All Forum Posts by: Michael Plaks

@Dmitriy Fomichenko - 

@Ashish Acharya was talking about estimated property taxes, not estimated income taxes, I believe. The word estimated may be confusing in the context, but some state and local taxing authorities have not issued final bills yet.

And the benefit is to use the deduction this year, before the new limit and the new doubled standard deduction kick in.

@Ashish Acharya

@Dmitriy Fomichenko - thanks for the mention, colleague

@Ronnie Howard - you're in Houston. The best way to get educated is thru the local company, Quest IRA. They constantly run free classes and free investor socials.

@Mark Webb - done

Fragments from my blog post. (Sorry, BP won't let me link to it, but you can google it)

Pre-pay 2017 property taxes on your personal residence.
This is not an absolute rule, but it should be a wise move for most people, not just investors. Because of the new law, you may lose the tax benefit of property taxes on your homestead. So make sure the bill is paid in 2017.

Defer business income into 2018.
If you’re about to get paid before the New Year, you may want to wait a few more days. Not only this income will be taxed one year later, but it might be taxed at a lower rate. Of course, your mileage may vary – it’s IRS taxes.

Accelerate business purchases into 2017.
You will get the business deduction in the current year, plus you might get bigger savings this year than in 2018.

If moving – pay for the move now.
Business-related long-distance moves will not be deductible after this year.

Make your 2018 charitable donations now.
They might get you less (or even zero) benefit in 2018.

Accelerate miscellaneous personal expenses.
The new law eliminates the so-called miscellaneous personal deductions. The last days of December is your last chance to score a tax benefit from them.

@Patrick Ng

You will probably get more help if you post this on one of the Financing forums here at BP. This is legal & tax forum.

@Clancy Catelli

There are two methods. One is mileage allowance, and the other is percentage of actual expenses, including depreciation. BOTH methods require tracking miles, unless the vehicle is 100% business. You need miles to establish business use % for the actual expenses.

I'm not allowed to link it here, but find a half-hour webinar about deducting auto expenses on my YouTube channel.

@Max T.

Transferring the title of the car has nothing to do with tax deductions. 

If the car is titled to yourself but is used for business - it is still deductible.

If the car is titled to business but is used for personal needs - it is still NOT deductible.

@Yonah Weiss

One more time you bring Grant Cardone's name into a conversation about taxes - we're no longer friends. :) He has no clue about taxes.

You cannot just rent an office in your own home from yourself. And in order to deduct home office (which is not the same as renting), you must have a profitable business.

Even when these home-based business ideas are implemented properly, they would not solve @Matthew Paul's problem of trying to defeat the new $10k limitation on property taxes.

@Chad Walker

We may not be using the terminology in the same way. You keep saying trustee, but trustees are administrators, not owners. What is important to clarify is who was the owner in 2000 - which is called beneficiary. 

There're two possible scenarios. Your father-in-law could have made his wife the beneficiary for the duration of her life (in other words, she would own the farm as long as she lives), and arrange for the farm to go to the children after the wife's death. In this case, your wife was not an owner until 2015. Your holding period starts in 2015, but the tax basis is the 2000 value, because your wife essentially received a gift from her step-mother and must use the step-mother's tax basis.

The other scenario is that the children became the beneficiaries in 2000, and the step-mom was merely a trustee - i.e. managing the trust but not owning the farm. In this case, your wife became an owner in 2000, and you use both 2000 value and 2000 date for tax purposes. Also, your wife would have been reporting half of the farm's income/loss since 2000 if that was the case.

I think it's the first of the two scenarios. Either way, you're looking at the 2000 value.

There's a small possibility of a third scenario: that 2015 transfer legally constituted an act of inheritance, depending on the trust setup and OH state law. This needs to be discussed with a local estate attorney, and I'm not one (luckily). 

@Matthew Paul

I admire your creative thinking, but no. Old or new law - cannot pretend to rent to yourself. Has to be a legitimate business purpose.