Hillary Coming After Your Capital Gains!

Hold on to your wallets, you Dems out there.  Here comes Hillary – after all of us, actually, and not just you!

Last week she made known her plan to significantly increase the tax on long term capital gains for we and thee!  It’s currently 20% (plus, of course, the Obama exaction of another 3.8% to help save Medicare) if your holding period is at least one year, but Hillary wants to raise it all the way up to 39.6% unless you hold on to your capital asset for six years or more!

Not quite sure whose votes she’s after with this, as she seems to be even further sagging in the polls.Read More

IRS Sorry State Of Affairs

In her mid-year report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson came up with a real tear-jerker, noting that “With funding down about 17 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis since FY 2010, and with the IRS having had to implement large portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) this year without any supplemental funding, sharp declines in taxpayer service were inevitable.”

Sniff, sniff.

F’rinstance, notes the Advocate, the IRS answered only 37 percent of taxpayer calls routed to customer service representatives overall, and the hold time for taxpayers who got through averaged 23 minutes.  This level of “service” represents a sharp drop-off from the 2014 filing season, when IRS answered 71 percent of its calls and hold times averaged about 14 minutes.Read More

Ninth Circuit Slams Pot Dispensary On Deductions

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently hammered the marijuana industry (once again) in holding that a taxpayer was precluded by the Internal Revenue Code from deducting any expenses related to its legal marijuana dispensary business.

Generally, a business may deduct from its gross income all of the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred in carrying out its trade or business.  But a specific provision of the Code precludes a taxpayer from deducting if the trade or business in question consists of trafficking in controlled substances.Read More

Importance Of Keeping IRS Informed Of Your Current Address

 

So you think you can move around and keep one step ahead of the IRS, thus avoiding receipt of their occasional nasty grams which most of us get at one time or another.

But it’s not that simple, and you keep the Revenooers in the dark at your peril!

The Internal Revenue Code repeatedly uses the phrase “last known address” which is an important concept with respect to your ability to receive refunds, as well as a variety of notices and documents which IRS may send you from time to time.  And now hear this:  when a document is sent to a taxpayer’s “last known address,” it is legally effective even if the taxpayer never receives it!Read More