by Leif Jensen | Mar 24, 2020 | Employees |
This election season, many people will get part-time jobs working at the polls. This compensation is taxable, as is all earned income. But income tax withholding is not required unless the worker requests it by giving a completed W-4 to the state or municipality. FICA...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 23, 2020 | Taxes |
Now that the deduction for private mortgage insurance premiums has officially been revived. You can go back and claim it on my 2018 return? You will need to file an amended return on Form 1040-X and attach a 2018 updated Schedule A, which IRS is revising. The new...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 18, 2020 | Running a Business |
New research proves that conducting a meeting while walking has clear health benefits for the participants, but it turns out it benefits the meeting, too. The research from the University of Hong Kong shows that walking side by side helps people connect to each other....
by Leif Jensen | Mar 17, 2020 | Uncategorized |
I was curious of the historic tax rates for the wealthy, or at least the highest levels of taxation. Some of the rate jumps seems arbitrary, others are simply explained by WWI and WWII. But the jumps before our entry seem to be harbingers of our path. 1913...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 16, 2020 | Investing, Money Management |
Surprise, the IRS is intensely interested in filers who transact in virtual currencies. They are requiring more disclosure. Starting with returns filed this year, people must answer on Schedule 1 of the 1040 whether they’ve received, disposed of, sold, exchanged or...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 11, 2020 | Tax Court, Taxes |
Distributing bequests to beneficiaries before paying IRS costs an executor, according to a court ruling. The executor of a big estate knew additional estate taxes would be due after IRS audited the Form 706. He signed an agreement with IRS consenting to have the...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 10, 2020 | Tax Court, Taxes |
Ownership by tenancies by the entirety cannot be used as a defense to defeat IRS tax liens, an appeals court confirms, even when only one spouse owes the taxes. This precedent was set by the Supreme Court in a 2002 ruling. In the current case, only the husband owed...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 9, 2020 | Banking |
Banks always had an unusual way of doing things. Especially growth under the control of Glass-Stegall. The Glass–Steagall Act was a 1933 law that separated investment banking from retail banking. Investment banks organized the initial sales of stocks, called...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 4, 2020 | Banking |
A venture capitalist (VC) is a private equity investor that provides capital to companies exhibiting high growth potential in exchange for an equity stake. This could be funding startup ventures or supporting small companies that wish to expand but do not have access...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 3, 2020 | General, Rant |
First Industrial Revolution, was a time of transition for new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States, in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. The First Industrial Revolution, which ended in the middle of 19th century, was...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 2, 2020 | General |
The current state of unemployment is not quite the rosy picture that everyone wants us to believe. I like looking at the U-6 rate and not the U-3 or official rate, because U6 is the whole picture. Not a fractional picture. U-6 is the total unemployed, plus all...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 26, 2020 | Rant |
As you can probably tell by my writings that I fall on the conservative side of the world. Like most CPA’s I know. But I have had many a lively conversation with clients who fall into the liberal camp. But now I have proof or what I suspected all along. Being a...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 25, 2020 | Rant |
I was again reading articles and found another one about colleges, but this one had several points which I could agree with. To that extent I go a bit farther in my opinions. The article writer stated that he believes “that college is about learning how to learn,...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 24, 2020 | Rant |
Early in my career, I was a wage slave and one company that I worked at was unusual in how they ran things, it was all hierarchal by title or tenure. To get a chair with arms you needed to be there for 5 years. The cube walls were over six foot to discourage talking...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 19, 2020 | Running a Business |
In medieval times the landed gentry had serfs and slaves tend to their land to provide income for their masters. For most of human history, the wealthy have needed the poor to do the work that is necessary to run their businesses and make them even wealthier. Those...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 18, 2020 | General, Rant, Running a Business |
I was reading an article the noted three items that are the biggest time sucks to a small business owners: E-mail Television Social Media I really don’t agree with the list or the reasons given in the article. E-mails are important to my business. I use them as a...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 12, 2020 | Economy |
Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy risks a return of the Great Depression, driven by inequality and financial sector instability. “In the UK, for example, the top 10% now control nearly as much wealth...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 11, 2020 | Money Management |
Bankrate’s January Financial Security Index survey reveals that just four in 10 U.S. adults (41 percent) could cover the cost of a $1,000 car repair or emergency room visit using savings. This is not surprising, since we have been hearing about these reports for...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 10, 2020 | Retirement |
I am finding the fear of retirement to be very real, and not all that surprising. The internet is full of warnings of a pending recession in 2020 which is a major cause of concern, then there are the reports that most American’s do not have adequate financial...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 4, 2020 | Estate Planning, Money Management |
There is now a tightening on the distribution timeline for inherited IRAs and workplace retirement accounts. Many need to be cleaned out within 10 years of the death of the IRA owner or 401(k) participant. The exceptions allow payouts over the beneficiary’s life...
