2009 Year-End Tax Planning – Part 1

Well, 2009 has flown by and it is time once again to start thinking about year-end tax planning and any opportunities available to lower your tax bill.  Whether you are have a complex business, investments, or just a simple individual tax return; you should take some time before the holidays get too busy to examine [...]

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Oregon 2009 Individual Income Tax Increases

In our previous post, we discussed the Oregon business tax increases resulting from House Bill 3405, which passed the Oregon Senate last Thursday.  Coupled with HB3405 is the sister bill regarding individual tax increases – House Bill 2649.  This bill is also headed for Governor Kulongoski, who has already made a statement of support for [...]

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Self Rental Recharacterization

We have had passive activity rules for over 20 years and passive income recharacterization rules for close to 15 years, and it is surprising that there is still a lot of confusion and bad advice out there.  In paticular, self-rental income and recharacterization are a prime example – especially for business owners who lease real [...]

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Part 2

As promised, below are some highlights of the individual tax changes from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  If you want to read the CCH Summary, here is the pdf:
CCH Summary
1) First-Time Homebuyer Credit – the new law increases the existing credit to a maximum of $8,000, but best of all it no longer needs to [...]

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Taxation for Ministers – Part I

I have had a lot of experience over the years with local ministers from some of the largest churches down to new church “plants” and home churches.  Taxation for ministers can become very complicated and costly errors can easily be made.  It is very important you understand the rules – especially if you are minister [...]

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Oregon IDA Tax Credit

Tis’ the season for making your final charitable contributions for the year and helping out your community at the same time.  If you are going to make only one contribution this year, I would highly suggest contributing to Oregon’s Individual Development Account (IDA) Initiative.
 With a normal charitable contribution, you get an itemized deduction on the [...]

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Oregon Political Contribution Credit

It is this time every year that I start getting advertisements from different political action commitees advertising the Oregon political contribution credit while requesting contributions to their PAC.  Many people just toss these mailings; however, if you haven’t already made a polictical contribution during the year – giving $50 ($100 if married filing joint) to [...]

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Year-End Planning for 2008

With a little over a month remaining in 2008, it is important to start year-end planning for tax year 2008 as there are still a number of things you can do to save on taxes and avoid costly mistakes.  
If your income has increased from 2007 or you have some big, one-time gains, it is [...]

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New Bicycle Commuter Fringe Benefit

I was scanning the ever-popular Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (aka The Bail Out Bill) and going through all the tax provisions they buried in with it, and I stumbled upon a small new fringe benefit that I figured would be interesting for Portlanders.
The Act allows employers to provide employees who commute to work [...]

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McCain vs. Obama Tax Plan Calculator

I know this “McCain vs. Obama Tax Calculator” is already all over the news today, but I found it to be an interesting tool to visually see the differences in the current tax plans.  Obviously, there are a lot of assumptions going into this, but at least it gives you a general idea.
Next they need [...]

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