Leading Tax Firm Informs Taxpayers

My Trip Back Home To Colorful Colorado

2010-01-18T10:51:00.001-08:00

After Spending time in Colorado where I was born and raised, admittely spending much of my time with my Mother(72) and my Grandmother(92) and of course how could I not make time to spend with the rest of my family that resides in Colorado my Son Michael and my Grandchildren, aunts and uncles, after visiting with family and friends I began to reflect on just how important it is to stay connected to family, you see when life shows up and it usually does who else do we really have that we can depend on to be there for us, but our family & friends.

I listened as my grandmother described how she literally had my uncle chase down one of the many chickens she was raising which was to be for dinner that evening, I began to wonder if as a society could we survive today the way my Grandmother had when the country was young and technology was practically non existent.

I also had an opportunity to go to Vail or should I say pass through Vail on my way to Grand Junction which I am not sure if many know this , but Utah is exactly 27 1/4 miles from Grand Junction, as I drove down the highway I noticed just how beautiful and breath taking the mountains were sitting there so majestic it made me wonder why I ever left Colorado to live in California if the first place.

Well enough about my vacation, in the coming months I will continue to inform you the taxpayer on new changes in the tax law which will effect each and everyone of us as taxpayers, in my usual no tax lingo, easy to understand and follow expet advice.

Mortgage Payents Can Be Deducted on a Home You Don't Own

2009-09-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

A tax court decision shows how to save a mortgage interest deduction when one family member helps another obtain a home and mortgage payments are not made by the person whose name is on the mortgage.
Facts: A married couple found that they could not obtain a mortgage on the home they wanted to buy. The husband's brother then bought the home and let the couple live in it. The couple made all the mortgage payments on the house, even though both the mortgage and title to the home were in the brother's name.

The couple also paid all other ownership related expenses, such as property taxes, utilities, and so on, and acted in all ways as the owners of the home.

But when they tried to deduct the mortgage interest they paid, the IRS disallowed the deduction because they weren't legally obligated to pay the mortgage.

Tax Court: The couple were legally obligated to pay the mortgage because if they failed to do so, the brother would have a cause of action to evict them, and they would lose the home.

Because they had assumed all the rights, and obligations of home ownership, and the brother hadn't taken the mortgage deduction, they could take the deduction.

Rodney Ross
rrossandassociates.com

Key Reason People Fail in Business and in Life

2009-09-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

* Simple Solutions to complex Problems
* Random Acts VS. Organized Approach
* Self Imposed Limitations
* Talk VS. Action
* Poor Choice of Influences

Marketing Campaign Success or Failure

2009-08-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Marketing Campaigns if done correctly and contain all the elements can be very successful as long as you are uncluding a direct response component or also known as a call to action.

It has been proven that mutiple step campaigns are more successful than a single attempt to reach your target market I typically use three(3)and follow up at least every 15 days.

Even the most thought out campaings should be tested first.
Are all your campaigns going to be a huge success, probably not but those of us that have been at it awhile realize that there are no guarantees and there are no failures, we rather call our campaigns that do no yield the expected results learning experiences.

Marketing or Branding

2009-08-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

MARKETING
Its about 3:40 AM as I write this as I do at the start of every day is think about how to market myself more effectivley.
knowing that branding is just not going to happen as with many accountants it seems everyone is caught up trying to brand their name. and faling misarabley, first because it cost million if not 10 of millions of dollars to brand. Instead I have Identified my target market and through effectively copy writing try to craft a message that will resinate with my taget market once I have achieved that. Then my next step is to find a cost effective way to deliver my message to my target market meaning media for me I have found that direct mail is a very cost effective way to reach my target market. It allows me to test different messages as well as measure its effectiveness, as well as get the all important stat I need which is return on my advertising dollar.

Economic Stimulus Part 4

2009-08-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Earned Income Credit" Grows
The legislation would expand the "earned income credit" (EIC) to provide a higher tax credit for families with three or more children. Currently, the EIC caps out at 40% of the first $12,570 of "earned income" for families with two or more children. The new legislation would create a new maximum of 45% of the first $12,570 of earned income for families with three or more children

Economic Stimulus Bill Part 3

2009-08-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Updated and Refundable Child Tax Credit
As it currently stands, the new bill would make the standard child tax credit refundable for both 2009 and 2010. Currently, the child tax credit is refundable based on the 15% of earned income in excess of $8,500. This threshold would be eliminated, thereby making the tax credit fully refundable. Essentially, that means more taxpayers would be able to receive the child tax credit even if they have zero tax liability.

Economic Stimulus Bill Part 2

2009-08-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

"American Opportunity" Tax Credit
This new bill would offer more funding for education grants. It does so by expanding the current Hope education tax credit. Currently worth a maximum credit of $1,800 for students in their first two years of college education, the new bill would expand this maximum to $2,500. It would also expand the list of qualifying expenses to include text books (currently only tuition is a qualifying expense), and it would make 40% of the tax credit refundable, meaning this amount could be refunded to the taxpayer if their tax liability was reduced to zero by using various tax credits. Furthermore, the new bill would ask the Treasury Department to "conduct a study" to see if the government could require community service as a condition for being eligible for these tax breaks for higher education.

A Sneak Peak At The Stimulus Package

2009-08-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

As the Senate takes up the House version of one of the most-watched pieces of legislation to ever hit the Congress, I thought it would be useful to lay out the pertinent tax-related items for my clients and friends. Some of this is a bit too much "tax jargon" for most, so I've attempted to give a "Real World" summary of each item. And, of course, this list is partial, and does NOT include further funding of existent federal and state programs.

Modification of the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
This item first came to us in September, in the first wave of legislation aimed at helping the economy. Per that legislation, the first time home buyer tax credit provides a tax credit of up to $7,500 ($3,750 for separate filers). As it stands now, it's essentially a no-interest loan from the government, as it must be repaid over 15 years. The credit is available for people who buy a home after April 9, 2008, and before July 1, 2009. The new bill proposes to eliminate the repayment requirement for homes purchased after December 31, 2008.

No New Taxes

2009-08-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well the Terminator did a Ronald Reagan on the taxpayer when he said he was happy they did not have to raise taxes. Sorry Arnold that's been done before, Reagan did it very successfully, However the taxpayer's are not so easily fooled. This is what was done you lowered the amount we can deduct for child care by reducing the credit which is a dollar for dollar credit against tax liability, you changed the tax bracket by lowering the threshold so that more taxpayers that usually did not pay taxes are now going to see their paychecks get smaller each payday, and I am sure ther is more we will just have to wait and see as they rollout more changes.

Ross & Associates Tax Solutions

Will They Ever Learn

2009-08-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

We all have heard of Wesley Snipes now we can add Nicholas Cage to the list of tax cheats he is rumored to owe 6.2 million. When the Average Joe fails to pay his taxes, there’s a chance no one will notice. But when the Average Joe wins a million bucks on a reality show—as Richard Hatch did on the first season of Survivor—it’s usually wise to take a trip to a CPA. After Hatch failed to pay any taxes on his $1 million prize, he was convicted and sentenced to 51 months in prison in 2006, until his release in May of this year.

Accountant VS. Marketer

2009-08-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

I have found that after 25 years in business I am acutally not an accountant rather a matketer of accounting services and as I changed from the mindset of working on my business and not in my business I started to grow at the rate of 40% a year. Making this transition was not easy but necessary if I was to grow my business and not get bogged down with busy work. perhaps you are facing some of the same challenges.