First time homebuyer Credit doesn’t mean you have to actually be a first-time buyer to qualify. And personally I think credit is the wrong word too.

During the summer President Bush signed the Housing Assistance Act of 2008. It allows first-time buyers (homes) a tax “credit” to the lesser of $7,500.00 ($3,750.00 if married filling separate) or 10% of the purchase price of a home. {Meaning if your home that you are buying only cost $45,500.00, your so called credit won’t exceed $4,500.00}

What is a first time home buyer? Well for this purpose it is described as an individual who had no present ownership interest in a principal residence for the three years prior the purchase of the home. If you are married both spouses’ must meet this requirement.

This “credit” is available for houses purchased after April 8^th , 2008 and before July 1^st, 2009.

Have you ever heard the phrase “If it sounds to good to be true it probably is.”? Well this in my opinion is one of those times. The “credit” has to be paid back. So is it a credit or a loan? Well, you decide.  You must pay this back over a period of 15 years from your tax return. You have to start paying this back with the second tax year after the residence was purchased. No you only have to pay it back if you take the credit. You take the credit, two years later start paying it back.

So lets say you buy a $75,000.00 home and you elect to take this credit. You’ll get a credit of $7,500.00. In two years you will add back to your return (subtract from a refund, add to an amount due) $500.00 And will keep doing this for 15 years.  There will be phase outs for income and a few other rules but that is the just of it.

Seems more like a loan than a credit to me.

I have a few clients who will qualify for this so called credit and I have already called and visited with them about it. I advised them of all the situations that applied to them and asked them to discuss it amongst themselves then to re-visit the issue come time to prepare their returns. As to take it or not I am not advising anyone in this, My view is that Taxes are high enough, new homeowners from my client base are young couples (one individual) starting out and having a tax liability for the next 15 years seems a bit questionable.

Tags: buyer, first time buyer, first time home, housing assistance, Opinions, principal residence, s, tax credit, Taxes

Forms, Schedules and Worksheets - A very special offer for tax professionals, a taxguy review.

            From the desk of Robert D. Flach of TAXPRO SERVICES CORPORATION and ROBERT D. FLACH, LLC tax preparers are given a great offer. Robert is also THE WANDERING TAX PRO.

 

            If you are not a professional tax preparer I say so what, you’ll find the majority of these very useful to you as well.

 

            All professional preparers have forms and worksheets we use for various reasons. What store did you buy yours from? Mine are a mix from Greatland and the NATP store. I have a few of my own and have been working on my own client questionnaire for a few years now. Still mine has many bugs to fix as it has far too many pages.

 

            What Robert has created here is more.

            Robert has these forms, schedules and worksheets designed wonderfully for their purposes.

            The Cell phone log is perfect for taxpayers to log the cost of their business use of their phone. I don’t know about you but I have several clients that send me the years bills and pay to have me sort this out. With the cell phone log, they won’t be paying me for an hour or two, as they’ll have the expense at hand and all I will need to enter the amount. They have a reference form in case of an audit.

            Ever need to add a supplement to Schedule A? In this collection there is one made out perfectly.

            The Medical Expense Worksheet has lines for insurance premiums, long-term care insurance, doctors, dentist, therapist, nurses, hospital bills, Lab Test, prescription and just everything that sure you could run across including breakdowns of your mileages and other medical traveling expenses.

            The Charitable Contribution Listing worksheet is exactly what taxpayers need to document their donation/s. Including instructions as to what is and what isn’t deductable. As there are several types of deductions, there are several types of worksheet for taxpayers to use in this package.

            Do you have continuing education expenses? Do you file Schedule C? Need a mileage log? A business travel record? What about an employee time card? Do you need or have a comprehensive worksheet for clients who have a home office? Need a worksheet to have cost basis lined up? Do you own rentals - A multi-family building? How well is your worksheet for figuring AMT?

            The point?

            Robert Flach has been preparing taxes for a great many years (over 35) and is very knowledgeable in his profession proven time and time again in the articles he writes for his blogs/websites as well as others including here. The TAX PROFESSIONAL FORMS, SCHEDULES  AND WORKSHEETS  that are being offered are a great resource for preparers and taxpayers alike.

 

            These documents are in MS Word format and thus cannot only be used as much as you need, but can be edited to best fit your practice and/or needs. I will be using several as is, and making slight changes several others. $5.00 is very gracious considering the time these will save everyone. Not to mention the time that was put into creating them. Every reader of TWTP needs a copy of these, even if just to check yourself and/or your practice.

Yes everyone. Robert advertises them for tax professionals, but it is my opinion those taxpayers who are busy doing their own will benefit as much as any tax preparer. 

For information to get yours now, go to A VERY SPECIAL OFFER FOR TAX PROFESSIONALS. The information for getting your copy is there.

Tags: benefit, client questionnaire, Deductions, Forms, Opinions, professional tax preparer, Review, special offer, tax preparers, tax professionals, taxpayers

Another “stimulus”? did the last one even make a dent? Help in the slightest bit? If it did I missed it. Honestly, I can’t help but shake my head. I just don’t get the logic.

Before I get to the specific steps you should take, let’s talk for a moment about the big picture.

 The President and Congress encouraged millions of Americans to SPEND, and yet many of these very same Americans were/are already over their heads in debt with an average credit card balance of more than $9000!

Good thinking.

Let’s continue one of the very reasons that our country is in such poor economic shape. In fact, don’t wait. Spend it now and pay it back later — with interest, of course! The current government thought that spending the rebate dough was a vote of confidence for our economy’s future. Wake up, Congress! Smell the damn coffee and join the rest of us in the real world.  

I believe it’s irresponsible for our government to encourage us all to spend, spend and spend more without even a mention of paying down debt or, actually saving some money for the tough times I think are still ahead. While I question just how effective this whole band-aid approach will be, if the government wants to put a little extra money in our pockets, we’ll take it, right?

But…I want you to be smart about what you do with it.

If you’re in great shape financially and don’t have any debt to pay down, college educations to fund, cars to buy, etc., by all means – spend it! Enjoy yourself. That’s just not the reality for most of us. We can use this money to do some serious good.

So what exactly should you do with extra money? Here are suggestions for the smartest ways to put it to good and meaningful use:

Pay down your credit card balance as much as possible. Think about this. If you’re part of a couple with $10,000 in credit card debt and you apply your $1,200 right to that balance, you’re paying off more than 10% in one fell swoop. That’s huge! And it will save you a ton of money in interest over time. You’ll be in much better shape financially than if you spend that money.

Get ahead on your mortgage payment. This is especially true if you have one of those adjustable-rate mortgages that caused the whole sub-prime crisis. If you are in danger of not being able to make your payments, don’t even consider any other option for this rebate.

Start a family emergency fund. I recommend that you have at least six months’ worth of expenses set aside. This is more important than ever now when the economy is struggling, people are losing jobs, and so on. The situation is only going to get worse in my opinion.

Add a few dollars to your IRA. You get a double bang for the buck. You get a tax break and you’re saving for your retirement. When you’re retired and sitting at your beach house sipping a glass of fine wine, you’ll look back and be glad you made decisions along the way to save for your retirement and not rush out to buy that big-screen HDTV.

Invest in your career. If you are at all concerned about your job in the current economy, spend some of this money on training or courses to help you keep your job or make you more marketable if you need to find one.

Start or add to a 529 savings plan to help pay for your children’s (or grandchildren’s) college education. There’s no better investment in our future! Saving for college can be confusing, so be sure to check out all additional information.

Tags: economic shape, economy, extra money, logic, money, Opinions, stimulus, Taxes

            Well this is hit, as with the election much has come to pass and I am sure much is being missed. So here I will try and direct a path to some things (mostly other articles) that are most assuredly interesting reads. What you walk away with having read all my suggestions is going to depend on your own open mindedness.

            I have tried very hard not to seem one-sided in this election. I have been asked a lot of my opinion of who to vote for, based solely on tax issues. It is my opinion that basing my vote on just tax issues is an error and should be by you too.

            However you or I voted, we have our next president. Like a new tax preparer you have just hired after using the same person for years, give him a chance before you say he was the wrong choice. Let us see what he does.

            The Wall Street Journal has an opinion article written by Jeffrey Scott Shapiro that I found interesting titled The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace What must our enemies be thinking?  He brings up a few interesting points about our current President.

           

            “Mr. Obama won it the old-fashioned way: he earned it. He confounded history to get it. And because he replaces a president whose unpopularity has impeded his ability to govern, he is, in a way, president from day one.”  A Quote from Peggy Noonan in her article The Children Are Watching America makes history, but the mandate is for moderation.

 

            And many have said Sara Palin is great. I have even heard people say that they were voting for her. (Yes even though she was the VP nominee.) So what about her now? Again I direct you to the Wall Street Journal and their article Palin and the GOP.

 

            President elect, now has a new site, www.change.gov. if you wanna now what is going on then this is an interesting site. As for his tax “agenda”, go to

http://www.change.gov/agenda/taxes/.

 

 

            With tax season coming up a great reminder to everyone who files a return is to keep a copy of your return. This is perfectly discussed in this post from TWTP in his post KEEP A COPY

 

            Getting on with the tax and finance world I have a new blog that I have been trying to follow amongst everything else I have going on now. Please venture over to check out A Personal Finance Guide.

 

            There have been some talks about a new stimulus coming our way. I have even heard that “our leaders” are hoping to get it worked out before the reins are handed over to the new administration. Something I have noticed in this is the first one was a cost of 180 billion dollars, the one being discussed now is only 50 billion dollars. Keep that in mind please as you try and figure your next check from our government. For more on this please head over to Don’t mess with Taxes in her post New stimulus plan: tax cuts, not rebates.

            Also see The Next Economic Stimulus Payment a great post with great links on this subject. Do read the links as well.

 

How President Elect Obama’s Administration Will Affect Your Finances » is a great piece by Patrick from Cash Money Life. If you haven’t been keeping up with things Patrick is doing some great posting.

 

            A note from Joe Kristen gives a look at a scary thought in his post You don’t think House Democrats are serious about getting rid of 401(k) plans? Which is preceded with The campaign to ‘protect’ you from your 401(k) plan. Be sure to click the links within those post.

 

            taxgirl endorses Obama, is a post that is a great read, I also urge you to read the comments for this post.

 

            Peter from The Tax Lawyers blog gives a great and to the point look at Taxes 101: What Filing Status Should you Use? Also from Peter and a must read for everyone (my opinion) is his post 5 Most Earth Shattering Tax Opinions Ever Written. Go there, now.

 

            The Wondering Tax Pro gives us a look at WHAT THE IRS WILL BE UP TO NEXT YEAR. Robert also answers a very common Question in his post ASK THE TAX PRO - MARRIAGE AND FORM W-4.

 

            I also want to thank TWTP for introducing me to The Baglady and would like to point out that he has a guest post there that is a must read by all. Please check out Gift Tax 101.

 

            Looking for a book to read?  Living Almost Large has a book review of what sounds to be a very interesting discussion of how wealth was created in the modern world.  Looking at the historical aspects of wealth and what contributed to our current economic societies and norms. For the review go to Book Review: Birth of Plenty.

 

            From Wide Open Wallet comes a few post I think most should read. In her post Stuck in the middle she discusses something I am willing to bet is very common in households today, spending less than last year. More consideration now on lower cost of necessities. And two other post for those of you with children. How do you teach value? I am a big advocate of teaching children the value of things, money being a top 10 item. Kids and the economic crisis. In my efforts you can’t help but bring up the current economic situation.

Tags: blog, History, Opinions, Review