March 29, 2015
Are you tearing your hair out this tax season? Get a new domain name
I was listening to NPR radio on my way home when I heard that there are a number of new domain names available. It sounds crazy, but companies are buying the .sucks name so no one else can stick it to them.
Here are some you might consider purchasing:
- 3115.sucks
- lateclient.sucks
- taxseasonrepairregchange.sucks
- nonconformity.sucks
- beingataxpro.sucks/right now
- feecomplaint.sucks
- nosleep.sucks
- missingmarchmadness.sucks
- watchingmarchmadness.sucks
- easterB4april15.sucks
I'm sure you can think of many too. All I can say is, #makeitstop.
Legislature lollygags on COD bill
The California Assembly has sent the COD conformity bill, AB 99, to the suspense file.
In their usual hurry to get the job done, this action means it will be several weeks before the Assembly votes on it, after which it goes to the Senate for more waiting, pontificating, but hopefully eventual passage; then it goes on to the governor. If the bill were to pass, it is unlikely it will become law before this summer.
If and when the bill is enacted, California will retroactively extend the exclusion for qualified principal residence debt through December 31, 2014, and abate any associated penalties and interest.
Bottom line, if your client wants to claim this exclusion on the California return, it is best to file for an extension.
The first step's a doozy
Tax season is unwinding at its usual frantic pace, and with 222 pages of repair regulations to implement as well as the ACA, this season is making tax pros want to jump off a cliff — at least professionally speaking.
Cliffs are common in the tax law. The repair regulations have several of them. For example, if your building has an unadjusted basis of $1 million, you can use a safe harbor and expense certain items that would traditionally be capitalized. Add one dollar to that million, and you can't.
But the ACA may have the El Capitan of cliffs, as I discovered in doing a client's return.
In 2012, the clients left good jobs to start their own little Mom 'n Pop. You know how new businesses go — not so great at first. So, in 2014 they went to the Marketplace to buy health insurance. Since the advance credit is based on household income from two years previous, they got a generous advance credit of $8,550.
But, you know how new businesses go — better after a couple of years. So, in 2014 their income was up, and when I computed their Premium Tax Credit, they had an excess advance credit. Fortunately for them, there are limitations on the payback amount based on household income as a percentage of the poverty line. For a married couple with income between 300% and 400% of the poverty line, the limit is $2,500. But 400% is the cliff. Go above it, and there is no limitation.
The clients, it turned out, were $98 shy of that 400% limit. So, they were required to pay back $2,500. Had they made another $98, they would have been required to pay back the entire $8,550.
So, another $98 of income would have increased their tax by $6,050. That, by the way, is a tax rate of 6,173%. And people complain about a 39.6% rate!
A few fun facts about this week's writers:
Lynn Freer, EA, loves to travel and loves Starbucks. Here she is at Starbucks on the Champs-Élysées.
Tim Hilger, CPA, is busily preparing taxes today. Tim is a golf nut who has played courses in all 50 states and often reminisces about his younger days shredding on his bass guitar.
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