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The2012 New York State income tax returns are now available online.Thefirst thing I noticed is that Page 1 of the IT-201 and IT-203 resident andnon-resident income tax forms are expanded to include a detailed listing ofdependents. Theforms are still 4 pages, and the space for the dependent listing section ismade by eliminating the detail for itemized deductions previously on the bottomhalf of Page 2. The itemized deductionschedule has been moved to new Forms IT-201-D and IT-203-D. Goodnews, at least for me. Forms IT-2,IT-1099-R, and IT-1099-UI have been eliminated! I no longer have to waste my time filling in these stupid forms. We now merely attach the state copy of theW-2 and appropriate 1099s with the filing of the return, like with the federaland other state filings, and like what used to be the case with NY state filings. Thank God for small favors. Taxrates have been reduced for taxpayers with taxable incomes of over $40,000. andthe tax computation worksheets for taxpayers with New York adjusted grossincome of more than $100,000 are now based on filing status.Taxpayersrequesting direct deposit are asked some additional information about the bank accountto which refunds are to be deposited, and taxpayers must now enter only whole dollaramounts on income tax forms (nothing major here – I have never used cents ontax returns, except for some dependent returns).Thereare a couple of new tax credits for 2012, including a “Beer Production Credit”. Too bad there is not a “Beer ConsumptionCredit”.The2012 NJ returns are not yet available. Iwill let you know when they are.
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Hereis a listing of the major provisions of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of2012 (passed in 2013) that affect Form 1040 (and 1040A) filers, based on my readings -(1) All the expiring “Bush” tax cuts(from the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and theJobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003) are made permanent, withthe addition of a new top tax rate for regular income tax and capital gains andqualified dividends.Theindividual marginal tax rates will remain 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35%,with a new top rate of 39.6% on taxable income over $400,000 for Single,$425,000 for Head-of-Household filers, $450,000 for Married Filing Joint, and$225,000 Married Filing Separate.Thespecial tax rates for capital gains and qualified dividends remains at 15% forthose in the 25% - 35% tax brackets and 0% for those in the 10% and 15%brackets. A 20% rate will apply to thosein the new 39.6% bracket. (2) The exemption amount for the dreadedAlternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is permanently indexed for inflation, retroactiveto January 1, 2012, as is relief from the dreaded AMT for nonrefundablecredits. For 2012 the exemption amounts are $50,600 for single filers, $78,750for married taxpayers filing joint returns, and $39,375 for separate filers.(3) The American Opportunity Credit forqualified tuition and other post-secondary education expenses and the recently enhancedprovisions of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Credit are extendedthrough 2017. The basic “Bush-era”increases to the Child Tax Credit (from $500 to $1,000 per qualifying child)and the Earned Income Credit are made permanent. (4) The PEP and Pease reductions ofpersonal exemptions and itemized deductions based on “excessive” Adjusted GrossIncome (AGI) are reinstated. The amountsof AGI at which the reductions kick in are $250,000 for Single, $275,000 forHead of Household, $300,000 for Married Filing Joint, and $150,000 for MarriedFiling Separate. Itemized deductions are reduced by3% of the amount a taxpayer’s AGI exceeds the appropriate amount. The reduction cannot exceed 80% of itemized deductions,with some adjustments. Personal exemptions are reduced by2% for each $2,500 ($1,250 if Married Filing Separate), or portion thereof, thata taxpayer’s AGI exceeds the appropriate amounts.(5) The following “temporary” taxbenefits are extended for 2012 and 2013 -· Theabove-the-line deduction for certain expenses of elementary and secondaryeducators; · Theabove-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses;· Theitemized deduction as interest for mortgage insurance premiums;· Theoption to elect to claim as an itemized deduction state and local general salestaxes instead of state and local income taxes; · Theexclusion from gross income of discharge of qualified principal residenceindebtedness; and · Theability to make a direct tax-free transfer of IRA distributions to a charityand use this as one’s Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). Taxpayers can choose to treatdistributions made from an IRA to a charity in January of 2013 as being made inDecember of 2012, and to treat an IRA distribution received in December of 2012as a tax-free transfer to a charity if the money is transferred to a charitybefore February 1 of 2013.(6) The increased Section 179 expensingamounts and the additional 50% first-year bonus depreciation are extended through2013. For 2012 and 2013 the maximumSection 179 deduction is $500,000, with a “qualifying property threshold” of $2Million. And under the Act the federal EstateTax and Gift Tax lifetime exclusion of $5 million indexed for inflation ($5.12million in 2012) is made permanent, with the top tax rate increasing from 35%to 40% effective Jan. 1, 2013. The option of the Estate Tax “portability”election (under which the surviving spouse’s exemption amount is increased bythe deceased spouse’s unused exemption amount) is also permanent. This legislation also extends forone-year unemployment benefits that were due to expire Jan. 1st, anddelays until March 1 the across-the-board budget cuts known as “sequestration”that were supposed to take effect on January 2nd.What is noticeably missing is anextension of the 2% reduction of the employee’s share of Social Security Taxwithholding, and the corresponding reduction in the Self-Employment Tax, whichexpired on December 31, 2012. This wasthe latest incarnation of Dubya’s disastrous tax rebate checks. It appears that no new “gimmick” will replacethe 2% reduction. Beginning with pay checks issuedafter December 31, 2012, the employee’s share of Social Security Taxwithholding will return to 6.2% of wages (up to the maximum wage base), equalto the employer’s share, and the Self-Employment Tax will return to 15.3% forthe same combined maximum W-2 and net self-employment earnings base . So everyone will get a 2% cut in paybeginning January 1, 2013. I wish that the idiots in Congresswould have either “fished or cut bait” regarding the “extenders”. Some should have disappeared and other madepermanent (as long as they were making just about everything else permanent). The deduction for educator expenses hasalways confused me. It is of no realconsequence - the tax savings is $60-$70 for most educators. Depending on where you live, this barelycovers the cost of a dinner out. And whywere educators singled out. Are theymore valuable than policemen, firemen, nurses, EMTs, or even school cafeteriaworkers, all of whom have “out of pocket” employee expenses?And God only knows why the deductionfor mortgage insurance premiums was ever created. It is basically life insurance. I expect some Congressarseholes owed the mortgageinsurance lobby a favor. It certainlyshould not have been extended.As mentioned in an earlier post,there is absolutely no “tax reform” in the Act. CCH has published a good "Tax Briefing" on the Act. Click here to download the briefing.TTFN
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It’shere! MY BEST TAX ADVICE has “gone topress”!AsI mentioned last month, this special report is “chock-a-block” with the besttax advice I have accumulated from over 40 years of preparing 1040s forindividuals in all walks of life.Theadvice in this report is not aboutspecific tax deductions, credits, situations, or “loopholes”, and is not specific to 2012, 2013, or anyother tax year. I talk about choosing atax preparer, recordkeeping, record retention, tax planning concepts, and manyother topics.Italso includes the best tax advice of my fellow tax bloggers, and a listing ofonline tax planning and preparation resources.Iwill send this special report to you as a “pdf” email attachment for only $4.95!Companies,organizations, professionals, and publishers who would like to give this reportas a “gift” or “benefit” to customers, clients, members, or subscribers canalso purchase “reprint rights”. If youthink you may be interested in this, order and pay for a copy. If you do decide to purchase the reprintrights the $4.95 cost of the report will be deducted from the fee for theserights.Sendyour check or money order payable to TAXES AND ACCOUNTING, INC and your emailaddress to –MYBEST TAX ADVICETAXESAND ACCOUNTING, INCPOSTOFFICE BOX AHAWLEYPA 18428 TTFN
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If you are trying to go away on vacation or leave the office for an extended period of time with no access to email, you will definitely want to enable your away message on Lotus Notes Mail to indicate you are not available via email. Here's a post to learn how to put your out of message on if you don't know how.Conversely if yo have returned to the office you want to be sure you disable your out of office message so that people know you are back. Let's make sure you are disabling properly before we look at another way to fix your problem. To Disable, first be sure you are in any screen that allows the “Tools” button to show in the top right corner of your Lotus Notes screen (inbox, send, junk mail, trash, etc views will all allow you to see the “Tools” button)Click the “Tools” buttonIn the drop down menu that appears select “Out of Office”The window that appears should read “Enabled”at the top. If so, look to the lower right of that window and select“Disabled”Another window will appear that will ask you if you are sure you want to disable your vacation / away message. Click yes and you are all set.OK… now, what is probably happening, the whole reason you are reading this article, is that your vacation message is not turning off (ie it isn't disabling). In other words, if you go back into tools-out of office again, it still says “Enabled” This is a problem since people still think you are still away from work when you really are. (The opposite, of course, is true if you are still getting the “Disabled” message but want to “Enable”)Chances are you are already getting warning messages about your lotus running out of file space / memory. This is what is preventing your from turning on and off your away message.To remedy, delete all of the emails (sent, inbox, junk, trash) that you no longer need. If a particular email is taking up a large amount of memory and you still need it, consider saving it to your hard drive, network, CD, etc, etc first before deleting You want to get rid of as much mail as possible. Essentially, your Lotus Notes file space is so full that even a simple action like disabling or enabling the out of office message will not save.You might need to contact your system administrator to determine how much mail you need to delete or just wing it and get rid of as much as you can starting with the largest sized files. Here are some great tips on deleting excess mail from LotusKeep deleting and then trying to enable / disable (don't forget to empty your 'trash' bin and junk mail). If it isn't enabling / disabling, delete some more.Hope that helps! Thanks for reading!
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If you are trying to go away on vacation or leave the office for an extended period of time with no access to email, you will definitely want to enable your away message on Lotus Notes Mail to indicate you are not available via email. Here's a post to learn how to put your out of message on if you don't know how.Conversely if yo have returned to the office you want to be sure you disable your out of office message so that people know you are back. Let's make sure you are disabling properly before we look at another way to fix your problem. To Disable, first be sure you are in any screen that allows the “Tools” button to show in the top right corner of your Lotus Notes screen (inbox, send, junk mail, trash, etc views will all allow you to see the “Tools” button)Click the “Tools” buttonIn the drop down menu that appears select “Out of Office”The window that appears should read “Enabled”at the top. If so, look to the lower right of that window and select“Disabled”Another window will appear that will ask you if you are sure you want to disable your vacation / away message. Click yes and you are all set.OK… now, what is probably happening, the whole reason you are reading this article, is that your vacation message is not turning off (ie it isn't disabling). In other words, if you go back into tools-out of office again, it still says “Enabled” This is a problem since people still think you are still away from work when you really are. (The opposite, of course, is true if you are still getting the “Disabled” message but want to “Enable”)Chances are you are already getting warning messages about your lotus running out of file space / memory. This is what is preventing your from turning on and off your away message.To remedy, delete all of the emails (sent, inbox, junk, trash) that you no longer need. If a particular email is taking up a large amount of memory and you still need it, consider saving it to your hard drive, network, CD, etc, etc first before deleting You want to get rid of as much mail as possible. Essentially, your Lotus Notes file space is so full that even a simple action like disabling or enabling the out of office message will not save.You might need to contact your system administrator to determine how much mail you need to delete or just wing it and get rid of as much as you can starting with the largest sized files. Here are some great tips on deleting excess mail from LotusKeep deleting and then trying to enable / disable (don't forget to empty your 'trash' bin and junk mail). If it isn't enabling / disabling, delete some more.Hope that helps! Thanks for reading!
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The2012 New York State income tax returns are now available online.Thefirst thing I noticed is that Page 1 of the IT-201 and IT-203 resident andnon-resident income tax forms are expanded to include a detailed listing ofdependents. Theforms are still 4 pages, and the space for the dependent listing section ismade by eliminating the detail for itemized deductions previously on the bottomhalf of Page 2. The itemized deductionschedule has been moved to new Forms IT-201-D and IT-203-D. Goodnews, at least for me. Forms IT-2,IT-1099-R, and IT-1099-UI have been eliminated! I no longer have to waste my time filling in these stupid forms. We now merely attach the state copy of theW-2 and appropriate 1099s with the filing of the return, like with the federaland other state filings, and like what used to be the case with NY state filings. Thank God for small favors. Taxrates have been reduced for taxpayers with taxable incomes of over $40,000. andthe tax computation worksheets for taxpayers with New York adjusted grossincome of more than $100,000 are now based on filing status.Taxpayersrequesting direct deposit are asked some additional information about the bank accountto which refunds are to be deposited, and taxpayers must now enter only whole dollaramounts on income tax forms (nothing major here – I have never used cents ontax returns, except for some dependent returns).Thereare a couple of new tax credits for 2012, including a “Beer Production Credit”. Too bad there is not a “Beer ConsumptionCredit”.The2012 NJ returns are not yet available. Iwill let you know when they are.
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Isit time for a change? Or do you prefer Ikeep WHAT’S THE BUZZ as the title? Letme know. *Russ Fox has announced the winner of the prestigious “Tax Offender of the Year”for 2012 at TAXABLE TALK.“To be considered for this award you must domore than cheat on your taxes. It has to be special; it really needs to be aBozo-like action or actions.”Iwas disappointed to see that the idiots in Congress were the runner up thisyear - #2 (and yes, you can imply the appropriate comment regarding Congressbeing #2). Congress was the 2011 The TaxOffender of the Year. I felt that theiractions, or rather inactions, and especially the fiscal cliff nonsense theyperpetuated, certainly qualified them for the 2012 award as well.Whowas #1? Steven Martinez. Why is he such a bozo? You will have to read Russ’ post to find out.*CCH has published a Tax Briefing of the Senate’s “Fiscal Cliff Legislation”.*Dr. Jean Murray identifies “#1 Most Important New Year's Resolution for Your Business” at ABOUT.COM -"Iresolve to keep excellent records in my business this year."Lookfor my suggestions for 2013 New Year’s resolutions at the MAINSTREET.COM Taxespage coming soon! * Somegood advice from a “tweet” by @scheumanncpa (if I may be permitteda slight correction) -“Ok...do yourself and your {tax pro –rdf} a favor and go outside and writedown your odometer reading on your vehicles." *A great post caught my eye last week as I was waiting for BO and his fellowidiots in Congress to perform a miracle. It was “Your Tax Accountant's Top 10 ‘No’ Responses for 2012” by EA DavidFazio at his EAT...TAX... LOVE : Insights from an Tax Pro blog.Forthe most part his clients are like mine – “They'rehonest, hard-working Americans who faithfully file their taxes every year”. And it seems they ask similar questions. Here are some of special interest, withDave’s correct answers, which echo what I have posted here over the years (asDave put it in a “tweet” – “Great taxminds truly do think alike!”) –“Q. I just got married. Human Resources sent me a new W-4 to fillout. Should I check "Married"?A. NO. Assuming your spouse is also working, you need to discuss this with yourtax professional or continue as ‘Single’ for the remainder of the year. Note that unless you take the time to fullycomplete the ‘Two Earners/Multiple Jobs’ worksheet on the back of the W-4, youcould find yourself under withheld when you have your return prepared. Remember, unless you complete the worksheet,‘Married’ tricks the payroll company's computer into thinking that you are theonly one working. If you file a jointreturn, your incomes and deductions get combined. I have too many sad stories of newlywedswhose first interaction with the IRS as a married couple is to go on aninstallment plan because they screwed up their W-4 form.Q. My mom is 90. So she doesn't need to file, right?A. NO. Whether or not to file depends on your gross income. There is no age cut-off (despite rumors tothe contrary). For a single person 65 orolder, a return is not required if their income (excluding Social Security) isless than $11,200. For a married couplewho are both 65 or older, the income limit is $21,800 for 2012. Note that even if their income is below theseamounts, their tax forms (particularly Form 1099-R and 1099-SSA) should bechecked for federal tax withheld. Iftaxes were withheld they can file simply to get this refunded to them even ifthey are not legally required to file a tax return.Q. I need to wear a suit and tie to work. If I don't I'll be fired. Can I deduct the cost of buying businessclothes and having them dry cleaned?A.NO. Clothing is a personal and thereforenon-deductible expense. There aregenerally 2 exceptions. If the clothingis not suitable for outside wear, it can be deductible. This would include things like nursingscrubs, police uniform or an article of clothing with a company logo on it(think of the old Century 21 jackets the real estate agents used to wear). The other exception is protective clothingsuch as steel-toed boots, work gloves or a hardhat. I often have men and women in skilled trades(construction, painting, plumbing) noting that they go through scores of jeansfor work because they get ripped, stained, etc. Jeans are suitable for outside wear and are therefore non-deductible.Q.I know I will owe. There is NO WAY I can pay the IRS what I owe them, but Ishould be able to pay them in full in a year. My best bet is to just file nextyear when I have the money.A.NO! NO! NO! I can't stress enough the importance of filing a return on time.Even if you owe thousands of dollars. The penalty for not paying the tax by thedue date is 1/2% per month (0.50%). The penalty for not filing the return is 5%per month. The cost of not filing the return is literally 10 times higher thanthe cost of not paying the tax. So get the return filed by April 15th (orOctober 15th if you are ‘on extension’) and work (or have me work) with the IRSto setup a payment plan.”*I hope it isn’t, but I will not be surprised if “2013 May Be the Year ofPerpetual Fiscal Crisis”, as Howard Gleckman suggests at TAXVOX.*According to comedian Andy Borowitz in his satirical BOROWITZ REPORT at The NewYorker “Al Qaeda Disbands; Says Job of Destroying U.S. Economy Now in Congress’s Hands” -“The internationalterror group known as Al Qaeda announced its dissolution today, saying that‘our mission of destroying the American economy is now in the capable hands ofthe U.S. Congress’.In an officialstatement published on the group’s website, the current leader of Al Qaeda saidthat Congress’s conduct during the so-called ‘fiscal-cliff’ showdown convincedthe terrorists that they had been outdone.”*Jason Dinesen takes a look at his predictions for 2012 in “6 Tax Predictionsfor 2012 — How Did I Do?”. *Joe Kristan’s comments on the lack of progress in the fiscal cliff negotiationsthat led off his Monday "Tax Roundup” are worth repeating (yes, I agree withJoe) - “Rest assured, though, that even when theycobble together a lame and harmful deal, as they will today or weeks from now,they won’t even begin to address the real fiscal calamity — the government’sincontinent spending.The unforgivable sinof the current president, and the last one, and their Congressional enablers,is spreading the idea that the government can buy us all free stuff, and therich guy will pick up the tab. Sorry. The rich guy isn’t buying.”*Over at OUR TAXING TIMES, Trish McIntire suggests some “IRS Prevention”. *It seems I have won MISSOURI TAXGUY Bruce McFarland over to the cause of GRIP(Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians). Inan extended “tweet” he suggests –“So I say to you, next time a vote for Senatorsand Representatives, if they have been in office, don’t vote for them, let’sget a whole new group of folks in there. ‘The Good ol’ Boys’ have lost theirway.”Brucepoints out –“It shouldn't be ignored that lawmakers had507 days to address this problem (since the August, 2011 debt ceilingagreement).”Regardingthe so-called “Bush” tax cuts - the idiots in Congress have had 12 years todeal with their expiration!TTFN
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Tomy great surprise, and the surprise of most other tax bloggers and taxprofessionals, the House approved the Senate tax bill by a vote of 257-167 latelast night. The American Taxpayer ReliefAct of 2012 now goes to BO for signature.OnceI have had time to “digest” all of its provisions I will post a detailedanalysis of how the Act will affect 2012 and 2013 (and beyond) 1040s, withappropriate commentary.WhileI am glad that at least something has been done - we now know how to properlyprepare 2012 tax returns, and the correct 2013 withholding tables can now bepublished – I am somewhat saddened by the final result. Itlooks to me that this Act, which makes most of the “Bush” tax cuts permanent, permanentlyextends the AMT “patch” retroactive to January 1, 2012, and extends therefundable credits through 2017, kills any hopes for a serious and substantiveoverhaul of the mucking fess that is the US Tax Code in 2013.Itappears that now that this tax bill has been passed the idiots in Congress arenow finished with taxes for 2013. Thisincludes the Republicans - “Nowthe focus turns to spending,” Republican House Speaker John Boehner said,promising that his party would “hold thepresident accountable for the balanced approach he promised, meaningsignificant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that aredriving our country deeper and deeper into debt.”Yes,there needs to be a focus on cutting spending. But it should not be limited to reducing “entitlement programs”. There is so much waste and pork in anygovernment budget – and this needs to be seriously addressed. And there should also still be a focus on taxreform.TheTax Reform Act of 1986 was passed because of Ronald Reagan’s commitment andleadership. BO and the Democrats are notcommitted to legitimate tax reform, and will not provide leadership.Whilereviewing the results of a Google search of Fiscal Cliff news I came across thepost “'I Will Ask For More Tax Increases on the Rich Later,' Obama Promises” byRobert Lenzner at FORBES.COM.“On the eve of the pathetically rotten ‘fiscalcliff’ deal, President Obama has promised to reform the tax code ‘so thatwealthy individuals, the largest corporations, can’t take advantage ofloopholes and deductions that aren’t available to the rest of America’.”Soit appears BO equates “tax reform” with “taxing the wealthy”. Actually,due to AGI phase-outs, wealthy individuals can’t take advantage of somedeductions and credits that are available to the rest of America.BOand the Democrats want to continue to complicate the convoluted Tax Code with thebad tax policy of distributing social welfare and other benefits through theTax Code, instead of having these benefits distributed through “normal”channels via the budgets of the appropriate cabinet departments.Thereis no tax reform in the compromise tax bill, other than BO-style reform (taxing the wealthy). And it adds more complexity to the Code with thereinstatement of PEP and Pease AGI-based reductions of itemized deductions and thepersonal exemption for the “wealthy”.Iwill continue to speak out for a serious and substantive rewriting of the TaxCode, and hope that others will as well. But I am not hopeful that anything of value will be done to fix thebroken Code in 2013.TTFN
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Do you, or your membership organization, publish aprint or online newsletter or magazine? Are you, or your organization, looking for content on federal, or NewJersey state, income taxes? Look nofurther.I can write articles, columns, or blogs for your“publication” or portal – for a fee, of course. The articles, column, or blog can be geared toward a specific taxpayerdemographic or a specific trade or profession. The column or blog can be an “Ask the Taxpro”, with your members orreaders submitting questions. I have been writing THE WANDERING PRO regularly sinceJune of 2001, so you have plenty of samples of my writing. You can also get more samples of articles,columns, and guest posts I have written for other sources at http://robertdflach.blogspot.com.I am willing to work within your budget.I can also provide original syndicated content on taxesand a variety of other subjects for weeklies and advertisers.Interested in having me write about taxes for yourvenue? Email me at rdftaxpro@yahoo.com with “WRITING INQUIRY” in thesubject line. I look forward to hearing from you!If you know of anyone who might be interested in myservices, I would appreciate it if you would pass this post along to them.TTFN
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The2012 New York State income tax returns are now available online.Thefirst thing I noticed is that Page 1 of the IT-201 and IT-203 resident andnon-resident income tax forms are expanded to include a detailed listing ofdependents. Theforms are still 4 pages, and the space for the dependent listing section ismade by eliminating the detail for itemized deductions previously on the bottomhalf of Page 2. The itemized deductionschedule has been moved to new Forms IT-201-D and IT-203-D. Goodnews, at least for me. Forms IT-2,IT-1099-R, and IT-1099-UI have been eliminated! I no longer have to waste my time filling in these stupid forms. We now merely attach the state copy of theW-2 and appropriate 1099s with the filing of the return, like with the federaland other state filings, and like what used to be the case with NY state filings. Thank God for small favors. Taxrates have been reduced for taxpayers with taxable incomes of over $40,000. andthe tax computation worksheets for taxpayers with New York adjusted grossincome of more than $100,000 are now based on filing status.Taxpayersrequesting direct deposit are asked some additional information about the bank accountto which refunds are to be deposited, and taxpayers must now enter only whole dollaramounts on income tax forms (nothing major here – I have never used cents ontax returns, except for some dependent returns).Thereare a couple of new tax credits for 2012, including a “Beer Production Credit”. Too bad there is not a “Beer ConsumptionCredit”.The2012 NJ returns are not yet available. Iwill let you know when they are.
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{I hear that the Senate has passed a bill. But it ain't over till it's over. And I do not hear the fat lady warming up yet. The House still has to accept, reject, or revise the bill}Wellwe have done it – American has fallen over the “fiscal cliff”.Actuallythat is not quite true. As Rex Nuttingexplained in his commentary “Stop Calling It A Fiscal Cliff” at MARKETWATCH.COM-“The fiscal cliff is a misleading metaphor.The laws will change on that day, it’s true, but the impact will be spread outover many, many months. In fact, the effects are already being felt,particularly in financial markets. Businesses, investors, workers and consumershave begun to prepare for the changes, and that’s caused the economy to slow abit already. It’s not a NiagaraFalls, with billions of gallons going over a cliff. It’s more like a bathtubslowly filling up. And, on Jan. 1, it’s going to spill over the edge.Eventually, it will flood the house, but that’ll take time. It’s not an explosion;it’s water torture.”Whathas happened, from a tax point of view, is this – the idiots in Washington havedone nothing to extend the tax law that expired on December 31, 2011, andDecember 31, 2012.Sowhat is new for taxes for 2013?(1) The contribution limits for tax-deferredpension accounts are -· IRA= $5,000· IRACatch-Up Contributions at age 50 and older = $1,000· SIMPLEPlan = $12,000· SIMPLECatch-Up Contributions at age 50 and older = $2,500· 401(k),403(b), Profit Sharing Plans = $17,500· Catch-UpContributions for these plans at age 50 and older= $5,500(2) The Standard Mileage Allowance ratesare – • 56.5 cents permile for business • 24 cents permile for medical or moving • 14 cents permile in in service of charitable organizations (3) The following provisions ofObamacare take affect –· The employee’s share of the Medicare tax increases by 0.9% - to2.35% - for taxable wages over $200,000 for single filers, $250,000 for jointfilers, and $125,000 for married couples filing separately. The self-employmenttax is similarly increased on these levels of income.· A new 3.8% “surtax” on “net investment income” is added on theForm 1040 for taxpayers with “modified” AGI (MAGI) over $200,000 for singles,$250,000 for joint filers, and $125,000 for married couples filingseparately. · Ifyou are under age 65 you will only receive a tax benefit for your itemizedmedical expenses if the total of your allowable expenses exceeds 10% of yourAdjusted Gross Income (AGI). · Employeecontributions to an employer-provided medical expense FSA are limited to $2,500per year.Whatelse? To be honest – God only knows, andhe ain’t talking!If the idiots inWashington continue to do nothing we will be taxed like its 1999, or actually2000. The so-called “Bush” tax cuts andthe various BO tax benefits expired on December 31, 2012. Therefore, as of January 1, 2013, the Tax Codepretty much goes back to the way it was on December 31, 2000, unless there issome kind of tax extension or tax reform legislation passed.Actually, at thispoint we really do not know how we are being taxed for 2012 either. The popular “extenders”, including the AMT patch,expired on December 31, 2011.So, based on the TaxCode as of this writing, American taxpayers will need to dig deep in theirpockets to pay their 2012 and 2013 federal income tax bills!My only hope is thatthe idiots in Washington at least act on the dreaded AMT and the other“extenders” before the end of January so I can begin the “season” knowing howto properly prepare 2012 tax returns.Regardless of yourpolitical “persuasion” – the Republicans, the Democrats, and BO are all equallyguilty of acting like idiots during this nonsense. TTFN
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AsI do each morning when I rise (except during the tax season), I have been checkingTwitter for tax-related “tweets” that lead me to online sources of news andcommentary. This morning I wasespecially interested in finding details on the literally 11th-hourSenate “fiscal cliff” agreement.CNNMONEY tells us “Senate Bill Stops Many Tax Hikes, but Leaves Big Issues Pending”. The bill would (highlights are mine) -“Make most Bush tax cuts permanent: The Bush-era income tax rates would be permanently extended for all income upto $400,000 ($450,000 if married). Bush tax cuts that apply to income abovethose levels would expire. Effectively that means forhouseholds above those thresholds, their top rate would rise to 39.6%, up from35% in 2012. Plus, the capital gains and dividendtax rates for these high-income households would increase to 20% from 15%. Foreveryone else, investment tax rates would remain at 15% or below {I assume permanently, and I assumethe 0% rate remains – rdf}.The compromise bill would alsopreserve the expanded parameters for the American Opportunity Tax Credit, theChild Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit for 5 more years. Permanently protect the middle classfrom the AMT: The bill would permanentlyadjust the income exemption levels for the Alternative Minimum Tax forinflation.Cap itemized deductions onhigh-income households: The Biden-McConnell compromise would cap how much thosemaking $250,000 (married couples making $300,000) may take in itemizeddeductions.Retain several expired tax breaksfor individuals: The compromise bill would extend for one or two years a few"temporary" tax breaks for individuals that regularly are extended.These include an option to deduct state and local sales taxes in place of stateand local income taxes; and a deduction for elementary and secondary schoolteachers for certain expenses.Permanentlyextend a more lenient estate tax: The legislation would preserve the currentestate tax exemption level of $5.12 million but index it to inflation forfuture years. And it would raise the top rate to 40% from 35% currently.”Anynegotiated agreement made at the very last minute (literally) by idiots likethe members of Congress is bound to be at the very least flawed, if notactually bad.Myconcern is that in making the bulk of the provisions “permanent” will give theAdministration an excuse to avoid tackling serious and substantive tax reformin 2013 (or through 2016) as had been hoped for (at least by me) – since thereis no looming expiration deadline.Iguess a permanent AMT patch is better than annual one-year patches – but neitherare better than doing away with the dreaded AMT altogether as part of anoverhaul of the convoluted Tax Code.Therewere some temporary aspects of the bill – the American Opportunity Credit,Child Tax Credit, and the Earned Income Credit, all with refundable components,for 5 years. A clear sign that the TaxCode will continue to be improperly used as a vehicle to distribute social welfarebenefits. And the excessive tax fraud that results from refundble tax credits will continue for at least another 5 years.The bill seems to bring back “Pease-like” limitations on itemized deductionsfor the “wealthy” (although these victims are less wealthy than thosehit by the increased tax rate). I amagainst any kind of cap or phase-out of itemized deductions in general, andwould rather remove some of the actual deductions. Andthe popular “extenders” have been extended for “one or two years”. As longas the idiots were making things permanent what is wrong with these?AsI said in my previous post it ain’t over till it’s over. I do not hear the fat lady warming up. The big challenge to this agreement is theHouse, who will either accept, reject, or revise (most probably revise) theSenate bill. And then there is theConference Committee, and the beat goes on. Onthe 2013 withholding front ACCOUNTING TODAY reported this morning that -“The Internal Revenue Service released newincome tax withholding tables for 2013 late Monday to reflect the expiration ofthe 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and the more recent payroll tax cuts of 2011and 2012, but noted that the guidance would be modified if Congress acts.”And-“In issuing the guidance, the IRS said ittakes note of the fact that Congress is currently considering legislation thatcould affect these rates. If the legislation is enacted, IRS will issue new,corresponding tables at that time.”Ihad received an email from Intuit Payroll (Quickbooks) on Friday stating thatit would continue the 2012 withholding tables into 2013 until Congress acts. I trust software companies in general do thesame and wait for the end of this negotiation before revising their programs,so as not to FU withholding.TTFN
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If you are trying to go away on vacation or leave the office for an extended period of time with no access to email, you will definitely want to enable your away message on Lotus Notes Mail to indicate you are not available via email. Here's a post to learn how to put your out of message on if you don't know how.Conversely if yo have returned to the office you want to be sure you disable your out of office message so that people know you are back. Let's make sure you are disabling properly before we look at another way to fix your problem. To Disable, first be sure you are in any screen that allows the “Tools” button to show in the top right corner of your Lotus Notes screen (inbox, send, junk mail, trash, etc views will all allow you to see the “Tools” button)Click the “Tools” buttonIn the drop down menu that appears select “Out of Office”The window that appears should read “Enabled”at the top. If so, look to the lower right of that window and select“Disabled”Another window will appear that will ask you if you are sure you want to disable your vacation / away message. Click yes and you are all set.OK… now, what is probably happening, the whole reason you are reading this article, is that your vacation message is not turning off (ie it isn't disabling). In other words, if you go back into tools-out of office again, it still says “Enabled” This is a problem since people still think you are still away from work when you really are. (The opposite, of course, is true if you are still getting the “Disabled” message but want to “Enable”)Chances are you are already getting warning messages about your lotus running out of file space / memory. This is what is preventing your from turning on and off your away message.To remedy, delete all of the emails (sent, inbox, junk, trash) that you no longer need. If a particular email is taking up a large amount of memory and you still need it, consider saving it to your hard drive, network, CD, etc, etc first before deleting You want to get rid of as much mail as possible. Essentially, your Lotus Notes file space is so full that even a simple action like disabling or enabling the out of office message will not save.You might need to contact your system administrator to determine how much mail you need to delete or just wing it and get rid of as much as you can starting with the largest sized files. Here are some great tips on deleting excess mail from LotusKeep deleting and then trying to enable / disable (don't forget to empty your 'trash' bin and junk mail). If it isn't enabling / disabling, delete some more.Hope that helps! Thanks for reading!
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If you are wondering how do I save a photo that was sent to me by someone via text message on my LG Lucid phone you are asking a great question.A friend of mine sent a text to me that contained a picture. I wanted to save the picture and either save it on my computer's hard drive or just send it directly to Facebook.On the LG lucid wireless phone you can take pictures that are saved to your cell phone and share them to various social networking sites, as well as email then, put them on your computer, etc. It is somewhat easy to do when the picture is already saved to your phone, in other words, when you touch the camera icon you can readily find the picture saved in that part of your phone. Not sure if I'm saying all that right but hopefully you get the meaning.The more difficult challenge is when you don't have that picture in the photo file that you access via the camera icon but instead have the picture sitting on some random text message that a somebody sent you.At first I tried opening the text message and pressing the photo so that it enlarges and then attempting to access it via the menu command (which doesn't seem to work with the picture open) or touching one of the icons on top of the photo, which basically only allow you to save to wallpaper.So with that all said, how exactly do you save photos that are texted to you on this phone?I'm sure there are better explanations but this is the only way I've figured out so far. It doesn't always feel like the most efficient thing to do depending on what you are trying to accomplish (Google Plus, Facebook upload or email, etc)Here's what works for me:Step 1Press the text message "Messaging" Icon so that you are looking at all the people's names who have sent you text messagesStep 2Then find the person's name that send you the text message and press their name so that all their texts from them and you are appearing on your screen.Step 3
After that chronological list appears of all the texts press that little square menu button in the lower left corner of your LG Lucid Smart Phone. The menu should pop upStep 4When the menu appears, press "Forward" Don't worry about selecting a specific text or anything, just press "Forward"Step 5The top of your screen should say "Select Message to Send" Select the text with the photo of the message you wish to send.Step 6See the "To" box that appears on the top of your screen? Yes? Now as you do this just keep trusting me here as at first you won't think you are doing this right. Touch the "To" box so the cursor is inside it then start to type in your own email address. As you type the letters it will look like the phone is about to dial a phone number. It won't. Enter your full email address including the "@" ".com" etc etcStep 7Then go ahead and hit the "Send" button. Give it a bit and the photo will appear on your email. From there I usually go to my PC and then extract it (ie save it, forward it, send it, whatever it is I want to do)ConclusionI find it hard to believe this is the only way to do this but this is what I do in the meantime until I figure something out. Hope it works for you aOK.Want to Move Pics from Lucid Smartphone to Your PC? This gets a little cumbersome too. I'm not talking about pictures that were sent to you via text messaging, I'm just talking pictures taken by your phone and are "on" your cell phone camera, so to speak. This article will show you how to move pictures from cell phone. Click the link above and you'll be taken there in a flash :-)
