HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: "hilary miller" <hilary.miller@execnet.com>
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
Subject: student taxes
Date: 18 Dec 92 17:28:19 EST
Reply-To: "hilary miller" <hilary.miller@execnet.com>
Distribution: misc
Organization: Executive Networks Information


Brennan Stephens, in a message to All on 12-17-92 at 1:44am, said:

BS>|Does anyone out there familiar with the tax laws regarding undergraduat
   |Are there any good books on the subject.  I have searched, but their is
   |much out their.  Please post or e-mail any information you can, especia
   |regarding deductions for educational expenses for a student with no par
   |support.
   |_______________________________________________________________________

               The costs of an undergraduate education, with ex-
               tremely limited exceptions (probably not applica-
               ble to you) are not deductible.


   L A
 I    R        Hilary B. Miller of Greenwich, Connecticut
  H/\Y         CIS: 76040,1743
    
---
  DeLuxe/386 1.25 #11645  ASCII stupid question - get a stupid ANSI
--
Executive Network Information System  (914) 667-4567
International ILink Host
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: ahn@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (john.k.ahn)
Subject: Re: Yikes! Am I Facing a Tax Penalty?
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 17:52:33 GMT

In article <1992Dec13.232529.3950@cbnews.cb.att.com> ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet) writes:
>In article <1992Dec13.213532.16678@cbfsb.cb.att.com> sbrenner@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (scott.d.brenner) writes:
>From what you say, it sounds like you never filed an estimated tax
>form  (Form 1040ES).  If that's true, the rule is easy.  You miust
>have had withheld from your pay (or paid estoimated taxes -- but I
>suspect you didn't) either of these:
>
>   1) 90% of the taxes on your 1992 income, or
>
>   2) 100% of the taxes on your 1991 income.
>
>If you were OK last year there's a real good chance you're OK this
>year too.

Not to alarm the original poster, but I think starting this year,
rule 2) no longer holds for people with AGI of $75,000 or greater.

>I moved from NJ the year before they started the income tax, so I
>can't answer.   But the same answers for federal tax probably apply:
>The tax is probably graduated.
>

Unfortunately for us, the tax is graduated, but the amount taxed
is completely different than the federal tax.  There are basically
no deductions, including mortgage interest payments.  I found that
it is very easy to be underwithheld for the NJ state taxes and had
to pay estimated taxes for the past several years (to the tune of
$1600 in ADDITION to the withholdings this year).

>Get a tax form from NJ and do a rough calculation once you've done
>your federal one.
>
>I would suspect NJ copies federal concerning penalties, they want
>theris too.  But you may have no problem.   Sit down calmly and
>figure it out with the tax forms.

I think this is good advice.  Work out the taxes now and, if there
are any problems, he can still pay estimated taxes and not have to
pay penalties.

>Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus

J. Ahn
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Standard disclaimer
Standard tax-opinion disclaimer
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: cep@taligent.com (Christophe Pettus)
Subject: Re: Yikes! Am I Facing a Tax Penalty?
Organization: Taligent, a little subsidiary of two really big companies.
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 23:59:56 GMT

In article <DOUGLIS.92Dec14174415@chimay.MITL.COM> douglis@chimay.MITL.COM (Fred Douglis) writes:
>I thought I heard that it doesn't hold if and only if you have paid
>estimated tax in the past three years.  Can anyone confirm/deny this?  

You are exempt from penalty on underpayment of your 1992 Federal income
tax if:

1. You paid 90% of your 1992 liability through wihholding or quarterly
   estimated tax returns; OR

2. You withheld, or paid through quarterly estimated tax returns, in
   1992 an amount equal to 100% of your 1991 tax liability, regardless
   of your 1992 tax liability.

This used to be all there was to it; you were always safe having just the
amount equal to your previous year's tax withheld.  There is, however,
a new catch that applies to "certain high-income taxpayers," in the IRS'
delightful turn of phrase.  These taxpayers are those who:

   (a) Have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of more than $75,000; AND
   (b) Whose AGI increased by more than $40,000 in 1992 compared to 1992;
       AND,
   (c) Who have either filed estimated income tax returns at some point in
       the last three years OR have been penalized for not doing so.

(The limits are 37,500 and 20,000 for married filing separately.)

Taxpayers who meet all of (a), (b), and (c) cannot escape penalty by
option (1) above; they MUST have at least 90% of their liability paid
through either withholding or quarterly estimated tax returns.
--
-- Christophe

"I draw the line at Styrofoam packing kernels, you sick pervert."
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: brownr@hydra.rtp.dg.com (Randy Brown)
Subject: Re: Tax info for 93?
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 18:14:50 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: DG-RTP Graphics Group

In article <10850009@FC.HP.COM>, duanej@FC.HP.COM (Duane Jacobson) writes:
|> 
|> 1992 Tax Brackets
|> 
|> Tax Bracket	Single		Married/Joint	Head of Household
|> -----------	------		-------------	-----------------
|>    15%       up to 21,450    up to 35,800    up to 28,750
|>    28%       up to 51,900    up to 86,500    up to 74,150
|>    31%       over  51,900    over  86,500    over  74,150

So two single people together get taxed at 15% for their first 42,900, but 
a married couple only have 35,800 taxed at 15% and above that at 28%?

What balances out for this fact?  Deduction is different or what?

Thanks.

Randy 'getting married next year and wanting to learn' B.
From: carl@Cayman.COM (Carl Heinzl)
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
Subject: Re: Income Taxes Of A Self-Employed Lawyer
Date: 16 Dec 92 16:48:41 GMT
	<1992Dec14.204200.20747@eng.umd.edu> <Bz9qx6.Loy@taligent.com>
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: cep@taligent.com's message of 14 Dec 92 21:41:29 GMT
bcc: carl


>Goodness, he must have gotten some very, very poor tax advice indeed,
>since the marginal federal tax rates top out at 31%, and I don't think
>that Georgia has a 19% individual income tax.  Even including
>self-employment tax, I have trouble making those numbers work out.

Remember - he said "self employed", which means that he's paying both
ends of the FICA.  Just the employee portion alone is 7.65 %...  I
don't know how much it is for self employed people, but it's probably
in the 13-15% range.  Add that to 31% and you're at 44-48% - pretty
close to the 50% he quoted!!!

Of course some people in Washington would have us believe that FICA is
not a tax.  I'd rather watch Jay Leno to get my laughs.

-Carl-
--
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: georgec@eng.umd.edu (George B. Clark)
Subject:  Income Taxes Of A Self-Employed Lawyer
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 20:42:00 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland


My brother is a self-employed lawyer in Savannah, Georgia, and he
wants to know how to reduce taxes he owes on his income and his
profits.

He told me that 50% of his profits go to taxes, and 35% of his
income go to taxes.

He has consulted two CPA's for advice over the past year, and in both
cases the advice they gave him caused some trouble with the IRS. In
other words, they gave bad advice.

Is there anyone out there who can relate to this problem, and offer a
solution? Perhaps recommend a book he can read?

Since CPAs are giving him advice the IRS rejects, is there some other
advisor he should be consulting, instead?

Thanks.

Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: knight@santafe.santafe.edu (Bob Knight)
Subject: Real estate capital gains and divorce
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 18:58:49 GMT
Organization: Santa Fe Institute
Distribution: usa


Hi - so, the subject sort of says it all.  We have several options WRT
the house --- sell it outright and split the proceeds, or me refinance
it and buy my soon-to-be-ex out.  However, she is concerned about the
tax consequences.  The way I read it, we both get the same basis, and
pay taxes from there.  However, she sez that if she isn't living here
*at the time of sale*, she may not defer the capital gains tax.  This
sounds bogus to me.  This may be moot, because I suspect that to
defer, she's gonna have to buy a house that's more expensive than this
one (after sale costs, basis, etc.), and that's *extremely* unlikely.
Am I wrong?  Is there some magic that one can do in the divorce that
splits the repurchase price in some way?  I suspect not, knowing the
IRS.  However, if any of you have any (supportable) illumination on
this situation, I'd be grateful to hear it.  Please reply directly to
me.


Thanks,
Bob
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet)
Subject: Re: Yikes! Am I Facing a Tax Penalty?
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories,  Columbus, Ohio
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 00:01:20 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.175233.17932@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> ahn@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (john.k.ahn) writes:
>In article <1992Dec13.232529.3950@cbnews.cb.att.com> ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec13.213532.16678@cbfsb.cb.att.com> sbrenner@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (scott.d.brenner) writes:
>>From what you say, it sounds like you never filed an estimated tax
>>form  (Form 1040ES).  If that's true, the rule is easy.  You miust
>>have had withheld from your pay (or paid estoimated taxes -- but I
>>suspect you didn't) either of these:
>>
>>   1) 90% of the taxes on your 1992 income, or
>>
>>   2) 100% of the taxes on your 1991 income.
>>
>>If you were OK last year there's a real good chance you're OK this
>>year too.
>
>Not to alarm the original poster, but I think starting this year,
>rule 2) no longer holds for people with AGI of $75,000 or greater.

AGI of $75,000    AND   1992_AGI -  1991_AGI > $40,000 AND Filed
1040ES within the last 3 years.

I specifically assumed from the post that he the poster never filed
a 1040ES.


(The $75,000 and $40,000 are married filing jointly;  halve those
 figures for single taxpayers.)


-- 
Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: ohumukin@spectra.com (Kawika Ohumukini)
Subject: Lot's of business expenses and NO Income
Organization: Spectragraphics Corporation
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 17:34:36 GMT

Hi,

I own a small business that I just started Aug 25th.
I have been purchasing materials and equipment since May.

I have almost no income to date and will not until April of
May of 1993.

How do I claim the expenses and depreciation amounts on
my taxes?

Do I wait until I make something?
Does it roll over to 1993?

Any and all suggestion appreciated by Email.
 
Kawika


PS:  I am getting ready to spend about $1000 in 1992 and
     $2000 in 1993 on equipment, should I wait until 1993?
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: cep@taligent.com (Christophe Pettus)
Subject: Yikes! Am I Facing a Tax Penalty?
Supersedes: <Bz9xJD.1G1@taligent.com>
Organization: Taligent, a little subsidiary of two really big companies.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 00:05:31 GMT

In article <DOUGLIS.92Dec14174415@chimay.MITL.COM> douglis@chimay.MITL.COM (Fred
 Douglis) writes:
>I thought I heard that it doesn't hold if and only if you have paid
>estimated tax in the past three years.  Can anyone confirm/deny this?

You are exempt from penalty on underpayment of your 1992 Federal income
tax if:

1. You paid 90% of your 1992 liability through wihholding or quarterly
   estimated tax returns; OR

2. You withheld, or paid through quarterly estimated tax returns, in
   1992 an amount equal to 100% of your 1991 tax liability, regardless
   of your 1992 tax liability.

This used to be all there was to it; you were always safe having just the
amount equal to your previous year's tax withheld.  There is, however,
a new catch that applies to "certain high-income taxpayers," in the IRS'
delightful turn of phrase.  These taxpayers are those who:

   (a) Have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of more than $75,000; AND
   (b) Whose AGI increased by more than $40,000 in 1992 compared to 1991;
       AND,
   (c) Who have either filed estimated income tax returns at some point in
       the last three years OR have been penalized for not doing so.

(The limits are 37,500 and 20,000 for married filing separately.)

Taxpayers who meet all of (a), (b), and (c) cannot escape penalty by
option (2) above; they MUST have at least 90% of their liability paid
through either withholding or quarterly estimated tax returns.
--
-- Christophe

"I draw the line at Styrofoam packing kernels, you sick pervert."
Newsgroups: misc.taxes,misc.invest
From: ahujaa@ntmtv.UUCP (Arvind Ahuja)
Subject: Tax Advise
Originator: ahujaa@nmtvs267
Reply-To: ahujaa@ntmtv.UUCP (Arvind Ahuja)
Organization: Northern Telecom Inc, Mountain View, CA
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:35:14 GMT

Hello Netters,

	I am seeking an advise for a relative, 55 years of age
	and quiting his job. He has worked at this company for 11
	years and accumulated about $70,000 in his profit sharing
	account.

	Gentleman, in view has acquired a business this year and
	plans to work full time at it. The profit sharing money
	will be transferred to his account in April 1993, four
	months after he quits his job, starting Jan.1, 1993.

	We would appreciate, if someone out there could tell us the
	tax liabilities incurred with amount of money. Is it
	possible to invest this money in a meaningfull and legal
	avenue to minimize the tax liability. Or, is it possible to
	rollover the money into another Non-taxable account on a
	short term or long term basis.


Thanx

AA
  
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: cep@taligent.com (Christophe Pettus)
Subject: Re: Can married file as single?
Organization: Taligent, a little subsidiary of two really big companies.
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 22:48:45 GMT

In article <1glbluINNq1t@meaddata.meaddata.com> davidc@meaddata.com (David Ciaciuch) writes:
>More importantly: what does filing single "buy" them?

Lower taxes, if they have roughly the same income.
--
-- Christophe

"I draw the line at Styrofoam packing kernels, you sick pervert."
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
From: meyers@lorenz.ocean.fsu.edu (Steve Meyers)
Subject: Clinton and capital gains?
Organization: Florida State University
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 23:03:59 GMT

This may have been discussed already. Beg your pardon if this has been  
done to death.

What do you think the Clinton administration will do (if anything) about  
reducing taxation of long-term capital gains? Should I hold off selling  
until January in hopes of a reduced rate?

-Steve
From: gerard@netlabs.com (Gerard Horan)
Newsgroups: misc.taxes
Subject: Income Earned Abroad/Foreign Income Exclusion
Date: 11 Dec 92 19:31:09 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: NetLabs, Inc.
Originator: gerard@bunsen.netlabs.com


My brother has been working here for over 3 years on a green card. Last
April he returned to Ireland for personal reasons. He immediately started
a job in Ireland. I tried to contact the IRS to understand his tax situation
for this year.   I listened to some of their tapes and got properly confused 
by the Foreign Tax Exclusion deductions.

What I have gathered so far is that he must file a TAX return here since 
he earned about $15,000 from Jan to April. I do not understand how he should
declare the income earned in Ireland. The real problem is that he is
also paying TAX in Ireland ( 55%) and he does not want to pay tax twice.

Is there some deduction he can claim for the TAXES he has paid in Ireland.

Any help/pointers appreciated.

gerard

Gerard Horan 
Netlabs.Com. The Object Oriented Network Management Company.
From: chuq@Apple.COM (Eeyore's Evil Twin)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Style, grammar, punctuation - recommendation?
Date: 15 Dec 92 16:17:18 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Pooh Corner Country Club -- A Planned Community

wherndon@smiley.mitre.org (William Herndon) writes:

>    Can anyone recommend a good guide to style, grammar, and punctua-
>    tion for a novice fiction writer? 

I like MRS. THISTLEBOTTOM'S HOBGOBLINS from Thomas Bernstein. Very
un-dogmatic and fun to read. In fact, anything by Bernstein is usually worth
reading, but this book not only discusses good grammar, but also discusses
all of the stuff you're taught taht is either wrong or blown out of
proportion.

-- 
            Chuq "IMHO" Von Rospach, ESD Support & Training (DAL/AUX)
                      Member, SFWA =+= Editor, OtherRealms
                chuq@apple.com | GEnie: MAC.BIGOT | ALink:CHUQ 

                       Sterling Holloway: We'll miss you.
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: mapd1@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Nigel Ling)
Subject: Re: support for the arts in the US
Organization: University of Sussex
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 14:42:32 GMT

In article <1gdaaqINN1kg@agate.berkeley.edu> curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>
>>Are you therefore also against public funding of 
>>libraries, because of the power librarians are given
>>over selection of titles?
>
>No; library sales don't have much effect on book profits.  I'm
>unhappy about public funding of libraries for two reasons:  that
>libraries are not a public good, and that public libraries make
>it impossible for private libraries to exist.
>
>If you want poor people to be able to read, you should give
>them money - not libraries.

Heaven help us! Well, I may say this for you: you're probably in
tune with a few government officials these days, but not, I hope,
the majority of people.

Nigel




Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: bgardner@hamp.hampshire.edu
Subject: Publishers of the wierd... info request
Organization: Hampshire College
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 01:31:46 GMT

Hi :)
I'm a writer who writes really wierd things... like as in my stuff has
been compared to Beckett and Albee and Joyce (depending on what I'm writing)
and I would like to start being published now.  Every one who has ever read
my work has loved it (even those who hate me), but I didn't think I was ready
until this point.  But now the problem is finding publishers... from looking
over and over at the Writers Market I can not find any one who seems avant
garde enough... is that a failing on the part of the listers, or are there
truely no publishers out there that are willing to take a risk on something
that has never been tried before.  What I'm looking to publish is a play
entitled "Eves Dropping" which is about Adam, Eve, Eris, the apple (both
golden and biblical), the devil and sexuality.  It is as one of my friends
(who is also a writer of good caliber- something I would say of few) a
cross between Sheakespeare and Albee... who in the play writing world would
be intersted in publishing a poem of lyrical quality, but absurdist style?
As poetry comes round, my poems are typicalish... and I don't consider them
to be that extrodinary.  I think I can manage to find publishers for that...
it's getting excepted that will be hard.  The other thing I have a problem with
is that I am curently revising a 51 page (single spaced typed) prose-poetry
epic done in stream of conseness form.  As if this isn't enough of a risk for
a publisher to take I want to illustrate it with found immages and basically
what amounts to poster art (as I want to put text over the images)... the
finished product would look formally like Alice In Wonderland and read like
Finegan's Wake... the plot?  Don't ask... the title of the book is War Of The
Words... and it's devided into 11 "Word Wars."  Any ideas of a publisher
willing to take a risk on what could very well be ground breaking material?
No, I'm not stuck up... I know I sound it... I am just very confident in my
writing abilities... as so many people have complemented me so much.  I realize
that in the world of publishing being good is not enough though, so I am trying
to find the right people.
Any responses would be loved to death.  Flames included.  Please write to
bgardner@hamp.hampshire.edu
Thank you very much for your time, and consideration.  May your lives be filled
with whatever you want them to be... :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This... some madman's desire, yet I've always admired the crazy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
						Brian

Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: rmr@sgi.com (Robert M. Reimann)
Subject: Re: support for the arts in the US
Organization: Technical Publications, Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 19:37:38 GMT

curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>rmr@sgi.com (Robert M. Reimann) writes:

>You appear to think of art as a "public good."  A public good is any
>good whose benefits cannot be restricted to those who pay for it.
>National defense, for example, is a public good.
>
>But what I don't see is how art, or literature in specific, is
>such a good.  After all, to my stubbornly myopic view of things,
>it seems that restricting the reading of books to those who pay
>for them is perfectly good disqualification from this exalted
>status.

So you are against libraries, then?

>Because let's not forget what we're doing when we subsidize
>literature.  I might be able to support it but I will brook no
>euphemisms in the process.  What we are doing is forcing people to
>buy books that they do not want to read; and before you do this
>you had better have a pretty damn good reason.

See it's a question of access.  It's not just a demand
side problem, either.  For a society that places free
expression at the top of its priority list (or the Bill 'o
Rights at any case), we can expect the individuals of
that society to make a small sacrifice (and it's damn
small) to ensure that this right is upheld for everyone.

				Robert.
From: cwilbur@polar.bowdoin.edu (Charlton Wilbur)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Grammar
Date: 20 Dec 1992 13:27:46 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

Grammar, usage, meter, rhyme, punctuation: these things are rarely "right" or
"wrong." A good writer knows the "rules" intimately and also knows exactly how
to break them and, more importantly, when to break them. There's a subtle
difference between (BTW, this example is taken from Gardner)

	He saw her last night, he was sure of it.

and

	He saw her last night. He was sure of it.

If the difference could be easily put into words, it wouldn't require the
period rather than the comma. The first is technically a run-on sentence; but
most professors and editors would overlook the grammatical technicality for
the subtle difference. There's a reason for the rule violation.

The same goes for poetry. Frost's "Mending Wall" is written in strict iambic
pentameter. The first line, however, breaks the pattern:

          `   ~      ~    `     ~    `      ~   `     ~  `
	Something | there is | that does | n't love | a wall 

Why? Emphasis, perhaps. Variation, perhaps. But it works -- there is a reason,
however difficult to pin down, that the pattern is broken. This is completely
different from breaking the pattern just for the sake of having broken the
pattern.

In short, I guess, the eighth-grade, sentence-diagramming, right-and-wrong
concept of grammar has to be abandoned. It simply doesn't work for writers.
(Bureaucrats and politicians are another story: they _need_ well-defined
grammar to produce anything vaguely coherent.) Subtlety demands flexibility. I
would go so far, however, as to say that this flexibility requires that one be
capable of writing gramatically perfect prose by the eighth-grade standards
when it is necessary. 

--
Charlton Wilbur             Internet: cwilbur@polar.bowdoin.edu
Moulton Union 690A            BITnet: cwilbur@bowdoin.bitnet
Bowdoin College            Telephone: (207) 725-3962
Brunswick, ME 04011                   (207) 725-3963