by Leif Jensen | Jul 20, 2021 | General |
Nearly five million new gun owners have joined the 100 million-plus gun owners already in the U.S. in 2020. This is according to recent estimates from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The same data also shows that 40% of all firearms sales are going to...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 19, 2021 | General |
The Streaming Wars are upon us, and the deck is stacked against the small players. Amazon and Roku held HBO Max and Peacock out of the game at the beginning. Peacock is still not in the game, and seemingly may never be. Content is king, but what is amazing more so...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 13, 2021 | Taxes |
What are the federal income tax consequences from selling a timeshare? Losses from the sale of timeshares held for personal use are nondeductible. If you are one of the lucky few that sells a timeshare at a profit, you have capital gain. Different tax rules apply to...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 12, 2021 | Running a Business |
Not paying salary to its owner causes headaches for an S corporation. A lawyer who was the president of her own S firm. The company did not pay her a salary but did provide her with funds, which the firm deducted as officer’s compensation on its Form 1120-S. She...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 7, 2021 | Taxes |
Cases involving passport revocations are now coming before the Tax Court. A federal statute allows the Department of State to deny or revoke U.S. passports of individuals with federal tax debts of $54,000 or more on whom a tax lien or levy has been filed. The IRS...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 6, 2021 | Running a Business |
Reporting hobby losses continues to be an audit red flag, it has been and will remain so. The IRS is always on the hunt for taxpayers who year after year report large losses from hobby-sounding activities on Schedule C of the 1040 to help offset other income, such as...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 5, 2021 | Rant |
School districts around the country have banned dodgeball, according to Fox News, “researchers argue that there is a ‘hidden curriculum’ of dodgeball that reinforces the oppression of those ‘perceived as weaker individuals through the exercise of...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 30, 2021 | Taxes |
Businesses can deduct 100% of restaurant meals in 2021 and 2022.The late 2020 stimulus law provides temporary relief from the 50% haircut that normally applies to the business meals write-off. The easing applies only to food and beverages purchased at a restaurant for...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 29, 2021 | Running a Business |
Deducting race car expenses through a construction firm draws IRS scrutiny. A father and son owned an S corporation that built houses and developed real estate. The son enjoyed car racing, so the company purchased a race car body and parts for the son to restore and...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 28, 2021 | Rant |
William Shakespeare wrote in Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2 “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. It is among Shakespeare’s most famous lines, as well as one of his most controversial. Counter to that has been a trend in law...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 23, 2021 | General |
A current and future growing tech challenge: Computer chips are using too much energy. On today’s trajectory, by 2040 the energy required for global computing would exceed the world’s estimated energy production. This worst-case scenario is probably unlikely, but it...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 22, 2021 | General |
It is amazing to believe but there is one Trump administration priority that will persist under President Biden: The return of manned missions to the moon and, eventually, to Mars under the Artemis program, now the first human deep-space exploration effort with...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 21, 2021 | Running a Business |
Seemingly good news for U.S. automakers planning their future shift to electric vehicles: The recent $2 billion settlement between SK Innovation and LG Chem, following a trade-secrets dispute between the South Korean battery manufacturers. The settlement means SK...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 16, 2021 | Investing |
It is possible that regulators may soon approve the first U.S. exchange-traded fund for bitcoin. Investors who have watched the cryptocurrency’s value soar since 2017 have understandably grown interested in gaining exposure to bitcoin via an ETF, rather than holding...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 15, 2021 | Taxes |
For 2021, the maximum amount of tax-free employer-provided dependent care benefits increased to $10,500. This means an employee can set aside $10,500 in a dependent care flexible spending account, instead of the normal $5,000. Workers can only do this if their...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 14, 2021 | Taxes |
Child and dependent care credit increased for 2021 only The new law increases the amount of the credit and the percentage of employment-related expenses for qualifying care considered in calculating the credit, modifies the phase-out of the credit for higher earners,...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 9, 2021 | Taxes |
Over the years I have done presentations to all sorts of professionals that believe they know the tax laws better than I. I am not talking about my peers who love to memorize the code, the rates and nuisances. They know it off the top of their heads, where I may...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 8, 2021 | Investing |
We now have a couple of generations brought up on video games, so was it ever a far stretch that someone would create a stock trading app that gamified investing. Michael Burry from the “Big Short” (book and movie); blasted Robinhood’s gamification of investing,...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 7, 2021 | Running a Business |
Are you one of the many who regularly purchases roasted chickens from Costco? We tend to get ours from Sam’s Club; it’s on the way home. To keep costs as low as possible, Costco opened the $450 million facility in Nebraska in 2019, which processes about two million...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 2, 2021 | Investing |
The basic thought behind any investment, stock, collectable or tchotchke is that it has value and can be resold at a later date; or so thought all of the beanie baby holders. What they were relying on was the “greater fool theory”. The greater fool theory argues that...
