Sunday, August 19, 2007

A LITTLE THISA, A LITTLE THATA

Did you know –

· The timing of a depreciation or Section 179 deduction for a business asset is determined by the date the asset is “placed in service” and not the date the item is purchased. If you purchase and pay for a computer for use in your business at the end of December 2007 - but it is not delivered and installed until January of 2008 - the depreciation begins, or the Section 179 deduction is claimed, in 2008.

· When claiming a deduction or credit for qualified tuition and fees you must reduce the amount of tuition and fees charged by 100% of any awards, grants, scholarships, Veteran’s benefits and employer-paid benefits received during the year. You cannot allocate these items between tuition and fees and room and board.

· If you own a “timeshare” at a resort, such as Marriott or Disney, a portion of the annual “maintenance fee” you are charged will contain your proportionate share of the real estate taxes on your unit - which is deductible on Schedule A. This amount should be identified somewhere on the annual billing notice.

· Many closing costs on the purchase or refinance of a rental property can be amortized over the life of the mortgage, including loan application fees. The “unamortized” portion of any loan application fees you paid can be written off when you refinance the mortgage with a new lender, similar to the rule for unamortized “points”.

· The first actor to play James Bond on the screen was Barry Nelson in a tv adaptation of “Casino Royale”, shown as an episode of the anthology series “Climax” in 1954. In this adaptation Bond was an American agent with the Combined Intelligence Agency who works with British Secret Service agent Clarence Leiter, a version of American agent Felix Leiter from the Fleming books. The villian, Le Chiffe, was played by Peter Lorre. (I know this had nothing to do with taxes - so what?)

You do now!

TTFN

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