At this point for you tax peeps your days are probably running together. It’s fine. Tuesday is only how many days away? Just grab your favorite concoction to get your game back on and you’ll plow through.
Don’t worry tax trolls, we’ll get our own cocktail and check up on you this weekend to get you through it. Why? Because we’re solid.
If you’re having nightmares about 1065’s and whatnot, detail them for us in the comments.
Related Posts
Jon Kyl Has His Money on a Two-Year Extension of All Tax Cuts
Does the Arizona Senator know how to pick a long shot or what?
Americans know they are facing a large tax increase on Jan. 1 unless Congress prevents it. President Obama wants Congress to raise taxes on wealthier Americans (including many small businesses). Republicans oppose raising taxes on anyone, especially in this weak economy. Democrats ducked the issue until after the election. The result is that Congress must act in a post-election session; and while economists tell us that permanent tax policies are best, the most likely scenario in this divided Congress is a temporary extension of current rates for all Americans, probably for two years.
Politics is a tricky game. You can’t do away with all the tax cuts since that would result in hell fire raining down all across the land. And extending all the tax cuts indefinitely is a sure fire way to bring back the torches and pitchforks. It doesn’t take a Kennedy School grad to figure that one out.
But Kyl is realistic and that’s not the worst thing in the world. He simply wants to get to a point where we can reform the tax system ans that, dare we say, is a good thing.
Would we prefer him to go off on a wild-ass tangent about how the expiration of tax cuts will mean an uprising of Founding Father proportions? Of course. But we’re talking about a U.S. Senator. Everyone knows the craziest of crazies are in the House. Unless some IRS abolitionist finds his way into the upper chamber. Or a witch. That could ratchet things up a notch.
L.A. Dodgers Owners Use Loss Carryforwards; So Now They’re Tax Cheats?
Stipulated: the L.A. Dodgers are evil. Not seventh-circle evil like the Mets or the White Sox, but evil enough. And we’ll assume, for sake of argument, that their owner, Frank McCourt, bathes in Kruggerands while sipping puppies blended with 50-year old single-malt scotch.
That still doesn’t make him a tax cheat.
So why this lame L.A. Times column from Frank Hiltzik?
To everyone who claims that our wealthiest citizens pay more than their fair share of income taxes and we should cu se they’re the ones who, you know, create jobs in our economy, I have four words for you:
The McCourts, who own the Los Angeles Dodgers (so she says; he says he’s the owner and she’s not), jointly pocketed income totaling $108 million from 2004 through 2009, according to documents Jamie McCourt recently filed in the couple’s divorce case in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
On that sum, they paid zero federal and state income tax.
They made $108 million and paid no federal income tax? Why might that be?
According to Jamie, the McCourts employed two mechanisms to live tax-free. One was to claim enormous tax losses from their business, which was mostly commercial real estate before they bought the Dodgers. These could be carried forward, offsetting income year after year until they were finally netted out.
So let’s get this straight: they made $108 million by losing $109 million? It must be magic! No?
“…Jamie’s accountant states in a court document that some is due to depreciation, which is a way of accounting for wear and tear on a property.”
So real estate losses are non-cash funny money? The tax law stretches commercial real estate deductions out over 39 years now, so real estate isn’t a great tax shelter. Sure, you can deduct commercial mortgage interest, but you can’t deduct principal on mortgage payments. So even in real estate, the McCourts’ $130 million tax loss carryforward isn’t a symptom of prosperity.
Let’s consider another exotic possibility: maybe they really lost money. Mr. McCourt’s day job is in commercial real estate. How has that been doing lately?
But Hiltzik seems to think tax loss carryforwards are some kind of cheaters game, or maybe even a status symbol, like a Mercedes or a private jet:
“Jamie’s documents say that in 2008 the net loss carry-forward from previous years was $109 million — in other words, the McCourts could have earned that much without paying a penny of income tax.”
Imagine of a world without loss carryforwards (I think you can!). You start a business and you lose $2 million in Year 1. In Year 2 things turn around and you make back $1 million. Without loss carryforwards, as a 35%-rate taxpayer you would pay $350,000 in Year two, even though the business is still $1 million in the hole. That’s an effective rate of >infinity%.
Perhaps Mr. McCourt is prosperous in spite of his loss carryforwards. Maybe his real estate has held its value, unlike everybody else’s. Maybe he’s even running personal expenses through his business (though Leona Helmsley learned that the IRS looks for that). But even a Los Angeles real estate empire can suddenly come crashing down.
Remember that maybe, just maybe, Mr. McCourt’s soon-to-be-ex-wife has a vested interest in making him look prosperous, and in making losses look like a mark of wealth. She might like some of that.
[H/t: TaxProf Blog]
Here’s Your Final 1040 Filing Deadline of 2011* Open Thread
For those of you that worked through the weekend, your consumption of 5-hour bombs probably has you juiced enough to last you through the October 31st deadline for those affected by Hurricane Irene. ANYWAY, TThe good news is that another tax filing year has final come to an end. The less-good news is that it’s only 75 days until 2012 and you get to start all over again. Now’s the time to get anything off your chest. Feel like screaming at the client that showed up with their shoebox this morning? Partners forcing you to postmark hundreds of envelopes for the stuff that simply isn’t getting done by midnight? Best to let it out now, January will be here before you know it.
See also:
Today is the final 1040 deadline, barring a hurricane or something [Tax Update]
Tomorrow’s Tax Deadline Pushed Off For Some Taxpayers [Tax Girl/Forbes]
Don’t make these tax filing mistakes [DMWT]
*I have to do this because some of you petty, hair-splitting types would point out the extended deadlines. This should suffice that we’re completely aware of it. Get back to work.