Personal Tax

Does a green card holder pay tax on wire transfer

sean_rochester — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:19:37 GMT

Hi,

I am a permanent resident (green card) and have money in an account in my home country. Do I need to pay tax on wire transfer up to $100,000? Is there a limit per transfer or per the tax year (i.e., can i wire over $100,000 by multiple wire transfers during one tax year)?

In addition, my mother name also shows on the account (in my home country), do i consider the money as a gift although it is actually my money?

Thanks

flex spending problem

ny guy — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:59:19 GMT

I have a flex spending problem. In my case, I put in about 1000 per yr and then I submit expenses to get my money back. last yr I went to a friend for contacts and glasses. He gave me a home made receipt. I can’t get in touch with my friend anymore. The flex spending administrator did an audit on my account and wants me to repay all the monies from last yr and this year. They are threatening me with further action if I don’t repay. I tell them I spent the money and I didn’t know I had to go to a bona fid store.

What should i do??

Insolvency & Married Filing Separately

Hopestill — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:53:41 GMT

I am a full-year resident of CA and file married separately. I got married in 2007, and all of my assets and liabilities are still in my name only. I have two rental properties and a personal residence. I sold one of the rentals this year in a short sale. I was insolvent immediately prior to the short sale. Must I include my spouse's assets and liabilities into the insolvency calculation as well? Is there a requirement that I must file jointly to claim the insolvency exclusion? ...

Thanks so much,
Hope

Medical Equipment Claim Question

Procrastinator — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:42:45 GMT

Back in '07 I purchased a far-infrared sauna for treatment of a persistent medical condition (back injury '92). I had been treated for this over the years, but prior to my purchase I had complained about it to the doctor and received muscle relaxants. Not one to be a pill popper, I have not been taking medication for it (and suffering silently). However, she would have a record of the complaint and the prescription. At the time of purchase, I was in a rush to get the item and did not obtain a letter of medical necessity from my doctor.

My question is this: it looks like I may be audited on my '07 returns and I'm hoping they aren't going to disallow this purchase. She would not have a problem writing the letter now, but it would be dated for present. She would, however, reference my back problems when I was treated in the past.

Would the IRS allow any or all of this deduction? If so, what other info would they need to consider a medical equipment purchase like this? I can certainly provide mfr info, but am primarily concerned about getting wording correct for an 'after the fact' purchase (if at all allowable).

TIA

IRS Issues

Help_Mike — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:40:16 GMT

I see commercials all the time about people settling his/ her taxes for "pennies on the dollar." Does anyone have any real experience dealing with the IRS on owed taxes? What was the process, how long did it take, what were the results, etc...

Investment Property

austintexashouseflipping — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:07:49 GMT

I purchased an investment property last year and sold it later that year for a profit. I claimed the money that I made on it on my individual federal taxes. This year I bought another investment property and turned around and sold it for a profit. I'm currently under contract for my 2nd house purchased this year. My question is - can I continue to claim one (maybe 2) investment properties a year on my individual tax return or is it time for me to set up a business?

Joint bank account-Gift tax question

Marcelo Bruno — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:14:06 GMT

Does the creation and funding of a joint bank account owned by two noncitizen-non residents (NRAs) married couple (one spouse contributing ) trigger federal gift tax or are the funds attributed to the contributor ?

Are there further implications if they transfer surplus funds from their joint checking to their joint savings account and/or joint broker account and vice versa .

Totten Trust (In Trust For) bank account -Gift tax question

Marcelo Bruno — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:52:27 GMT

Can someone please confirm my understanding :

1. There is no Federal gift tax implication on the creation and funding of a Totten Trust ("In Trust For"=ITF) bank account .

2. That these ITF accounts are treated as "POD" accounts (Payment on Death),i.e funds belong to the original contributor/s of money .

3. Such accounts avoid probate ,hence on presentation of a death certificate the funds would pass on to the ITF beneficiary.

4. In the case of a joint bank account, funds would pass to the ITF beneficiary only on the death of the second joint account holder (assuming the joint bank account includes survivorship ?

Restaurant Incorrectly Reporting Wages

JasonF — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:37:51 GMT

The state is North Carolina.

My girlfriend works as a server in a restaurant, so she is paid $2.13 per hour by her employer, and she can keep most of her tips that she recieves from patrons of the restaurant.

When she starts her shift at work, she clocks into a computer. Then, when her shift ends, she clocks out of the computer. When she clocks out, she also inputs into the computer how much money she received in tips, so the computer has all her pay data for that shift: her hours (multiplied times $2.13) and her total tips.

She recently went to a bank to apply for a loan on a car, and she was required to take her recent pay stubs. She had not previously paid attention to her pay stubs, but she now noticed something: her pay stubs were incorrectly under-reporting her income by about 40%. Her base hours were correct, but her tip wages were very much incorrect. She had previously heard from coworkers that her supervisor was manually going into the computer and changing the tip values (for a reason only God knows), but she didn't believe it at the time; now she does believe it.

Needless to say, she was denied the car loan because her pay stubs made it appear that she had only $300 of disposable income per month.

First, is her supervisor breaking a law by manipulating these pay values?

Second, last year was her first year working at this restaurant, so she did her 2009 taxes using income from this restaurant but went by the incorrect values on her W2. In other words, she almost assuredly under-reported her income because her W2 was incorrect. Could this be a legal problem for her?

Finally, what is her best course of action at this point? Confront her boss? Report him to the IRS?

Thank you!

Working for Japanese Company

Ysljm — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:20:54 GMT

I am a Japanese citizen with US peranent residency (greencard) status. I have been working in US for a long period of time and have always filed US tax. I recently accepted an executive position in Japan. I will be working for the Japanese company starting November 2010. The priary residency will be in Japan but my husband (US citizen) and I will still have our house here and will be traveling back and forth between Japan, US and Europe.

My husband has retireent pension coming in every month and I will be making over $400,000/year working in Japan. Our question is where do I pay my tax? Since I am Japanese citizen I will probably have to pay tax in Japan once I start working there but do I have to pay US tax also on the money I earned and paid tax in Japan?

I've researched a bit but there are a lot of information on US citizen working in Japan but not much on Japanese citizen with US permanent residency status working in country of origination. Since the tax will be significant amount of money I would like to save as much tax as possible while filing right documents and doing right thing.

If anyone could give me advice I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

8000.00 frist time home buyer credit

cndy — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:23:45 GMT

I am looking to see if anyone can tell me if a person who had "co-signed" a mortgage and claimed part ownership of a rental property but Never Owned meaning they never had any titleship to the property can claim the first time home buyers tax credit after they later bought into the property.

A bit confusing, but we had a situation where my "friend" assisted with me obtaining a mortgage and in return I allowed him to deduct a percent of the property, he was Not listed on the property "deed" until this past year where he bought into the property. Would him "now" having ownership qualify him to the first time owner tax credit?

Massive travel / medical expenses.

Drew — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:52:35 GMT

US citizen living in China for about 2 years needed "emergency" flight back to US and on to NC for some specialized medical treatment --plus needed local hotel for the duration of several weeks of "chemo" then will return to family home 3 states away and shuttle back and forth for some continued treatments before returning to China. Chemo and hospital etc is covered by insurance--but not the massive travel and short term living expenses away from home.

Wasn't sure he'd even make it so Dr's put in a call for spouse to rush to NC from China as well --not on same trip.

So far he has made it.

Intent is to return to work in China.

What is likely deductible and at what rate on 1040 Sch A--less the 7.5 % of AGI of course?

Thanks

Child Support & Taxes??

BigDadee63 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:16:35 GMT

On another thread there seems to be some confusion by some that child support is tax exempt. To help clear this u for the OP, I kindly ask that anyone with correct information please look at the following thread and offer helpful information as it relates to taxes.

http://community.lawyers.com/forums/t/103622.aspx

IRA LLC

hawkman74 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:53:28 GMT

I am finalizing the set up of a self-directed IRA and have most items properly in place. One last item that came to my attention is this: if my self-directed IRA invests in a single-member LLC, there are apparently certain rules that have to be contained in that LLC's operating agreement.

Can anyone point me to where those rules are so I can ensure the operating agreement is compliant?

Thanks.

California - Quick Question

purr — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:50:43 GMT

My husband and I are having a debate. If you sell "something" and receive over $500 (amount is arbritary) do you have to report it on your income taxes?

tax situs of trusts

dekker — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:16:54 GMT

Generally, could the trustee and beneficiaries agree to retain the tax situs of a trust, if the admin situs and choice of law are changed?

Bill from IRS - Taxagent would you be so kind as to comment?

CuriousInCa — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:37:06 GMT

Taxagent,

You might recall earlier messages from me, where I discovered a mistake in my 2008 taxes while preparing my 2009 taxes. This discovery was in March, 2010.

The mistake resulted in my underpaying my 2008 taxes by about $1200. I immediately prepared an amended return for 2008, paid the underpayment in full and sent it in by certified mail. I have the certified receipt and the checks have been cashed. (Two checks - IRS and California FTB.)

I have been expecting a bill from the IRS and FTB for the interest on the unpaid taxes, calcuated from April, 2009, to March, 2010. I have been watching my mail closely, but nothing has arrived, not from the IRS nor the FTB. I can understand one getting lost in the mail, but both??

I have the money to pay the bill, and will gladly do so when the bill arrives. I want to put this behind me. I always pay my taxes in full and on time. (Except this one time when I made a stupid mistake.)

I am beginning to hypothesize that there is some kind of "floor" interest amount below which they do not send interest bills. It is possible that my interest falls below this floor, thus, I have not received any kind of payment due notice from either agency.

Can you shed some light on this? Should I contact the IRS and FTB to ask where that bill might be and how can I go about seeing it gets paid?

Thanks for your time.

Tax on sale of inherited personal property

SETucker09 — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:47:33 GMT

My Mother passed away October 08..In her jewelry etc I found several valuable gold coins..I have sold them on ebay and now have heard I will have to pay tax on them..What form would I file..and on what percentage would I pay..I thought inherited jewelry and coins were not taxable..if not what should I file..I understand Ebay and Paypal will be checked for sellers that sell an amount over $5000

taxmasters

Don Turner — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:23:43 GMT

I would like to know how i can start a class action suit against Taxmasters in Houston Tx.

They promised that they could get my tax lowered to pay IRS and after 7 months they told me that i make to much money and i can pay my tax bill myself. this is after i was promised it would be done in Nov08.

They hounded me for weeks to hire them and after paying them $5100.00 they did nothing for me. onlyu to take my money.

I am now working directly with the OIC office of the IRS, They are more then happy to help me. I should have gone ti them first.

Most tax relief places are a ripoff

1099C - Mortgage Debt Relief Act - Primary Residence

Tylo — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:42:56 GMT

Hello Folks,

We have a single non-purchase money loan (refinanced no cash out) in California. The Debtors are my dad and I. My dad and I are expecting each a 1099C or with both are names on it. We lived in the home for about 5 years. I moved out earlier this year to a new primary residence and my dad stayed at the current home.

How do we file the 1099C document? Do we do 50/50 on the cancellation of debt? Or could we file under one of us? Obviously we would like to file under my father to qualify for primary residence exclusion.

Appreciate the replies.

Thanks,

gift tax

Suzi1 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:47:33 GMT

My neice is 18 and going to college this fall. If I write the college a check for 12,000 do her parents have to pay tax on that? It's money I put into a cd in her name with me as custodian 2 yrs. ago.

1099C without the form

taxedoutoftheblue — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:08:35 GMT

Recently I received a notice from the IRS of a "forgiven debt" in 2008 for which I not only didn't receive a 1099-C, but never heard from the creditor to begin with.

Back in 2001, I had to stop making payments on my BigBank credit card due to having lost my job. I was insolvent in that year, having had no assets to speak of, so there was really no point in filing for bankruptcy. Here's the strange part: I never heard from BigBank or from any debt collector claiming to represent them. It was as if they simply ignored my account. By the way, I've been paying only cash for all my purchases ever since.

Based on the letters from the IRS, it appears to me that BigBank tried to "forgive" this debt seven years after the fact - without charging any further interest or penalties - probably to somehow get better tax treatment for 2008. However, they never notified me of any settlement, either in 2008, 2001, or at any other time.

My question is: is there a statute of limitations that would prohibit BigBank from doing this? And doesn't it have the responsibility to notify me?

Repayment of State tax liabilty

rabb — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:31:46 GMT

I made an agreement with the tax Division of the State of New Jersey to pay $500 a month for 36 months. They in turn took my Federal tax return of $11,000 which was not agreed upon 6 months after the agrremet. Now they saying I must honor the original agreement. My question is do I have to? can I make another agreement since the original terms were violated? Need advise

Tip allocation

kujetic — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:16:34 GMT

Situation: A couple years ago while working as a restaurant server, I received my W2 from the restaurant. A few weeks later, after I filled my tax return, I was given a revised W2 in which they added $1308 in allocated tips, they said we (the servers) did not report enough of our tips so what ever was owed by the company was then distributed amongst the employees. in the revised W2. About a month later they made us sign a 'Tip Allocation Agreement'. I never revised my income tax report as I already received the return.

MY Question: Was the company allowed to allocate the tips in the revised W2 after they already sent me the W2 without my previous consent? I mean its a year later and now the IRS is telling me I owe them money, which is going to be impossible to pay as I have been unemployeed for a year.

homebuyer credit

robinanddave — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:15:31 GMT

My wife purchased a home - all in her name. I do not qualify for the homebuyer credit, but she does. However, she is not eligible because she is married???? The home is in her name, but the way the IRS forms read, she cannot claim the credit - even if we file separately. HELP