[CAUT] PTG Dues

[Jim Busby]

Carl,

I think I'd rather have a fork stuck in my eye than do my own taxes again. You must be a lot smarter/patient/different brained than I. Kudos to you, but after wanting to kill myself nearly every April 14th I got a good tax man. He tried not to demean me but laughed and said "You're gonna love me!" Somehow he went back a few years and got me an additional $7,000.00 I didn't even know was deductible. Love him. And I trade out with tunings!! Win-win.

Regards,
Jim Busby


-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Carl Root
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 6:27 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] PTG Dues

David,

I've been filing my own taxes for thirty five years.

Many years ago,I thought about hiring an accountant that had been
referred to me by another technician.  After the initial office
visit, I decided, as a courtesy, not to charge him for the
consultation.  I knew more about some aspects of running a business
than he did.  (Specifically IRA contributions by your spouse working
for you, as I recall.  The laws have changed since then and she no
longer works for me.)

Several of my private clients are accountants.  If I ask them
questions and they independently come up with the same answer, I
consider it to be reliable.  The tax code can get rather complicated,
but schedule C issues are fairly straight forward.  Read the
instructions, as Israel said.

Carl


On Jan 8, 2008, at 8:12 AM, Porritt, David wrote:

> This thread on taxes kind of amuses me.  We get our chuckles from time
> to time when lay people make comments about pianos that show a lack of
> understanding of the instrument.  I'm sure any tax accountants who
> might
> read this would get a similar chuckle out of our comments.
>
> The last couple of tax law changes have been referred to as the "Tax
> Accountant's Relief Acts" since they make the tax laws so complex that
> it takes a tax specialist to comprehend them.  I send all my tax
> work to
> a CPA who only does taxes.  That's his area of expertise.  Just as I
> can't recommend that he learn to tune his own piano and purchase the
> requisite tools to tune his piano each year, he doesn't recommend
> that I
> learn the tax code and buy the necessary software to file my own tax
> return once a year.  I can tune his piano better than he can, and
> he can
> do my taxes MUCH better than I can.
>
> dp
>
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> dporritt at smu.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
> Carl Root
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 6:32 AM
> To: College and University Technicians
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] PTG Dues
>
> I assume that most salaried technicians do some outside work.  The
> IRS wants you to declare that income which would necessitate your
> filing a schedule C.  As long as you're making an attempt to run this
> side business profitably, that is, not claiming expenses in excess of
> income year after year, then I don't see the problem.
>
> Carl D. Root, RPT
> www.rhythmimages.com
>
>
>
> On Jan 8, 2008, at 12:05 AM, Israel Stein wrote:
>
>> At 11:00 AM 1/7/2008, caut-request at ptg.org wrote:
>>> IF your only source of income is working for someone else, and you
>>> are required by your employer to belong to a trade organization,
>>> and/or your employer requires you to purchase your own tools to do
>>> your work, then they are deductible.
>>> Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
>>> Piano Tuner/Technician
>>> Honolulu, HI
>>> Author of
>>> The Business of Piano Tuning
>>> available from Potter Press
>>> www.pianotuning.com
>>
>>
>> Folks,
>>
>> If anyone here believes the above as written and follows this
>> advice - they  might be unpleasantly surprised.
>>
>> What we are dealing with here are Employee Business Expenses -
>> which are subject to a 2% limitation. Which means that this would
>> be deductible only if your expenses of this sort total more than 2%
>> of your Adjusted Gross Income and you can only deduct the portion
>> that is in excess of your Adjusted Gross Income. Which means:
>>
>> If your pre-tax salary is $55,000 for the year, and you have
>> adjustments to income (such as certain moving expenses, eligible
>> IRA contributions, alimony payments or other such deductions) of
>> $5000 so your Adjusted Gross Income is $50,000, then you can't
>> deduct anything less than 2% of 50,000 - which is $1,000. And you
>> can only deduct amounts in excess of $1,000 - that is, if you spent
>> a total of $1,112  on dues and tools, you can only deduct $112.
>>
>> And if you don't believe me, look at your IRS Schedule A to Form
>> 1040 - and read the instructions.
>>
>> I wish people who write stuff would research it before they write.
>>
>> Israel Stein
>>
>>
>
>