Sorry about not posting yesterday, but I was on a deadline and forgot (you are probably sick of me anyway). Props to Bill Moser of Elizabeth St Painters for putting my contact info in his newsletter. Appreciate it!Do you itemize your deductions? If so you can either deduct your state income tax paid in 2010 or your sales tax, whichever is greater. The IRS has a table to calculate how much sales tax you can claim based on your income. Then you can add sales tax paid on a car, boat or airplane (?) Anyway it is an either/or situation; you can’t take both.
Brian’s Tax Musings
Can’t pay your taxes by April 18? Even if you don’t pay, file your return on time. Failure to pay tax penalty is 1/2% a month plus interest (4% annualized right now). Failure to file penalty is 5% a month up to maximum of 25%. These penalties are based on tax, so if you are due a refund, there are no penalties (the IRS already has your money.) If you owe, as I said in a previous post, you can set up an installment plan with the IRS to make monthly payments of your taxes (and penalties and interest).
Brian’s General Musings
Well the government didn’t shut down after all (big surprise, with so many voters not getting paid). Obama actually came out looking pretty good (if he can find his birth certificate).On a general note (due to brain fog last weekend) my daughter Kirsten unintentionally grew carrots in our back yard. I was told of this on Wednesday, but didn’t see one until Saturday. (was also told my daughter would be up by 7 am to show me, but it didn’t happen until almost 8, so did some work at home for a while). Anyway, these carrots were planted in a pot or something about six months ago and nothing happened. But when all the rain and snow and wind happened, we guess the seeds were swept into a garden by our bird-of-paradise. Apparently they liked it there and grew. We found two, about 10 inches long and about 6 inches wide (they were working out!) Hopefully the radiation from Japan didn’t affect them. Anyway Dorothy put them in a meal and they were really good. My daughter, the unintentional farmer.