Did you know that Professor Paul Caron is a Bolshevik for suggesting that the tax code requires that medal-winning Olympic athletes include the value of their gold, silver or bronze medals in their taxable incomes?
Joe Kristan writes in Explaining Something Doesn’t Mean You Agree With It that the good Professor received the following letter calling him a dastardly Muscovite for [...]
Tags: Gross Income · Individual Taxation · Opinion
There have been many changes in the tax laws over the last year, but most of the tax code is the same.
Here are 7 tax advice articles I wrote last year that apply equally to this year:
7 All Time Tax Concepts
S Corporations Wages and Distributions: Basic Tax Planning
Taxes 101: What Filing Status Should You Use?
5 Rules for Keeping Your Tax [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Tax Tips · Taxes 101
Because of the prolonged recession we expect to see many businesses report losses from their 2009 operations. Losses from S Corporations are deductible on a taxpayer’s Form 1040 only to the extent of the shareholder’s stock plus debt basis.
Tax preparers should maintain the following two worksheets (courtesy Small Business Taxes and Management) for each of their S [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · S Corporations · Tax Tips
“A person’s worth in this world is estimated according to the value he puts on himself.”
- Jean De La Bruyere -
Well-run tax peparation firms have minimum fees because they have calculated their break-even price points, the point below which they lose money by gaining clients.
Poorly run firms, on the other hand, pay no attention whatsoever to the costs associated with [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Regulation of Tax Preparers
“Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.”
 - Oliver Goldsmith -
When the only competitive advantage a tax preparer thinks he has over his competition is that he is cheaper, he’s in deep guano right from the starting block.
Yet, amazingly, some tax preparers believe price is the most important factor taxpayers should consider before hiring a tax preparer.
Unfortunately, tax preparers who think this, by virtue [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Regulation of Tax Preparers
WebCPA reports:
The House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Wednesday that would allow individuals who make charitable contributions to victims of the earthquake in Haiti to claim an itemized charitable deduction on their 2009 tax return instead of having to wait until next year to claim the deductions on their 2010 tax return.
In principle, I don’t [...]
Tags: Deductible Expenses · Individual Taxation · Legislative Watch
Currently unenrolled, soon to be licensed (I ass-u-me), tax preparer Robert Flach in a blog post advising taxpayers on how to choose a tax preparer trots out this old saw:
 When you assume you make an ass out of u and me.
He offers two pieces of blanket advice:
Don’t assume that because a person has the initials “CPA” after his [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Regulation of Tax Preparers · Tax Tips
Courtesy of Paul Caron this is from RedOrbit’s Let Your iPhone Do Your Taxes:
It’s a new year, which means that in a few months, taxes will come due yet again. So why not get a head start on them with your iPhone — there is, it turns out, an app for that.
The financial software powerhouse Intuit is [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation
“She cried and the Judge wiped her tears with my checkbook.”
 - Tommy Manville (married 13 times) -
I represent a taxpayer who entered into a marital settlement with his wife that contained the following provision:
12. Alimony
Husband shall pay to wife a lump-sum alimony of $600,000, payable in 120 equal monthly installments of $5,000 beginning on the first day [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · Tax Tips
Tax year
Top marginal
tax rate (%)
Top marginal
tax rate (%) on
earned income,
if different
Taxable
income over–
1913
7
Â
500,000
1914
7
Â
500,000
1915
7
Â
500,000
1916
15
Â
2,000,000
1917
67
Â
2,000,000
1918
77
Â
1,000,000
1919
73
Â
1,000,000
1920
73
Â
1,000,000
1921
73
Â
1,000,000
1922
58
Â
200,000
1923
43.5
Â
200,000
1924
46
Â
500,000
1925
25
Â
100,000
1926
25
Â
100,000
1927
25
Â
100,000
1928
25
Â
100,000
1929
24
Â
100,000
1930
25
Â
100,000
1931
25
Â
100,000
1932
63
Â
1,000,000
1933
63
Â
1,000,000
1934
63
Â
1,000,000
1935
63
Â
1,000,000
1936
79
Â
5,000,000
1937
79
Â
5,000,000
1938
79
Â
5,000,000
1939
79
Â
5,000,000
1940
81.1
Â
5,000,000
1941
81
Â
5,000,000
1942
88
Â
200,000
1943
88
Â
200,000
1944
94
Â
200,000
1945
94
Â
200,000
1946
86.45
Â
200,000
1947
86.45
Â
200,000
1948
82.13
Â
400,000
1949
82.13
Â
400,000
1950
84.36
Â
400,000
1951
91
Â
400,000
1952
92
Â
400,000
1953
92
Â
400,000
1954
91
Â
400,000
1955
91
Â
400,000
1956
91
Â
400,000
1957
91
Â
400,000
1958
91
Â
400,000
1959
91
Â
400,000
1960
91
Â
400,000
1961
91
Â
400,000
1962
91
Â
400,000
1963
91
Â
400,000
1964
77
Â
400,000
1965
70
Â
200,000
1966
70
Â
200,000
1967
70
Â
200,000
1968
75.25
Â
200,000
1969
77
Â
200,000
1970
71.75
Â
200,000
1971
70
60
200,000
1972
70
50
200,000
1973
70
50
200,000
1974
70
50
200,000
1975
70
50
200,000
1976
70
50
200,000
1977
70
50
203,200
1978
70
50
203,200
1979
70
50
215,400
1980
70
50
215,400
1981
69.125
50
215,400
1982
50
Â
85,600
1983
50
Â
109,400
1984
50
Â
162,400
1985
50
Â
169,020
1986
50
Â
175,250
1987
38.5
Â
90,000
1988
28
Â
29,750
1989
28
Â
30,950
1990
28
Â
32,450
1991
31
Â
82,150
1992
31
Â
86,500
1993
39.6
Â
89,150
1994
39.6
Â
250,000
1995
39.6
Â
256,500
1996
39.6
Â
263,750
1997
39.6
Â
271,050
1998
39.6
Â
278,450
1999
39.6
Â
283,150
2000
39.6
Â
288,350
2001
39.1
Â
297,350
2002
38.6
Â
307,050
2003
35
Â
311,950
 Source: TruthAndPolitics.Org
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Tags: Individual Taxation · Tax Policy
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