking Down the Debt Ceiling Fix in 10 Easy Pieces

2 August 2011

So after all of the drama, it’s over. For now. President Obama has signed into law legislation that will raise the debt ceiling, averting what many in Congress and the media had led us to believe was very nearly the end of the world. The measure, which passed yesterday in the House by a vote [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: Z is for Code Z

3 April 2011

The last of the Taxes from A to Z series is Z for Code Z. Code Z is a relatively recent addition to the tax world. It made its debut on the 2005 federal form W-2 (and the related federal form 1099-MISC) as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The purpose of [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: T is for Third Party Designee

22 March 2011

The Third Party Designee box is a relatively new feature on tax returns (I said “relatively” – clearly, I’m dating myself on this one). It’s also one of the most confusing because so many taxpayers don’t know exactly what they’re designating a third party for… In fact, many of my clients are in a mild [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: S is for Statutory Employees

21 March 2011

If you’ve ever taken a good look at your form W-2, you’ve probably found yourself wondering about who qualifies as a “statutory employee.” It’s listed right there on your form, with a checkbox at box 13 next to the fairly well known box for retirement plans. But it’s rare that you see it checked, so… [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: P is for Presidential Election Fund

18 March 2011

Admit it, you’ve stared at that checkbox for the presidential election fund and you have no idea what it really means… It’s one of the great mysteries of the form 1040. First of all, you have to understand that the checkbox has nothing to do with your actual tax calculation. If you check “you” or [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: L is for Like-Kind Exchanges

14 March 2011

These days, selling real estate doesn’t seem to make anyone happy. If there’s a loss (which is more often than not the case as of late), there’s a lot of grumbling. If there’s a gain, there’s a lot of complaining about the taxes due (especially if there was significant depreciation). It all feels so black [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: I is for Insolvency

11 March 2011

I remember the first phone call that I received about insolvency exceptions. A taxpayer called to ask me how to protect his daughter who had just been foreclosed upon – she was told to expect a tax bill as a result of the foreclosure. I remember thinking, “Wow, foreclosure? But how?” These were not folks [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: H is for Household Employees

10 March 2011

I’m not rich. I don’t own a mansion. I don’t have a maid (that would be me). I don’t have a chauffeur (that’s me), a gardener (still me) or a chef (also me). But I’ve had household employees. Chances are, you have, too. You see, household employees are something that we associate with the rich [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: G is for Golden Parachutes

9 March 2011

I know. This sounds like something that Michael Kors might be putting out. Unfortunately, golden parachute payments have nothing to do with the world of fashion – but don’t stop reading yet! This is some interesting stuff… A golden parachute payment is an amount of money agreed upon in advance – and written into a [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: F is for FBAR

8 March 2011

In 1970, Congress passed the Bank Secrecy Act which was pretty much the first law on the books in the US to require banks and other financial institutions to reveal personal financial information to the government. Yep, this was long before the Patriot Act, and was originally meant to assist law enforcement agencies in the [...]

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