Remember, you can make gifts of up to $14,000 per person per year with no tax ramifications for you or your starving student. That means you and your spouse could gift $28,000 to that student to be used for better ramen, phone service, and housing.

Of course, you can also add a zero to the end of the check you send to Wayland & Vukadinovich for tax preparation services, but we suspect it would be better to make gifts to children - while you can deduct our payment, the children might get mad.

FAQ #2 

Since I have so much money, I want to put more into my 401k or 403b or 457 or whatever that deferred compensation plan is I have at work. 

Are there changes for next year?

Anticipating your question, the IRS JUST announced the cost-of-living adjustments for 2015.

You'll be able to make an $18,000 contribution to your 401k or 403b plan next year, and if you are one of those fortunate individuals who are 50 or older, you can make an additional "catch - up" contribution of $6,000, up from $5,500 last year.

IRA and Roth contributions haven't changed - they are still $5,500 for those under age 50 and $6,500 for those using those over 50 senior discount cards.

Remember, your ability to make a Roth or IRA contribution is based on your adjusted gross income; don't make that contribution and expect a deduction until you confirm your income is within the limits.

That's a calculation not for the faint of heart!

Those of you who have SEP IRAs 

(and if you don't know what a SEP IRA is, 

it means you don't have one)

can make a 2015 contribution of $53,000, up from $52,000 this year.

Lastly, SIMPLE retirement account contributions have increased from $12,000 to $12,500 for next year.

What, you ask, is a SIMPLE?

Again, if you don't have one, you may not need to know.
 

FAQ # 3 

Are there any other nifty inflation-adjustments for next year I should - try to - remember?

Why, yes, you might find these interesting.

Who are we kidding?

NO ONE finds these interesting, 

but what else do we have to write about?

We don't write movie scripts, we don't write software code that changes the world, we don't write classical music that makes us all weep, 

we write about inflation adjustments to SIMPLE plans!

In 2015, the new estate tax exclusion per person has increased to $5.43 million

The annual gift you can give those poor children of yours remains at $14,000.

The personal exemption moves from $3,950 to $4,000 and the Social Security Administration 

(as we say around here, the Social Security Administration is just like the IRS without the sense of humor) 

has announced that you will pay social security tax on your first $118,500 of wages this next year.

Enough numbers!

FAQ #4

I just called and left you a message on 

your voice mail.  

I received a strange computer-generated message on my home phone line (303-554-5805), 

that the Internal Revenue Service is filing a law suit against me, 

and for more information to 

call 202-864-1341.  

Can you look into this for me?  

Is it a scam?

We've written about this before, but the scam seems to be increasing - we received six calls just today about the same thing - don't panic, it's not the IRS, just some amazingly clever (and amazingly illegal) offshore individuals who are calling hundreds of taxpayers each day.

They SOUND real!

They have REAL phone numbers

They have REAL IRS - sounding names and terms but

THEY ARE NOT REAL!

The IRS has devoted several pages on their 

(oh so easy website)

to explain to all of us that they don't call, they don't threaten to send the sheriff out, 

they simply lien your property or garnish your wages.

The IRS Telephone Game is just like the Nigerian bank scam!

FAQ #5

Is there ANYTHING I can do before year end 

to reduce my taxes?

Honestly, we HATE this question!

There are many things taxpayers can do, it's hard to go over every possibility.

We're going to mention a few items below, if any of them SEEM to apply to you and you want more information, you are welcome to call one of the cheerful and always helpful partners and staff here - 

or you can call office manager Gina 

(just kidding, Gina)

and we'd be happy to discuss them.

We'll be going into more detail in our remaining newsletters these next few months.

You could -

• Group certain miscellaneous deductions this year;
• Prepay certain deductible expenses with a credit card;
• Prepay your 2015 April property tax installment;
• Prepay any anticipated CA tax due;
• Make gifts;
• Purchase up to $25,000 of equipment to utilize the infamous Section 179 deduction;
• Buy a TESLA (and give Mike and Gary a ride) or some other qualifying hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle;
• Start a 401k contribution, an IRA, or other retirement plan;
• Realize stock losses to offset any recognized gains;
• make sure you are utilizing any flexible spending account options available at your place of employment;
• Consider a Health Savings Account;
• Consider making some year-end charitable contributions. Gary and Mike always support the Association of Retired Tax Preparers. If you think those poor children in Africa and other countries look sad, you clearly haven't seen a retired tax preparer!
• Make a Section 529 College Savings Plan contribution.
• Defer income; accelerate expenses, although both thoughts make certain assumptions that you should confirm before you go forward.

FAQ #6

 I intend to take my IRA from Generic Savings and Loan and roll it over to Very Special Bank and Trust, but I may remove it from Very Special Bank and Trust and move it to 

We'll Pay you a Bundle in Interest Credit Union.

That's ok, right?

We've written about this before and are shocked that you don't hang onto every word!

The IRS has announced that, starting in 2015, should you take a distribution from your IRA, you have 60 days to roll it over to another IRA. You can only make one such rollover in a calendar year. A second IRA rollover will cause those foreign law-shirting hoodlums we mentioned above to call you and REALLY threaten you with jail but more importantly, the IRS will truly assess you tax on that 2nd rollover.

Only one rollover per year UNLESS the rollover is a trustee to trustee rollover (that's where you never get a check or see the money, you simply trust that Generic Savings and Loan will indeed send the funds directly to Very Special Bank and Trust.)

Thanks for hanging in there on this one.

Our 2015 appointment calendar opens December 16th.

We're hard at work taking classes, updating software, answering emails and phone calls, 

and doing our best to 

save America, one tax dollar at a time

.