Tax

Question 1

Sources of Federal Tax Law/Authority

Answer 1

• internal revenue code: primary source of tax law
• treasury regulations: a source of law
• revenue rulings: interpretations that may be cited
• congressional committee reports: intent of congress
• private letter rulings: apply to specific taxpayer
• judicial sources: court decisions interpret laws

Question 2

Federal Tax Underpayment Penalty

Answer 2

To avoid, pay the lesser of:

1) 90% of the current years tax liability
2) 100% of the prior years tax liability (or 110% of gross income was over 150k)

Question 3

Accounting Methods

Answer 3

• Cash: firm realizes revenue in the year payments are received (<25 million revenue)
• Accrual: firm realizes revenue when process of goods and services are complete (better with large inventory)
• Hybrid: combines accrual for inventory side and cash for cash side
• % of Completion: for long term contracts where the contract will not be completed within the taxable year

Question 4

Property Classes (MACRS) and Depreciation

Answer 4

• 5 Year: Computer, Auto, Trucks (1245 Property)
• 7 Year: Office equipment except computers (1245)
• 27.5 Year: Residential rental property (1250)
• 39 Year: Non-residential rental property (1250)

Question 5

Capital Gains and Losses

Answer 5

1) STCG and STCL are netted and LTCG and LTCL netted
2) If a gain and a loss remain, they are netted
3) If a loss remains after netting, only $3,000 of net loss can be used to offset ordinary income

Question 6

Sale of Personal Residence (Section 121)

Answer 6

• $250k (single) and $500k (mfj) of gains from sale is tax free if they lived in home for 2 out of last 5 years
• Exception available if taxpayer lives in the residence less than 2 years and moves because of new job, health reasons, etc (received prorated amount)

Question 7

Recapture (1245 Property)

Answer 7

(hug and 2 slugs)

Hug: I get to deduct a business expense for equipment (take a CRD)

Slug 1: my basis is lowered by the CRD that I take

Slug 2: if I sell the equipment, basis is taxed at ordinary income and over that is taxed at capital gain rates

Question 8

Section 179 Deduction

Answer 8

A small business can expense newly acquired 1245 property instead of depreciation (offsetting Schedule C Income) up to $1.04m (limited by amount of income I generate)

Question 9

Historic Rehabilitation Programs (HRPs)

Answer 9

HRP’s that are held as passive activity may generate a deductible-equivalent tax credit up to $25k. The benefit of this deduction-equivalent tax credit phases out between $200k AGI

How does that credit work? You calculate your tax to determine the maximum marginal tax bracket. If it is 25% for example, then you multiply $25k by 25% to get a credit of $6,250

Question 10

Low Income Housing: Housing Credit

Answer 10

Tax credit up to $25,000 (no phase outs)

Multiply your tax bracket by $25,000 to find your tax credit.

Question 11

Original Basis, Cost Basis, and Adjusted Basis

Answer 11

Original Basis is a taxpayers investment in any asset or property.

Cost Basis= Original Basis increased by legal fees, commission, sales tax, improvements but NOT repairs, real estate tax, or operating expenses

Adjusted basis= Cost Basis less cost recovery (deductions). Cost recovery produces a deduction for depreciation.

Question 12

Passive Activity and at-risk rules

Answer 12

Passive Activity: taxpayer does not materially participate

Rule 1: only means to offset passive income is passive loss

Rule 2: Non-Publicly traded partnership income can be offset by any other non-publicly traded partnership loss (doesn’t need to be same partnership)

Rule 3: Publicly traded partnership income can only be offset by publicly traded income from the same MLP.

Question 13

Widow will file for taxes as…

Answer 13

MFJ in the year of spouses death as she can benefit from this filing. After she will be Q widow or single

Question 14

If a person finds they are due a tax refund…

Answer 14

file form 1040X within 3 years of the filed return or 2 years of the tax payment

Question 15

An individual in the 12% marginal tax bracket has a LTCG tax rate of:

Answer 15

0%

Question 16

Federal Gift Tax File Form

Federal Estate Tax File Form

Answer 16

Gift: 709

Estate: 706

Question 17

Collectible Gain Tax

Answer 17

28% (note that this is higher than the LTCG tax of 20%)

Question 18

Hobby Loss

Answer 18

The TCJA eliminated misc. itemized deductions and the ability to deduct hobby related expenses. Any activity generating a profit for 3 out of last 5 years is a business.

Question 19

Net Operating Loss (NOL)

Answer 19

If business has more expenses than gross income, there is a NOL. (no S corps or partnerships)

NOL Deduction: An NOL in one year can be used to reduce taxable income for a future year. There is a limit on how much can be used in one year but no limit on carry forward amount. NOL carry over can only offset 80% of taxable income in one year.

Question 20

LIFO and FIFO (inventory methods)

Answer 20

Last in, First out (if a company wants to reduce taxes in an inflationary period)

First in, First out (reflects current costs)

Question 21

Amortization

Answer 21

Amortization is the recovery of certain capital expenditures that are not ordinarily deductible in a manner that is similar to straight line.

Some assets have no physical substance (goodwill). The tax basis in such intangible asset may be recoverable. Intangible’s are generally amortized under Section 197. The recovery method is similar to straight line depreciation.

Question 22

Accretion

Answer 22

At issue, a bond is discounted from par value. that discount must be accreted over the life of the bond. Each year, the portion of discount that has been “earned” is included as taxable income and the bonds basis is increased (phantom income)

Question 23

Wash Sale Rules

Answer 23

No deduction is allowed for any losses on stock if within a period beginning 30 days prior and ending 30 days after the sale the taxpayer acquired identical stock or securities

Question 24

AMT Calculation

Answer 24

Start with post-deduction 1040 income (or AGI if taking the standard deduction)
Add back any items deductible for 1040 but not AMT
Add preference items
Equals AMT Base
Subtract exemptions
Equals AMT Income
Multiply by rate to get AMT liability

Question 25

Personal Exemptions

Answer 25

No longer exist.

If disabled, you get a larger standard deduction

Question 26

What amount of deduction would be equal to a credit?

Answer 26

Credit/tax rate

Question 27

DNI

Answer 27

DNI determines the amount of income to be distributed to the beneficiary as well as the corresponding deduction by the trust.