Archive for the ‘Finance/ Retirement’ Category

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CNN Local Videos – Long Beach Tax Credits/ Green Jobs/ Port Expansion/ Card Check

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

For daily tax and economic updates, please follow me on Twitter @:

http://twitter.com/taxcredits_CPA

Media Links

To download, click on the hyperlink below and choose Save

 Blake E. Christian

Access all my CNN Local Videos: 

http://www.hcvt.com/resources-links/media-links.html

Available Topics (please click on link above):

Blake Christian CNN inverview – Local Eco Credits / Green Jobs [36.0 MB] February 2010

Blake Christian CNN interview – California Tax Overhaul Proposal [41.1 MB] October 2009

Interview – Pros and cons of a national sales/flat tax [lieu of current fed. tax system] [40.3 MB] September 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – The U.S. Tax Gap [40.5 MB] September 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – Swiss and U.S. at (Tax) War [40.6 MB] September 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – $9 Billion of New California Taxes [40.5 MB] June 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – POLB Middle Harbor Project [40.5 MB] May 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – Tax Planning in a Recession [40.5 MB] May 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – Enterprise Zone Credits “Green Jobs” [40.5 MB] April 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – Affect of Budget & Stimulus on Business [40.4 MB] April 2009

Blake Christian CNN interview – Employee Free Choice Act [40.4 MB] April 2009

Check out the full library of  tax and economic articles @: www.blakechristian.com

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Posted in California Enterprize Zone, Climate Change/ Global Warming, Finance/ Retirement, Green/ Eco Credits, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits | 2 Comments »

California and Federal Tax Refunds Overlooked by Many

Monday, March 1st, 2010

In today’s challenging economic period, business owners are looking for every way to reduce costs and increase cash flow and profits.

We continue to see businesses and their CPAs overlook extremely valuable tax breaks, including:

- Federal and State Hiring Credits ($500 to $15,000 per employee)

http://www.blakechristian.com/hiring_tax_credits.html

http://www.blakechristian.com/california_tax_incentives.html

- Federal and State Eco/ Energy/ Green Credits (10% to 50%)

http://www.blakechristian.com/energy_tax_credits.html

- Use of Interest Charge DISCs for Export Sales

http://www.alliantgroup.com/_ag/index.cfm/our-services/export-incentives/interest-charge-domestic-international-sales-corporation-ic-disc1/

- Evaluation of Compensation Structure Options to Minimize After-Tax Cash Outflows.  This includes taking advantage of the lucrative and flexible qualified retirement plan rules.

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2008/CorpTax/Compensation.jsp

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2007/CorpTax/Services.jsp

- Re-Evaluating Legal Structure of Business Operations to Minimize Taxes

http://www.taxguideonline.com/hcvt/

There is still time to claim many of these tax benefits on your 2009 tax returns. 

www.blakechristian.com

For Daily Tax and Economic Updates, please follow me on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/taxcredits_CPA

 

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Posted in California Enterprize Zone, Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Green/ Eco Credits, International, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits | No Comments »

Iceland’s Financial Meltdown Overshaddow’s U.S. – and The World

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

The international banking crisis which climaxed in 2008 hit the island nation of Iceland harder than any other country.  The EU member bailout of IceSave Bank left the 325,000 Icelandic residents with a whopping burden of $5.3 billion.

Home defauls, business failures and general economic chaos has been felt by every resident – and despair has turned into anger on all sides.

Iceland residents will vote this week whether they will opt to pay back these amounts to the EU nation which bailed them out, or default on the obligations.  Recent polls show a 60% disapproval rate of paying back these amounts.

 

Read more in these Financial Times links:

Iceland Voters Set to Reject EU Member Payback : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc525532-21ae-11df-acf4-00144feab49a.html

Bullying Iceland:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e69c686a-20e4-11df-b920-00144feab49a.html

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, International, Politics | 1 Comment »

Tax Haven Audits – IRS Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) Update

Friday, February 26th, 2010

For Daily Tax Updates – Follow Me On Twitter: 

http://twitter.com/taxcredits_CPA

Please click below to view a 5 minute CNN Local interview (2009) covering the IRS/ Swiss tax battle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouAcmqHkvZE&feature=youtube_gdata

 

Significant civil and criminal penalties can be imposed on taxpayers having signature or other financial interests in foreign bank accounts.

The ongoing privacy and tax collection battle between the IRS and  Switzerland, as well as other countries, highlights the need for taxpayers to not only report their worldwide earnings, but also file various Treasury disclosures (Form TD 90-22.1) in order to avoid these very onerous penalties.

Read the linked AICPA articles to learn more about recent developments and the billions of dollars at stake:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2010/CorpTax/FBAR_Reporting.jsp

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2009/CorpTax/Tax_Officials.jsp

 

Click below for a Financial Times article on Swiss Banking:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/501901c4-140e-11df-8847-00144feab49a.html

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, International, Politics, Tax - General | No Comments »

Obama Updates His Healthcare Plan – Third Time’s The Charm?

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

$950 billion over 10 years, imposition of excise tax on “Cadillac” medical plans (excluding dental and optical), and expanded Social Security taxes on wages, rent and interest income (yes you heard right) for taxpayer making more than $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (joint).

Read the Heritage Foundation’s summary of the major tax provision:

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/23/obama%E2%80%99s-health-plan-has-dangerous-new-taxes/

In preparation for the bi-partisan healthcare conference later this week, President Obama released his revised healthcare proposal, which incorporates portions of both the Senate and House versions passed late last year.

With the recent pick up of a key seat in the Senate (Scott Brown- – MA) by the GOP, the Democrats are scrambling to either win over some Republican votes – or resort to the nuclear option of Reconciliation.

The following link from WSJ summarizes the key points of the latest $950 billion proposal:

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WHhealth20100222.pdf

The Democrats are threatening the use of the ”Reconciliation” procedure to avoid additional House and Senate debate and votes.  Read about the history and the Reconciliation procedures: 

http://www.rules.house.gov/archives/bud_rec_proc.htm

As reflected in the attached articles, there are a number of hurdles to overcome for the two parties to get beyond the current impasse and President Obama’s legacy and the mid-term elections hang in the balance.

Obama’s weekend healthcare video laying out Thurday Summit’s objectives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9NMc3gOBr8

Feb. 22, 2010 Washington Post (Blog) – Obama is the Real Obstructionist:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/02/obama_is_the_real_obstructioni.html

 

From the U.K. side of the Pond – President Obama Doubles Down on Healthcare:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/586131b2-1fdf-11df-8deb-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Healthcare, Politics, Tax - General | No Comments »

Swiss Banks Become Transparent – Thanks to Release of Bank Data

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Click below for a Financial Times article on Swiss Banking:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/501901c4-140e-11df-8847-00144feab49a.html

The Swiss banking system continues to get hit by a series of attacks from other countries looking for tax revenue.  To add to their woes, their press-shy customers are fleeing to other countries to avoid further scrutiny.

Ultra-secret Swiss banking data, stolen by former employees, is being offered for sale to foreign governments who can use this information to assess taxes on unreported earnings or recover ill-gotten gains connected to crime, lawsuits, divorces, etc.

Germany and England are currently negotiating the purchase and sharing of bank Swiss bank data associated with over 1,500 accounts.

Two years ago Germany paid 4.5 million euro to obtain other stolen Swiss bank data which they used to recover over 200 million euro of taxes.  Germany also re-sold some of the data to other countries to recoup their investment.

The days of “private” banking in Switzerland are clearly over and with technology and aggressive tax authorities throughout the world it looks like the ethically challenged taxpayer may be looking at their mattress as the “safest” place to stash their cash.

To read more about the IRS – UBS battle, please scroll down to the August 24, 2009 blog entry.

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, Politics, Tax - General | 1 Comment »

2011 U.S. Budget – $1.6 Trillion Deficit

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Obama’s 2011 Budget Proposal – Winners and Losers

The Departments of Education and Energy will be applauding the President’s budget proposal since they might see increases of 16% and 6.8%, respectively.

On the other hand, the petroleum industry, NASA and those pesky taxpayers making more than $250,000 will be less enamoured with the 2011 budget.

The debate will likely be heated over the coming months as the final budget is hammered out in Congress as fiscal accountability takes center-stage.

For more details, please see the article links below:

Office of Budget and Management – The Facts With a Little Less Spin:  

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

Reuters’ Analysis: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60U00220100131

Heritage Foundation Analysis: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/01/morning-bell-the-obama-budget-higher-taxes-higher-spending-and-more-debt/

An Analysis From the U.K/ Financial Times -

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e538dfd4-0e98-11df-bd79-00144feabdc0.html

 

For daily updates, please follow me on Twitter @:

http://twitter.com/taxcredits_CPA

 

Thank you

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, Politics, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits | No Comments »

Obama’s Community Bank Lending Program May be a Slow Go

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Durping his State of the Union speech earlier this week, President Obama announced his plan to reallocate $30 billion of the money paid back by the large banks under the TARP plan to smaller community banks.

The plan is to re-direct these funds to small businesses in economically challenged regions.

Only stronger community banks will be allowed to access these funds, which will likely range from 3% to 5% of the bank’s capital.  Only banks with less than $10 billion in gross assets will be eligible for a slice of the $30 billion.

In addition to getting a green light from Congress, the additional challenge is whether the community banks and/ or the local small businesses will be financially sound enough to loan or borrow under this proposed program.

Read more in the following Wall Street Journal link:

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/108707/surge-in-loans-unlikely-from-small-business-plan?mod=loans-personl_smallbiz&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Politics | No Comments »

Senate Advances $873 Billion Healthcare Bill

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

Early Monday morning the U.S. Senate agreed to advance their version of Healthcare reform.  The action highlighted the partison divide with 58 Democrats and 2 Independants voting to advance the bill and all 40 Republican Senators voting “nay”.

Despite the purported cost savings, the bill contains 12o references to “tax increases” and the latest version includes a last-minute Harry Reid insertion which bumped the Social Security payroll tax increase from the originally proposed .5% increase to .9%.  This increase is not set to become effective until 2013 – leapfrogging the end of Obama’s initial 4-year term to minimize this being an election-year issue. 

The cumualtive tax increases are estimated to total over $500 billion.

Read more about the payroll tax increases in the attached TheHill.com article:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/73067-final-senate-health-bill-steepens-payroll-tax-for-high-earners

 

The House and Senate versions must now be reconciled in Conference Committee and this will be a very contentious process.

Stay tuned for the continuing circus.

 

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-enlargePic07.html?project=imageShell07&bigImage=wsj_healthpol091220.gif&h=569&w=959&title=WSJ.COM&thePubDate=20080826

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Politics, Tax - General | No Comments »

Stocks vs. Bonds – After Tax Yields Depend on Your State (of Mind)

Monday, December 14th, 2009

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/108361/stocks-vs-bonds-tax-strategies-state-by-state?mod=fidelity-managingwealth

As reflected in the article link above, taxpayer returns on stock and muni-bond portfolios can change dramatically from state-to-state.  Most states tax capital gains at “ordinary” tax rates rather than at more beneficial capital gains tax rates –as is done under the federal tax system.

Therefore, taxpayers in high tax states such as  CA, OR, NY and NJ may benefit from having a heavier weighting in munis, while lower tax residents may prefer a heavier weighting in municipal bonds.

Variables which will impact the design of the optimal portfolio, include capital loss carryovers, itemized deductions, and income from wages, flow-through entities, and interest and dividends.

Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Tax - General | No Comments »

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