Archive for August, 2009

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Free Isn’t Always Free

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Question from a reader:”I am starting up a web based business and plan on having do-it-yourself information and possibly advertising to make money.  What’s been your experience with this?  Thank you.”

My answer is that free on the Internet isn’t always free when it comes to information.  There have been tons of articles on free educations, free computer language training and of course free software that people can get to help them learn how to raise a barn, milk a cow, program an iPhone, perform open heart surgery and pretty much most of the things you and I can think about.  The problem is that it is unclear as to how to make money or monetize the information.  Somebody ends up paying for the info and free isn’t always free if it ends up costing you money.

Let me give you a couple of clear examples and you then can make your own decision as to what business model will work for you.  For sites that deal in adult content, it use to be that the clicking through business use to make money for some of them.  Problem was that they were not profitable anymore once everybody and his brother started knocking together their own sites and amateurs started posting their own videos.  Information like that is freely available.

To be sure, you will find that there is a lot of cool info that you can watch in video form, download pdf instructions on a lot of things and in most cases you will get what you paid for.  Sometimes the intructions or advice (hopefully like mine) is worth it’s weight in gold and getting it for free is a steal.  Most of the time you are the one who is having his or her time stolen from them trying to find answers to some of your questions.

If you are setting yourself up as the portal or the one stop shopping place for a certain place for a certain bit of info, let’s say repairing Volkswagen car engines, you may develop into a nice niche but I don’t know if you will make enough money to cover your rent, utilities or even a can of soda.

Most surfers have very short term attention spans – oh look, kittens-where were we? – ah – and they move on from once they get their information and answer.  Unless it is something that is hobby related or an item that causes them to dig deeper into your site, they will find what they are looking for and skeedaddle off to wherever it was that they were beaming in from.

Stir into the mix that we are in a financial Depression and you will add a harder factor to try and monetize something that you are giving away for free, unless you use the site to generate some interest for free and get them to buy a book or movie that you are hawking.  I favor that approach because I can always have people find and order my books no matter what.

How much revenue do you want to make a month with your gig?  Have you crunched the numbers to see if you can make enough to support yourself for a month?  If not, what numbers are you realistically talking about?

I will go along with the recipe that states that during a Depression you can make money and start up businesses that can last.  You can also burn yourself with the recipe as in recipe for disaster by pouring time and money into something that people aren’t going to pay for.

Ask yourself if you would click through an ad if it were on a web site and see if you would go and try stuff that you are asking your visitors to do.  Most of the time I am lucky that people sit around and even read the entire entry to my site when I post and for that I am grateful.  If they tend to buy something because they like my style, like one of my books, then the site has done the job. 

Am I spending inhuman amounts of cash to keep the site up and running.  Not at all.  You can say that the site supports the book sales and is a driver for people who are interested in my non-fiction and fiction or my business, gaming or creative skills.

Or maybe they were bored waiting for videos to load and they just clicked through to enjoy themselves.

Remember that statistics of themselves will only show you indicators of what is working and who and when people are seeking you out.  The rest is up to you and you better start off with the right attitude or you can lose a lot of time and money weeding out things that don’t work right.

You also are allowed to give some information and not all of what you are selling and charge for it if the market is willing to pay for it.  Some people will pay you on the honor system.  Most do not.

How many times have you also been directed to a site, looked for an answer and then been disillusioned?  Did you ever offer financial renumeration or even post a “thanks dude”?  You will want to avoid also any bait and switch tactics otherwise the word will get out.

That being said a better approach would be a niche self help site with ads possibly or something that you sell where it is related to the topic that you are covering on the site.  You asked a good question.

 Good luck.  To all of us!

Aug 14 2009

 August 13 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.  Thanks for your support.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Free Isn’t Always Free

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Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

More On Calif Taxes

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Here is some more info about California taxes coming up in the last quarter and into next year.  Individuals who file quarterly estimated income taxes, like the self-employed or the lucky ones who can generate a ton of money or income from stock options and dividends have to speed up their California tax payments.

Starting 2010 -specifically Jan 1 2010 – California will require you to pay 70 percent of your estimated taxes during the first six months of the calendar year up from 60 percent.  The reason is obvious because the state is trying to increase the money collected during the final two quaters of their fiscal year.  California’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. 

That means that if you are making estimated quarterly payments you will need to pay 30 percent in the first quarter, 40 percent in the second quarter, nothing in the third quarter and 30 percent in the fourth quarter.  The older way was 30/30 and then 20/20 for the tax quarters.

That means that you need to prepay your taxes a little earlier in order to make sure that you aren’t going to get dinged with any penalties later on.  When you are doing business, be sure that you collect your taxes from your customers (most biz people I know are on this because they certainly don’t want to be on the hook) and remember to file it on time.

Don’t expect this change to end anytime soon because the state is doing what it can to make more revenue.  Remember that they cannot print money like the Federal government can and they are limited to raising cash by taxation or floating bonds or loans.

As I get the information and things get finalized with California and Federal tax law changes I will forward the information on to you guys.  You know that I love ya.

What else is new…

Make sure that you have all your licenses and permits up to date when it comes to tax time.  Expect local and state agencies to be cracking down especially now that the amnesty programs for getting caught up on license fees are gone.

Remember that it is quarterly tax time and your payment if you owe is going to be coming around the corner. 

I can’t think of much of anything else.  I am still plowing away on my book on gaming and it is coming along.  Thanks again for all of your support and please keep the questions coming.  Yeah, I know I am not a search engine but as you are discovering, for specific questions, there isn’t anything that can beat the human touch.  We haven’t gotten to the point where machines and computers can answer things intuitively.  The reason that some results come back better than others is because you as a seeker may have been fortunate enough to get an exact match to your question because some other person asked the same question in the exact way you did.  Or maybe you are asking a common question.

I have gotten posts about how the nature of the market is for contract work and I can say that contract work is slow just as everything else is depending on where you live.  I think if you are lucky enough to be somewhere where there is funding and that business is still booming you can find something.

Stay healthy and watch your money.

 August 13 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.  Thanks for your support.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

More On Calif Taxes

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Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

Save Money Now Really

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Question:”I think I am better off spending my money and getting ready to live on whatever else is left of welfare.  I have had it.  What is the use in saving money?”

My answer is that you need to save money now.  Really.  There isn’t any indication that the Federal government or state governments will have any money for any programs at the rate that business is going in this country.  Remember that govt needs money to get things done and they get it from taxes.  Without businesses running and making money, you aren’t going to be generating tax revenue.

Without tax revenue you cannot afford social programs, armies, salaries of Congressional representatives.  The same holds true at the respective state levels.  The best thing you can do your for yourself is to save whatever money you can.

Even if you are paying off horrible interest rates on loans or credit cards, try and save at least ten percent of your paycheck for something.  Even if it means a month from now that you can get to see that first run movie you wanted to (even though you can probably wait 3 months and watch it for a buck as a dvd rental or Internet download).

Psychologically you are better off with some savings because it addresses the need for control.  Everybody these days gets feelings of things going out of control.  Anytime you can get some of that control back in your life is a good thing.

By regularly trying to save money you also develop good business habits and you can also set an example for family members who aren’t so good at saving.  Yeah, that is right.  Most of them.

Seriously, this is your chance and in some cases it may be one that won’t come back for awhile if you are earning an income stream.  First be grateful for that the chance and opportunity to be making some money and second, take advantage of it to steel yourself up against the crappy times that may be coming down the pike.

I can’t tell you how to run your life but since you are asking me the question I would strongly suggest even though you are paying off debts or feel that you are on the way out that you start or try and save some cash.  It may not seem profitable now but I can promise you that you can’t put a price on being able to relax and maybe eat out once every few months or buy that one thing that you wanted.

In the news you can pretty much expect the next few weeks to be an example of a pullback.  The stock market is looking for any excuse to take some money off of the table and any earnings news or downgrades (like YUM) are enough to set off selling sprees.

Guess what?  If you are patient and don’t want to play the shorting game (and I don’t blame you) you can take comfort that in keeping with the larger sideways turn of events, the market will bounce back.  As to how high or how low depends on if people and public are sobering up and realizing and I mean really getting it that we are still in a Depression.

We need full employment and right now we aren’t seeing it.

Question from a reader:”Anything I can do to help qualify for my home?  I am a first time buyer and the rules seem to have gotten tougher than when my friends got their houses.”

My answer is indeed they have.  Especially if they bought their homes a few years ago.  The banking requirements are closer to tradtional loans the way they were twenty years ago instead of ten and you will need to put down a decent down payment most of the time – we are talking 20 percent – have a great, steady job, prove it, and have a clean record for credit.  The pendulum has been swinging the opposite way from loosey goosey credit given to anybody who could spell “money” to going to the extreme where the old cliche holds true – only people who don’t really need a loan can apply and actually get the money.  That is how commerce works.

Getting the documentation for approval for a home loan and even getting a house in the past has always been a bit of a drag.  Ironically, you, as the person putting up the money ends up doing a lot of the running around and legwork and end up paying cash for it.  Such is the nature of our real estate market and system.

If you do have a good gig and can get into a great house, I would say if you are planning on living in it as a home and not as an investment, go for it.  Sure, property values may drop some more in a lot of places and maybe even where you are getting your new digs but remember the purpose of buying a home is to make it yours and to live in first and foremost.  The investment angle is something to look at second.  That being said, don’t buy a home in places where the market for recovery is several years out – like Detroit, for example.

Good luck everybody and keep the questions coming.

Aug 12 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.  Thanks for your support.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Save Money Now Really

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California Millionaire Tax

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Question from a reader:”Is it true that California taxes millionaires more than any other state in the Union?”

My answer is that it definitely is one of the highest tax rates in the nation to be sure.   Whether the people who have a million dollars do business in California or not, remember that California taxes people similar to the Fed on all worldwide income, that is, unless you are paying taxes to another localized tax authority – like another state.

The high end of the California state income tax schedule is 10.55 percent if memory serves me right.  That may seem like a lot of money and frankly, it is.  We, as Joe Sixpacks, are still going to be taxed at 9.55% if we earn more than $47,055 and year and less than a million bucks.  The .25 percent increase on individual income tax went live back in April here in California.

This increase should go away by expiration at the tail end of 2010.  There are a bunch more California tax changes coming up and I will get to them in a few days once I double check what suggestions would make sense for some people and what doesn’t work for others.  Good question though and I hope you fall into the class for millionaires.

Question from a reader:”Any thoughts on your on-going view of the stock market?”

My answer is that things haven’t changed that much in my mind.  I was wrong on the rally hitting when it did and honestly, I don’t get it because I still think that employment numbers are not being reported correctly and that we are recovering, on paper at any rate, at a much faster rate than reality warrants.  With people being laid off, I don’t see how people will go ahead and be able to afford to buy things to help the economy.

I think with all the business earnings over and with just the Fed reporting whether they will be reporting a rate hike – I bet they won’t and I think that is already factored into the happy stock market-I think things should float or cool off than for a few weeks.  The cliche and history is that the economic news and markets drop in Fall, specifically with September, and we may get some dips and adjustments in the Fall.  Remember I am not a professional but I do admit it when I call something incorrectly unlike a lot of people who collect money for their “advice”.

So my best advice for the stock market for you is to keep watching and doing your own due diligence.  I still think that there is a meltdown that is just waiting to happen in the wings.  It may happen three years from now, instead of waiting 7 to 8 like we did last time but I don’t see anything changing until people get working and start making money.

If the Fed starts raising interest rates next year in the current climate I think that will put the kabosh on any kind of recovery and just hammer more nails into the coffin. 

Cash is still king these days and you can get some great deals if you are willing to negotiate and pay with cash.  In some areas, like real estate, it seems that property values are low in some places and stable in others.  This is more to the nature of banks not lowering the sales prices of their homes that they are carrying on their books and in the cases where they have been bailed out, they will just sit on the properties and collect any fee income from title work, etc.  Nice work if you can get it.

Internationally I think that most nations are in the same pickle jar we are stewing it.  A big concern of mine is that we don’t let totalitarian thoughts and crackpots start rising to power with extreme views on politics or religion.  Remember that is how people get into trouble.

In terms of international investments I don’t think that China is the panacea for everybody to throw money into but it does bear reviewing.  I was following the information and investing problems with the Australian iron company that was doing business with China and there are a lot of issues that have to be dealt with in terms of communication and corruption.

Be safe and sane people.

August 11 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.  Thanks for your support.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

California Millionaire Tax

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Posted in Business | Comments Off

Intuition and Decision Making

Monday, August 10th, 2009

How about something for my readers who want more gaming related posts?  Here you go for something that happened to me recently at the 200 NL table.  Here we are something like an hour into basically a t event session for me where most of the time I was getting junk hands.  There were at least two players who were bluffers and in this hand I had one of them in the hand with me.  So, preflop there wasn’t any raising.  I was able to call and get in with several other players.  After the flop, there was some raising and it ended up with just three of us- the bluffer, another player and me.

With a board of

 s1h5s3

 

As   5h 3s Ace of spades, 5 hearts, 3 spades and our hero, er, me, holding Qs Jh (Queen of spades and Jack of hearts)

sqhj

 and with 2 unknown players, I had an intuitive hunch that at least one of my opponents in a game of three of us left in the hand bluffing.

What would be the best way to play this at the $200 No Limit game?  Welp, let us take a look at some numbers and do a look see.

Out of 966381570 combinations of hands (I love being a functional math weenie – the thought process works for me mu ha ha :) ) the law of averages states I would win 22.3% of the time and lose 75.1% of the time, and tie 2.5% of the time.  Both opponents each would win 36.3 % of the time, tie 3.3% of the time and lose 60.4% of the time each.

Don’t you love practical real world applications of math and statistics?  It was one of those hands where you play it correctly or go with intuition against all odds.  Sometimes with the math you lose but you can live to fight another day with your money.

Each opponent has put in $180 (which was what I had in my stack at the time) so I am getting 2 to 1 odds.  The odds of me winning are roughly 4:1. 

Despite my intuition, I didn’t feel comfortable going against the guy I thought was bluffing and another unknown who may or may not be on tilt.  The guy had a mad on for almost everything and everybody for the last hour and a half.  I folded and the board came up with two more jacks and I would have had the best hand.  I hate doing post mortems but I wanted to teach and reinforce that you can’t understand what makes sense and what doesn’t if you want to continue playing cards for more than once in your life.

From a math weenie point of view I actually played it correctly since I wasn’t getting the correct odds to make the call or have a large enough overlay as they call it to insure I would win the hand.

Players go broke chasing hands and I feel sheepish when I see I could have won the hand but the reality is that in the long run, if I play that way I can lose more hands than I would win.  That doesn’t translate to good or profitable play in the long run.  In the long run, it really is just one continuous game that you play your entire life.  The player who was bluffing won and angered the other player and I wanted to stick around while this guy went on tilt.

I point this out in a business perspective that  in life just as in gaming, you need to make gut decisions that sometimes go against the odds and you need to have your own due diligence to know the impact of what happens if the long shot doesn’t work.  If I had deeper pockets maybe I might have called but at a 200 NL table you can’t risk your entire stack all the time with an average size pocket.

You can also end up walking home stone broke (well, driving home if you had the foresight to gas up your tank first) if you continuously take wild hair up the butt chances. 

 

August 10 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.  Thanks for your support.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Intuition and Decision Making

Tags:
Posted in Business | Comments Off

BFF Girly Girl and Credits

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Question from a reader:”What are nonrefundable and refundable tax credits?  Can you be a little less drier than the IRS in your explanation for me?  I don’t remember if you answered this already but I wouldn’t mind you to refresh my memory since I am trying to see what kind of shape I will be in for taxes this year.  Thanks, Kim.” 

Ahh, with summer time comes the sweet sound of smart people planning on their tax liability, whether they are getting a refund and any consequences before things get nuttier later in the year, or worse, too late once we get into the next tax year.  Ironically, I have been involved in a class with credits and appropriate of nothing in particular, I received an email question that fits right in.  Thank you, reader for being in the zone on this one.  Okay, back to your question.

 Think of tax credits coming in two flavors.  One that can wipe out your tax liability and then stops working.  We can call that flavor “stopberry”.  The second one can not only wipe out your tax liability but can also give you cash back.  We can call that flavor “goberry”.

 Keeping that analogy in mind, we can now discuss the fact that tax credits are grouped into two categories: nonrefundable and refundable.

 A nonrefundable credit is limited to the amount of tax owed by the tax payer. It may not be more than your tax liability. Any portion of a nonrefundable credit that exceeds the tax liability is not returned to you as part of a refund. The nonrefundable credits are on Form 1040, page 2, Credits.  So let us show an example to demonstrate this now if that is okay with you guys (I know, it is summer and you would rather be at the beach or playing video games but bear with me).

 Example: Our best friend forever, Girly Girl, has a tax liability of $700. She also has a nonrefundable  tax credit of $1,000. Because a nonrefundable credit may not be more than the amount of tax owed, Girly’s nonrefundable credit is limited to $700.Girly Girl does not receive the remaining $300 of the nonrefundable credit. This amount is “lost.”  It isn’t really lost though since you never were going to get it back because it wasn’t refundable.  It may be stopberry but at least it is a flavor that helps us.

 As you probably realize now from our conversation here, a refundable credit is not limited by the amount of tax owed by the client. Any amount of a refundable credit that exceeds the tax liability may be refunded to the client. The refundable credits are on Form 1040, page 2, Payments.

 Example: Our good friend, Girly Girl  has a tax liability of $700. She also has a refundable credit of $1,000. The refundable credit first reduces Girly’s tax liability to zero.Our BFF Girly is then eligible to receive the remaining $300 as a refund.  Obviously, this goberry is better tasting than a stopberry.

 The nonrefundable credits that are currently out there for you are the child tax credit, the child and dependent care credit, the adoption credit,the Hope scholarship credit, the lifetime learning credit, and the residential energy credits.

 The refundable credits are the additional child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the first-time home buyers credit. Taxpayers who qualify for the first-time home buyers credit and purchase a home after December 31, 2008, and before December 1, 2009, may claim the credit on their 2008 or 2009 tax returns.  Taxpayers may claim enhanced first-time homebuyers credit on 2008 or 2009 returns for purchases this year.

 Good questions and please keep them coming.  Just a reminder also that quarterly tax payments are coming up for you and your business.  Also, if you have filed an extension you are going to have to have your completed tax returns ready soon.  Planning on getting married?  Start talking to a tax planner (I am available so look me up) so you can avoid getting blindsided your first year of marriage.

 Any exciting plans for the weekend?  Let me know since I probably will be trying to work on my book-it is almost finished, doing chores around the house and cleaning.   Is it hot where you live as well?  We’ve been baking out here.

 Stay healthy, get wealthy and watch your money.  May you also look out for your stop and go berries!

 Aug 07 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

BFF Girly Girl and Credits

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August Sole Prop Questions

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Questions coming in about Sole Proprietorships:

“Kim, you’ve touched on Self Employment Tax before.  What else can you tell me?  Do I really need to pay income tax on my net profit?  That sounds lousy.  Thanks!”

My answer is that I can tell you lots.  You do have to pay income tax on your net profit and you should write to your Congress person about your tax feelings though in this current Depression I am not sure what you will get back as an answer.

Not only do sole proprietors need to pay income tax on their business net profit, but they need to pay self-employment tax (SE tax), which is the equivalent of social security and medicare taxes. The tax rate is 12.4%, which represents both the employee and employer contribution, on 92.35% of their net income from self-employment. The tax is added on the Form 1040 as an additional tax after figuring income tax. However, you can also be eligible to deduct one-half of their contribution as an adjustment to income.

Statutory employees do not pay SE tax because their employers must treat them as employees for social security and medicare tax purposes and withhold these taxes from their wages.

Certain business people  are exempt from paying SE tax.  These folks are:
• An Executor or administrator of an estate, unless the client is a professional fiduciary or works for a business held by the estate
• Certain newspaper carriers
• Notary public
• Clergy who have applied to and received approval from the IRS because of conscientious objection to public insurance due to religious belief.

So please make sure that whenever you are collecting your income from your biz that you take into account your SE tax.  Trust me, the IRS will be looking for it and they aren’t bashful about getting you to pay it.

Question from a reader:”What is material participation in a business, specifically a sole prop?”

A business person materially participates when they are involved in the business in a regular, continuous, and substantial way. If the proprietor
does not materially participate, any loss from the business is considered a passive loss. Passive losses can only be deducted if there is passive income in the same year.
A sole proprietor materially participates in a business if one of seven
tests is met:
1. Worked more than 500 hours during the tax year.
2. Participates more than anyone else.
3. Participated more than 100 hours, and no one else participates
more.
4. Activity is a significant participation activity, and participation
exceeds 500 hours during the year.
5. There has been participation for any five of the previous ten years.
6. The activity is a personal service activity in which the taxpayer
has materially participated for any three preceding tax years.
7. Based on the facts, there is participation in the activity on a regular,
continuous, and substantial basis for more than 100 hours.
Send me an email if you have any more questions or you may want to check out The Schedule C instructions.  There are more details there.

Question from a reader:”In a partnership, am I always a limited partner?”

The biggest gotcha is that when you are investing in a friend’s business also as a partner that you clearly understand if you are a limited or unlimited partner.  You need to talk to your partners about that and look at the K1 that you get as part of your partnership.  A general rule of thumb is to always understand a business before you get into it.  Besides today’s column is about sole props and I just snuck your question in because I had some space.

Question from a reader:’What about the Form 2106?”

My answer is to check out my previous post here.  You generally cannot use both a Schedule C or a Form 2106 and the link has more information for you there.

Question from a reader:”What is the best accounting method that I should use in starting up by business?”

My response is that it depends on your type of gig but I would suggest that you try to keep it simple at first and go with what most people go with, namely keep it on a cash basis at first unless you have reason to do otherwise.

August 06 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

August Sole Prop Questions

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Tax Receipts Lowest Since 1932

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Yuck.  The Depression we are in is cutting off the cash flow to the government in the form of less taxes.  Taxes, though everybody hates them are the lifeblood of a nation next to floating bond issues.  Of course if you live in a dictatorship there are other means of getting revenue but fortunately we live in the United States.  Our tax receipts are looking to drop 18% this year which would be the largest single year decline since the other Great Depression.  Our Federal deficit will be jumping up to $1.8 trillion dollars.

The information comes from an Associated Press analyst (not my own research on this) but seems right if not too low honestly.  The numbers state that individual income tax receipts are down twenty two percent from a year ago.  Corporate income taxes are down 57%.  That means that Social Security tax receipts could drop for the second time with the first time being in 1940.

Our Social Security System which would be depleted with projections in 2037 might be broke as early as 2013 at this current rate of depleting tax revenue.  It doesn’t help things that there isn’t a lot of grassroots hiring for a lot of jobs.

For a lot of people the promise of Social Security was a safety net and through the years there have been projections that the fund would run dry.  Back when the program first started, the funds were locked up and couldn’t be touched.  It didn’t take many years before Congress started tapping into the money to fund other programs with the promises to replenish it with other money.  Eventually you have to pay back the money whether good intentions were used or not.

President Obama said that he would address Social Security next year after the medical plans were addressed.  Medicare tax receipts are down as well, by the way, but that was predicted and last year was when the govt started paying out more in money than it was taking in for Medicare.

It is very tough to dig oneself or a nation out of a downward spiral and when I see that the stock market is rising I really feel that there is a disconnect with reality here.  People at the bottom of the financial goods chain, the consumers, need money to make things work.  If people aren’t buying goods, a lot of the projections for growth are just that – projections like on a movie screen.  And like a lot of movies, the stories might be fictional or not end very well.

The Cash for Clunkers program looks like it was a success except that it has run out of money and as of this post, the House has approved funding but the Senate hasn’t.  Hopefully that will get resolved one way or another because at this point I personally don’t know if all that extra money for car dealerships will help if people get new cars and then end up defaulting on their payments two months from now because the bottom drops out of their jobs.

Banks are also offering loans again judging by the mailings that I am seeing and hearing from people.  The loans aren’t large ones but something is better than nothing and I can’t blame banks for not wanting to make loans to people who aren’t going to pay back what they owe.

For those of the readers who are jumping back into the stock market I encourage you to do your own due diligence and keep your eyes open.  Things are encouraging on bleak news because people are desperate.  Just because losses aren’t as deep that just means that they aren’t losing cash as fast.  That still is very different than hearing that profits are up.

Keep in mind too that even if profits are up, you need to look at the company balance sheets and see what has happened and make sure that there hasn’t been any accounting fudging of numbers to make things look better than they are.

Please be safe and healthy people and keep your eye on your money.  If you don’t, somebody else might have eyes on it.

Aug 05 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Tax Receipts Lowest Since 1932

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Nicolas Cage Call Me About Taxes and Comics

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I really like Nicolas Cage’s roles and I would like to offer my services to him as his tax guy.  It sounds like Mr. Cage is in dire need of good, honest and clear tax advice so he can hold onto some more of his money and still take care of his role as a taxpayer.

The Internal Revenue Service is stating that Mr. Cage has to come up with $6.2 million to cover 2007 unpaid taxes.  That year Mr. Cage appeared in “Ghost Rider” (I thought it was good) and had a cameo in “Grindhouse” (I thought it was funny).  I thought they did okay at the theaters though maybe not spectacular.

Some of his recent movies, “Knowing,” “Bangkok Dangerous” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”  haven’t been so great at the box office. 

From what some reports that are coming in, Nicolas Cage is putting up his homes in California and Louisiana for sale.

In the past he owed $660,000 that he agreed to pay in Sept 2008.

Mr. Cage, if you or your people are reading this – call me or drop me a line.  I also am interested in comic books so we can at least talk about that once you get through getting ticked off over your tax situation. 

August 4 2009

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Nicolas Cage Call Me About Taxes and Comics

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Tax amnesty LA Biz Ended

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Remember when I mentioned that the city had a tax amnesty program for businesses?  Well it was pretty successful.  The city hoped to make about 10 million in taxes and they made at least 7 (or was it 8 million) which isn’t too shabby.  The deadline for fighting the city’s serious budget shortfall was July 31 2009 and  Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged businesses and residents on Wednesday to pay delinquent taxes before the city’s tax amnesty program ended.

Officials in the city (and state)  believe upwards of 80,000 businesses owe the city $280 million in taxes – money either unpaid or underreported by businesses and individuals. Through July 31, 2009,  city scofflaws could have paid back taxes without penalties, which normally range up to 40 percent. Now Mayor  Villaraigosa said he will have auditors will looking to find those firms which have not paid.  Yes, forty percent.  That is a huge penalty and I have been telling my clients for years to pay their business tax so they can avoid getting dinged by penalties which can be very stiff – especially if you aren’t making money in the down economy.

To paraphrase Valley Industry and Commerce Association board member Mel Kohn, who has been involved in the city’s business tax reform effort, the boardmember praised the amnesty program that began May 1 as a way to make sure all business pay their share.

“If businesses pay what they owe, it will be less for all of us,” Kohn said.

Veronica Perez Becker of the Central City Association offered a different take on the program:

“This is like a bailout for businesses, to pay their taxes without penalties,” she said.  I would agree with her because that was a pretty fair and thoughtful way for the city to let people get caught up, collect money and get back on track. I still don’t get how otherwise sane people decide to not pay business taxes especially if they are working in the same city that they live and do business in.  Eh, who knows what lurks in the minds of the small and large business person.

I seriously doubt there will be any more amnesty programs for awhile since state and local governments are facing budget shortfalls and even though there may not be a public statement that there will be no new taxes you can bet that the collection of existing or back taxes will be enforced and strictly.

Just a reminder to that it isn’t that far away for your quarterly taxes and you should be putting aside cash for paying your quarterly taxes for both the Fed and respective state taxing authorities. 

Hey, how is everybody adjusting in California to the higher ugh sales tax?  I still get sticker shock when I see 9 plus percent for taxes added on for purchases and I really want somebody to do something to get business to get going back in California but I can’t blame people for being gunshy from starting up gigs.

Judging from the amount of restaurants I have seen and for some of the very low end (food trucks) and high end (some restaurants in Encino, Long Beach, and other parts of Southern California) people seem to be still eating out in some moderation and in some cases excess.  Got any great recipes?  If so, think about if you have the head for running a catering truck or opening a restaurant.  You might get some decent leases with the Depression and be able to try and make it a go from three months to a year.  Do your own research and be willing to put in killer hours though for the next few years.

Going full circle on this blog entry, please be sure to also take into account your business taxes and be honest on what you can expect to make your first year in making your estimates.  The general cycle for new restaurants is at first a small pop to get to see if they like your food, followed by either a growing, hungry base of customers or it levels off to nearly nothing if they hate your cooking until you tweak your prices or change recipes.

What else is new – ah, expect the stock market to pop a bit more, I was shocked it actually rallied at the end of last week.  I had expected it to go up just a scootch but it seemed to roar a bit on news about the economy.  Personally, I am too much of a realist to hold my breath on things till more people start to get their jobs or hours back.

Talk to you later.

 August 03 2009

Also, please  don’t quite go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Tax amnesty LA Biz Ended

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