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There are a few things you should be aware of when it comes to taxes for your investments. Note that many of these tips are specific to 2007 tax returns in the United States.

Taxed on Sells, Not Buys
The first thing to realize is that you are charged tax on the profits of your trades, which means the IRS does not care about your trade until you sell the shares.

Tax Forms from your Brokerage
Your brokerage should send you a 1099 tax form in January that lists all of your sales and dividends from the previous year. Two examples are “Form 1099-B Proceeds from Broker & Barter Exchange Transactions” and “Form 1099-DIV Dividends and Distributions.” These forms will be needed to complete your tax return. Note that these forms may or may not include the purchase information for those trades. You are required to get that information from your brokerage records to fill out your tax return so the IRS will know how much profit you you made.

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Trades
If you kept your shares more than a year, they are considered “long-term capital gains” and you are rewarded with a lower tax rate of 15% in most cases. Otherwise, if you held the shares for less than a year the profits will be taxed the same as your regular wages. These are called “short-term capital gains.”

Dividends and Interest
Many public companies distribute dividends or other forms of cash and shares to their shareholders when they have extra profits. You will be taxed on them of course. These are usually reported to you on the 1099-DIV form.

Wash Sales
What in the world is a wash sale? This IRS rule was created to try to reduce cheating on investment taxes. Let’s say you buy 100 shares of Microsoft at $25 per share, then it drops to $20. You decide to sell it for a loss and then buy it right back at $20, hoping to get a tax deduction on the “loss” you just suffered. Well the IRS doesn’t like this practice and they consider it a wash sale if you buy very similar stock within a month (before or after) of your sale for a loss. You aren’t penalized for this wash sale, you just have to apply the loss to a future trade. Please read more about wash sales on the IRS website.

Listing All Sales
The tax forms usually ask for a detailed list of all stocks you sold in the previous year, including the company name, number of shares, gross proceeds, and the cost basis. The cost basis is used to determine how much profit you made when you sold the shares. It is the total amount you spent when you purchased the shares, including the commission. The “gross proceeds” is the total amount you received back when you sold the shares, after the commission and SEC fees were deducted.

However, if you bought and sold many stocks during the year it might be too time-consuming to enter in each one individually. An alternative is to combine all the sales into one line and call the company name “Various” and just add up all the numbers. This is a common practice. The IRS doesn’t really care which shares you traded, just the total profit you made during the year. In any case, it can be a real time-saver to keep accurate records of all of your trades, perhaps in a spreadsheet.

Other Topics
This article is not a comprehensive list of all aspects of investment taxes, so please do more research if you have any questions. One special topic is “short-selling.” If you did any short selling there are some special rules involved. Another topic is “professional traders,” who get taxed differently. They can count some investment expenses as tax deductions, for example. The best thing to do is consult with a tax professional, especially if this is your first time to do taxes with investments.

Nicholas Swezey is the creator of the Stock Market Simulation at HowTheMarketWorks.com.

You will frequently hear the phrase, “There are two things you can count on: death and taxes”. This exemplifies how most people feel about dealing with taxes - much like facing death. Fortunately, there are people who enjoy this, not only plugging numbers into columns, but figuring out payroll and making tax decisions to maximize the citizen’s return. When searching for an accountant, there are certain things you must keep in mind to find the person who is a perfect fit.

The consumer should always consider the level of service received from his or her accountant. Consider communication, speed at returning phone calls, availability for appointments, whether they can come to your business, and the accuracy of the work they submit back to you. One of the best ways to find a good accountant is through word of mouth. Ask people that have similar financial needs than you whom they use, and do a little research. Set up a meeting and make sure this is someone you want to make a long term working relationship with.

While meeting with this prospective accountant, find out what kind of services are offered. Find out if they are a general accountant, providing bookkeeping services and if they can meet your payroll needs. Inquire on what the rates are. Also, and important consideration is how much you will have to keep up with for taxes and what they are willing to keep up with throughout the year. As the tax laws change, make sure to ask about what your accountant does to keep up with the changing laws and how that will be communicated to you.

Many accountants specialize, so make sure this person meets your needs. What kind of tax services do you require? For the normal citizen, a general accountant should be fine in most instances, but make sure to double check with an inheritance or capital gain - if your financial situation changes, will your accountant be prepared to handle it? Business owners and people with large financial assets have a lot more to consider. Corporate taxes, stamp taxes, payroll and wealth management.

For most people, future planning is important. The best way to financially plan for the future is to know exactly what you have today. While your accountant can not give you guaranteed advice, he or she can give you projected returns on your retirement accounts, business plans, investments and insurance. Your accountant is there to help you set up a budget where everything works. And although it’s ultimately up to you to put the money in the bank, it is essential to have a reputable accountant there to make sure it’s working for you. And when you consider the ramifications of doing your taxes wrong, there’s just no way you can put a price on having someone help you do them right. Tax penalties will make life unbearable! So find your tax professional soon.

James Mitchell has created several online resources dealing with accountancy and has worked closely with Birmingham Accountants for some time.

The assessed value of real property is an annual determination of the just or fair market value of the property established by the Property Appraiser. Local officials value your property, set your tax rates, and collect your taxes. Homestead, over sixty-five, and disabled veterans exemptions are examples of partial exemptions, which reduce the taxable value on qualifying property.

The property tax, unlike any other form of taxation, goes on in perpetuity regardless of the property owner’s ability to pay the tax, undermining private property rights, a large and costly bureaucracy exists to appraise the taxable value of properties and oversee the payment of taxes by each property owner;

The property tax has so many exemptions and loopholes that the businesses and homeowners who do not qualify for any of the exemptions bear an excessive and undue portion of the total burden. Property tax rate cuts by the Legislature can be undermined and most generally are by appraisal increases or school district tax rate elections. So how can it be, then, in is this awful economic time, that property values continue to rise and along with them our property taxes.

If they spent the windfall on some new program. What happens when the property values go down, or when the base falls. You and I both know what happens. Up we go again. Many property owners do not want the city or county assessor to come into the interior of their home. If you have done extensive work, well, then okay, you have a reason.

If you have done no repairs and feel the interior of the property is a bit to be desired, you may wish to invite the assessor inside. Make sure you are available to walk around your property with the assessor and point out the bowed walls because the roof needs to be replaced.

Point out the unleveled floor because the property has shifted a bit over the years and probably needs some support beams. Point out some good things as well, never dwell on just the bad points. This might help to lower your assessment, thus lower your property tax liability.

Look at your tax card at the county assessor’s office. You might find some interesting things about the assessment of your property. In a home, the assessor may include a room as a bedroom, but in all reality, you cannot fit a bed in the room.

You can also see if they note any improvements or structure damages. If you see any information on the tax card that does not appear correct, talk to the assessor and have the corrections made. This is going to help lower your property tax liability as well.

You may find yourself with a higher assessment than a property similar because your property is elegantly decorated. You can decorate, but when the assessor comes to inspect and judge the property, you might not want to impress him or her.

The next thing you can do is know the neighborhood. Sometimes viewing similar properties just like your property may show you some inaccuracies as far as assessed values.

Sometimes mistakes are made and you can point this out to the assessor. If you find a property exactly like your property, except it has a larger garage, newer windows, a shed or even a deck and it is valued lower than your property which has none of these things, you might consider calling this to the assessor’s attention. They can and do make entry mistakes as well as observation mistakes. You need to do some checking and thinking before the assessor comes.

Jim Woodall has 49plus years business exp. He is in Internet and Niche mktg. Visit his website Property Taxes at: http://jwoodl.com/property-taxes videos, articles, news feeds. Get your 3 free mktg eBooks at:
http://freegiveaways.jwoodl.com/index.html

If you’ve never heard a true IRS horror story, then you probably haven’t been listening. Simply search for “IRS horror story” at your favorite search engine. Read a few of those and you might at first think, “That kind of stuff doesn’t happen in America!” But, sadly, it does. If you ever find yourself in a similar position, finding the proper tax solutions will become a priority to prevent the creation of your own nightmarish scenario.

Whether you are a small-business entrepreneur that has fallen on hard times or an individual that made a mistake on an otherwise correct tax return or have simply fallen behind, choosing the right tax solutions early on will be vital to getting you back on track and help you avoid an IRS horror story of your own.

One of the most common problems that people run into with the IRS is that they end up owing money at the end of the year when they were expecting a return.

Most folks, when put in this situation, simply pay what they owe. However, if a major miscalculation was made on your W4 form that results in your owing much more than you can afford to pay all at once, that is the point at which most people panic.

First, consider what you are able to pay. The bigger a dent you can put in the amount that you owe the better. Any amount that isn’t paid off by the April 15 due date will start incurring fees and interest. In most cases, you can simply file a Form 9465 that will allow you to pay monthly installments to pay down your IRS debt.

If you owe more than you can possibly pay off within a few years however, the best solution is to consult a tax professional to ensure that there aren’t any loose ends hanging out that could come back to bite you later on.

Next, be sure to adjust your withholdings so you don’t end up owing too much again.

What you definitely don’t want to do is simply ignore the debt. The IRS isn’t like the bank that issued you your credit card. They won’t call you and nicely work out an agreement with you. They won’t send reminders over a period of several years, negotiate to lower the amount owed, or simply decide that you’re not worth chasing after anymore.

If you owe the IRS money, they will come after you. It’s your responsibility to take care the debt, and the IRS will definitely hold you to it.

If ever you are not sure what to do, call a tax professional to work out an appropriate tax solution.

Nationwide Tax Solutions (http://www.nwtaxsolutions.com) offers tax solutions for those who are in over their heads with the IRS or state taxing authorities. Our professional and highly qualified staff can develop a customized solution for you no matter what you owe. Art Gib is a freelance writer.

SIBORAP includes these ten specific sections: (1) Product Transparency, (2) Regulation and Education, (3) Protection from Speculators (4) Control of Hedge Funds, (5) Brokerage Account Statements, (6) Retirement Account Investments, (7) Executive Compensation, (8) Corporate Financial Statements, (9) Taxation of Investment and Retirement Income, and (10) Transactional Greed and Fear Controls.

Section Seven: Executive Compensation

Every dollar paid to corporate executives, directors, and employees (in any form whatsoever) in excess of two million dollars would be matched by a ten-cent per share extra dividend to all shareholders and a 10%-of-annual-pay bonus to all employees.

All golden parachutes, separate “non-qualified” retirement plans, stock option and deferred compensation programs, and others that do not benefit all employees and shareholders will be unwound over a three to five year period. Any employee who receives in excess of $250,000 in compensation must buy (and retain while employed by the company plus 3 years) 10 common shares for each $1,000 of his or her highest career compensation— retroactive three years.

Under SIBORAP, any corporation that reports profits in any year, or that pays performance-based bonuses to any employee, must first pay a “bonus” dividend to its shareholders equal to no less than 25% of the profits and proposed bonuses.

Section Eight: Corporate Financial Statements.

Investors have a right to have confidence in the numbers presented in corporate financial statements. SIBORAP mandates that all publicly traded companies employ an independent auditing firm to: translate company financials into simplified documents comprehensible to non-accountants.

These auditors would be rotated among similar companies and industries, with at least three years between appearances at any one company. Their compensation would be a flat rate plus rewards for identifying inaccuracies, inappropriate practices, and outright fraud. Executives in the chain of command from where the problems were found would be responsible for the rewards paid to the auditors.

Auditors would rank the financial status of companies based upon cash flow data, debt to equity ratios, operating profitability, industry trends, and other fundamental indicators of value.

Section Nine: Taxation Considerations.

The current tax code encourages, even dictates, investment errors, and creates a larger burden on all levels of government than is necessary. Investors have a right to formulate their investment and retirement plans without having to worry about changing tax code requirements.

Ironically, the present Social Security structure does more harm than good to both the economy and retiree benefit packages. SIBORAP allows most employees to opt out of Social Security in favor of making (smaller) mandatory contributions to a fully funded and guaranteed retirement benefit program.

Employers would be freed of this employee benefit burden, but would be required to use their savings to: add jobs, reduce prices, increase shareholder dividends, or improve employee health benefits. Employees will have more money to spend, and thousands of new jobs will be created within an existing industrial infrastructure— not to mention careers in corporate oversight.

As implied above, SIBORAP prohibits the taxation (by any government) of: (1) any form of retirement income received from any employee benefit plan, and fixed-income-annuity funded Social Security benefits, and (2) any form of investment income, foreign or domestic, received by absolutely any entity that complies with SIBORAP.

SIBORAP reinforces the rights of investors in particular, and citizens of the USA in general, to keep what they have earned, created, and inherited during their lifetimes, and to pass their estates to their heirs unencumbered by any form of taxation at any level. All inheritance taxes are illegal, retroactive twenty years.

Section Ten: Transactional Fear and Greed Controls.

Investors have a right to be emotional, irrational, fickle, stubborn, confused, fearful, inexperienced, hindsightful, and greedy. Nothing the most thoughtful and caring professional can say or do will prevent the errors that many of us look back on with a frown and a headshake.

SIBORAP will provide investors with better information, introduce rules that will help them benefit from proven asset allocation and diversification techniques, and implement controls on both cold blooded speculators and blood thirsty tax collectors. But couldas, wouldas, and shouldas cannot be legislated out of the investment formula.

In reality, financial institutions won’t be required to emphasize long-term investment thinking or to encourage cycle-savvy investment behavior. But the information is available and the experienced wisdom is out there for the reading. SIBORAP will help the lazy investor in his pursuit of wealth, but pulling the right decision lever is every investor/voter’s lonely responsibility.

As to the global investment environment that should spawn a SIBORAP— that other value investor, the guy from Omaha, put it pretty clearly just the other day in the New York Times: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

Help put a SIBORAP in your future— vote!

Steve Selengut
Sanco Services
Kiawa Golf Investment Seminars
Author: “The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read” and “A Millionaire’s Secret Investment Strategy”.