You might not always agree with Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee, but he never pulls punches and says what he thinks. Here he talks about various tax inequities in California’s income tax, especially the legislature not extending the exclusion which treats a cancelation of debt by a lender on a principle residence as a non taxable event: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/11/5897655/dan-walters-californias-tax-system.html I agree with him that this bill, which got weighted down with another bill that practically guaranteed it would not be passed in the state assembly, should have been passed unanimously, since it helps forclosed homeowners not have to pay taxes on forgiven debt. The legislators in Sacramento got it wrong again! For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: It is Getting Close to Mutual Fund Capital Gains Distribution Time Again!
It is getting near December, the time when most mutual funds start to distribute capital gains on sales during the year. See this article in USAToday by John Waggoner: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/waggoner/2013/10/31/the-horror-of-mutual-fund-taxes/3327981/ There are defintely ways of avoiding taxation in this article. Each person should look at their own situation and if you need help, call or email me below. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: Additional Charity Deductions You Might Have Missed
You have your checks and donation letters lined up to give to your accountant for your taxes. But are these the only donation deductions you are entitled to? One item you probably already know about are noncash donations to charities that you drop off or they pick up. It is important to get the charity receipt as well as keep a list of items you donated and estimate the original cost of the items as well as the actual fair market value, which is the tax deduction (many charities will give you the fair market value estimate of the items, if not, a good rule of thumb is around 10% to 20% of the cost of the items, depending on how old they are.) If you are making a large donation of furniture, clothing, appliances or miscellaneous stuff, taking photos of the donation will help justify the deduction! Other items you may not of thought about are travel and out of pocket expenses of being part of a charitable function. If you are a member of Kiwanis, Rotary of other non profits, or some of your kids are involved with school sports or singing competitions and other afterschool programs affiliated with [...]