Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Taxes and training
Yes, sorry I was being a little bit of an arse, probably because doing my own taxes scares hell out of me and I'm jealous of people who know how to actually do them.
No problem.
RANT:
DB mentioned the AMT kicking in .... I end up paying AMT (for the last several years) but what I don't understand is why Mr. Buffett and Mr. Romney are not being CLOBBERED by AMT?! What's up with that? If we don't that Buffett and Romney are paying enough (>>15%) in taxes don't we already have a legal tool to address it in the AMT? Wasn't that the whole purpose of the AMT? How 'bout fixing the AMT rules to capture these 15%ers rather than adding yet another 'new' tax (millionaire surtax like we're doing in CA) to the code? Am I just too dumb to understand this? Don't answer that last question!
I feel guilty about using an accountant, when I'm sure I could do just fine with software. But with two full-time students who also work, 7 W-2s at the last count, a bunch of 1099s of various types, all sorts of allowable and unallowable expenses associated with the 1099s, college fees and savings, a few international accounts, I'd rather spend a few hundred bucks, sit in a comfy chair and drink coffee for a couple of hours while someone else presses the buttons and prevents the anxiety I'd otherwise feel that I'm doing something that is either illegal or costing me money.
The process is the goal.
Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny.
RANT: DB mentioned the AMT kicking in .... I end up paying AMT (for the last several years) but what I don't understand is why Mr. Buffett and Mr. Romney are not being CLOBBERED by AMT?! What's up with that?
DB mentioned the AMT kicking in .... I end up paying AMT (for the last several years) but what I don't understand is why Mr. Buffett and Mr. Romney are not being CLOBBERED by AMT?! What's up with that?
Capital gain income does factor into whether you're subject to the AMT, but the AMT rate itself isn't applied to capital gains (they're taxed at the capital gains rate). Even if those guys do fall under the AMT, it only applies to the non-capital-gains pittances they made.
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau