I made over 130K last year...

[angry hampster]

I wonder who Walter White votes for?

Ron Paul, as he wants to cut Justice Dept funding which includes DEA.

 

[Gibson486]

Is there any advantage to a CPA, in terms can a CPA find loopholes, etc?????

Not really...in tax accounting, it is more of a title that gets thrown around. The only thing a CPA designates is that they can look over financial statements and be able to give credible opinions on the correctness of them. It's very useful in auditing, but only a little bit in tax. However, the title pretty much says that the accountant knows "his/her shit".

My mother owns a business and she hired a CPA accountant to do her taxes. He sucks. For the past two years, my mother has got penalized for various things and the accountant just goes, "Oh, well....just pay it". We are shopping for a new accountant now.

 

[highland145]

Own a small business... write offs, write offs everywhere

too bad write offs = red flag for audit

Yep. Not like I can go buy a Porsche or travel to Europe as a business expense. The company has purchased several pistols though.:sneaky:

 

[angry hampster]

too bad write offs = red flag for audit

Yep. Don't even bother with small biz write-offs unless you file with a CPA and keep flawless records.

 

[vi edit]

Example - These are deductions my wife and I make: Max 401(k)s: +$34k ($33k last year, of course)

My wife can't max out her 401k. Her employer routinely fails the income tests that HR has to run to comply with some whacky ratio between employees. Heaven forbid a high income earner wants to fully contribute to their 401k's. :roll:

She has coworkers in her dept making similar incomes and if they start contributing more than 13k or so to their 401ks they get a check cut back to them that they have to account for as being untaxed when it comes the end of the year.

Again...more evil high income earners how dare they be responsible for their futures!

 

[The-Noid]

Not really...in tax accounting, it is more of a title that gets thrown around. The only thing a CPA designates is that they can look over financial statements and be able to give credible opinions on the correctness of them. It's very useful in auditing, but only a little bit in tax. However, the title pretty much says that the accountant knows "his/her shit".

My mother owns a business and she hired a CPA accountant to do her taxes. He sucks. For the past two years, my mother has got penalized for various things and the accountant just goes, "Oh, well....just pay it". We are shopping for a new accountant now.

My wife is a CPA with an auditing background. She will not touch our taxes. She looks them over for glaring mistakes, however doesn't work in tax, so let's our accountant handle almost everything.

There are many things that people do with CPA's as Gibson said, being a CPA distinguishes that you can take tests. The test is four parts with Tax being only a partial weight of one of the tests.

It can be very difficult to find an actual tax accountant, who doesn't need to run the business around valuations, judgements, divorces, legal opinions, etc. during the non busy season. Of almost any occupation there seems to be about as big a discrepancy in skill as you can imagine in tax accounting.

 

[alkemyst]

He a 1%er! GET HIM!!!!!

$130k is more a 5%er

 

[steppinthrax]

The crazy thing is my income hasen't peaked yet. My wife dosen't work yet. I'm also young (28). My income will likely increase based on the career I'm on.

 

[Stuxnet]

Own a small business... write offs, write offs everywhere

THIS :thumbsup:

I've had a consulting firm ( < 10 employees) for about 5 years now and it's been great. I don't push the envelope, I keep meticulous records, and I have an accountant who specializes in small business taxes and does a great job.

too bad write offs = red flag for audit

Very true... and if and when that happens, I'll bury them in boxes of papers

 

[Alienwho]

I know that feel bro. I'm used to getting back 2 or 3k every year. I was in for a surprise when this year I saw we owe like $4k. I still can't believe how much my wife and I made last year. We're having a baby this year so I'm hoping to break even next year.

 

[alkemyst]

LOL...

He needs to make 100 times that to be close to being a 1%er : D


Wonder if he's going to pay a higher percentage tax than Mitt Romney?

only about 3x...I think 1% is at $350k or so.

 

[AreaCode707]

I want to know what that calculates out to in hourly pay for you.

It amazes me that the hourly rate for someone who makes 50k a year and someone who makes 100k a year often turns out to be pretty close. The person making the higher salary is often the one throwing 70+ hours a week at work (even if it's an annual salary role).

 

[alkemyst]

OP at $130k you are still below that $139k threshold (28%). With rentals you should be able to write that down further.

However; at $135k your tax burden unadjusted would be $26000. I am in a similar boat, but had no interest to write off on a mortgage nor enough donations ($6000) to do better than the standard deduction. Even with $1000 in education costs, I got nothing back...my school loans add up to $800 in interest which does nothing. Even my side-business which I shut down in march didn't generate enough fees to help. I had prepared for it though, yet will have to cut a check for $2200 still This next year my income should increase further and I am hoping my wife can increase her salary 50% or so. I really think the threshholds for some of these deductions should be moved to start phasing out closer to the $250k mark. Currently they are way too low.

I am sure those making 1/4 of this or less will lose their minds in thinking we should get any write offs, but at the same time I think that no-man's land between $125k-350K gives back quite a bit...

 

[Hacp]

That's what you get for working for your money. Someone has to pay for that 15% capital gains tax rate for unearned income. Mitt Romney thanks you for the subsidy.

Actually, Mitt Romney pays a higher % than 50% of all Americans.

 

[Stuxnet]

I want to know what that calculates out to in hourly pay for you.

It amazes me that the hourly rate for someone who makes 50k a year and someone who makes 100k a year often turns out to be pretty close. The person making the higher salary is often the one throwing 70+ hours a week at work (even if it's an annual salary role).

I don't know what everyone does here, but I refuse to do my job on a salaried basis. That's why I went into consulting. I bill at an hourly rate. I target my hours and my employees' hours at 40/week, but if a client gets pushy, at least everyone is compensated for their time.

A number of months ago, one of my clients wanted me on staff full-time (salaried). The salary was attractive enough for me to give it a shot, but after about 4 months, I insisted that we go back to the way things were. Part of the problem was that I just wasn't available enough to handle little things that came up with my other clients, and part of it was that it frustrated me to no end to be working for 50 or 60 hours for 40 hours of pay.

 

[alkemyst]

I want to know what that calculates out to in hourly pay for you.

It amazes me that the hourly rate for someone who makes 50k a year and someone who makes 100k a year often turns out to be pretty close. The person making the higher salary is often the one throwing 70+ hours a week at work (even if it's an annual salary role).

You really can't keep track of high income people by hours. At the same time they have a lot more leisures.

Same way that guy making $20/hr working four hours on a Saturday night delivering food is not really making $40k+ a year.

My next two weeks in Denver will be 12 hour days for M-F, 8 hours on each Saturday and on the sundays I fly about 7-8hours of travel time.

However that next week I probably won't work at all.

 

[WackyDan]

He a 1%er! GET HIM!!!!!

That pretty much sums up the misconception many have about those of us who make six figures.

These OWS people - many who don't make that much or even will ever make that much have no idea the work it takes to get to that level of earnings, nor do they realize that it isn't all that much money when you factor in family, etc.

I've been lambasted by liberals/progressives who have called me rich when I make $115k a year.

I'll compare my state, federal and local tax contributions to theirs any day of the week.

 

[Patranus]

FYI - You are in the top 10% which accounts for 70% of all tax revenue.

Anyone who makes more than $66,000 should be voting conservative anyways. Those who make $66,000+ are in the top 25% which accounts for 90% of all tax revenue.

 

[paperfist]

Just did my taxes last night. I'm so pissed how much tax I'm going to have to pay. I'm no longer eligibile for many deductions. I haven't even gotten to the AMT part yet!!!!!! Depending how this pans out I might switch political parties.....

Just curious, but how much in taxes do you have to pay?

 

[ShawnD1]

Just did my taxes last night. I'm so pissed how much tax I'm going to have to pay. I'm no longer eligibile for many deductions. I haven't even gotten to the AMT part yet!!!!!! Depending how this pans out I might switch political parties.....

American taxes must be screwed up. Up in Canada, a lot of things don't have a limit for who can deduct what. Even if you make 20 million per year, you can still take the tax deductions for things like bus passes, medical stuff, dental stuff, education costs, investment loss, etc.

It seems like a lot of the US is like that. No two people are the same. Person A gets free health care because they are poor, person B is told to go fuck himself because he's a typical middle class American, person C gets free health care because they are old.

 

[Patranus]

It seems like a lot of the US is like that. No two people are the same. Person A gets free health care because they are poor, person B is told to go fuck himself because he's a typical middle class American, person C gets free health care because they are old.

You have to remember that 47% pay ZERO federal income tax - or get a tax credit back.

 

[ShawnD1]

Very true... and if and when that happens, I'll bury them in boxes of papers

Remember to scan or photocopy everything. The latest scam going right now is receipts that disappear over time. I had a receipt on my desk for a couple months and it's faded so bad that there's no way to read anything on it. I think stores do that just so you can't return anything.
"you need a receipt to return this item"
"I just gave you the receipt"
"you gave me a blank piece of paper"
"it WAS the receipt. it faded"
"sorry sir, no refund. please go fuck yourself"

 

[steppinthrax]

American taxes must be screwed up. Up in Canada, a lot of things don't have a limit for who can deduct what. Even if you make 20 million per year, you can still take the tax deductions for things like bus passes, medical stuff, dental stuff, education costs, investment loss, etc.

It seems like a lot of the US is like that. No two people are the same. Person A gets free health care because they are poor, person B is told to go fuck himself because he's a typical middle class American, person C gets free health care because they are old.

I think canada has a ridicuious tax for person's. It's a socialist country right???

 

[DaWhim]

i made about 25k last year. my tax rate is about 10%-ish for fed/state/city

 

[RichieZ]

try paying AMT tax on unrealized gains on stock options that you purchased. 26% tax on any gain over $30K.

My capital gains day is coming up this sat (company went IPO last year), so I get to pay another15% pay tax on it AGAIN this year when i sell. And I also exercised more options from another company so I get to pay AMT on ISO's AGAIN.