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Originally posted by jerZ07002 well, that still doesn't address how to tax partners, which can be individuals or business associations, of partnerships.

I wasn't trying to. I hate the sense of "someone is not paying as much as someone else, therefore we need to tax them more to be fair." In any event, since I have a position(albeit small) in an LP, I would like the tax burden to be as minimal as possible!

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Originally posted by Shakka I wasn't trying to. I hate the sense of "someone is not paying as much as someone else, therefore we need to tax them more to be fair." In any event, since I have a position(albeit small) in an LP, I would like the tax burden to be as minimal as possible!

word - i hear ya

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 In the grand scheme of things, the IRS probably doesn't even care about 9,000 in back taxes. In normal cases (i know these aren't the facts in this case), that could be an overstatement of expenses by as little as 25K. Not much for a business owner. Someone could easily exceed that by miscalculating depreciation on a capital asset. Let's be realistic. If taxes were so easy to do individuals wouldn't pay accountants (and tax prep services) to fill out the forms, and companies wouldn't spend millions of dollars a year on compliance costs and tax advice.

My understanding that it was on $25,000 in taxable donations, not even income.

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Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov My understanding that it was on $25,000 in taxable donations, not even income.

most of the time it isn't income because it is much easier for the IRS to trace income. People aren't dumb enough to leave income off their returns when the IRS gets a copy of informational forms. Moreover, people have a pretty good sense of what constitutes income. People usually mess up because they don't know the difference between deductible expenses, capitalized expenses, and disallowed expenses. To add to the complication, expenses are sometimes permitted to be deducted against income on a prorated basis or allocable over a period of years. Certain law schools have courses that spend a significant amount of time discussing those deductions that are permitted (usually in the business context).

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 most of the time it isn't income because it is much easier for the IRS to trace income. People aren't dumb enough to leave income off their returns when the IRS gets a copy of informational forms. Moreover, people have a pretty good sense of what constitutes income. People usually mess up because they don't know the difference between deductible expenses, capitalized expenses, and disallowed expenses. To add to the complication, expenses are sometimes permitted to be deducted against income on a prorated basis or allocable over a period of years. Certain law schools have courses that spend a significant amount of time discussing those deductions that are permitted (usually in the business context).

Going back to the article posted earlier, it would seem that's more or less what happened in this case:

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former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, has filed amended tax returns after a review found he failed to pay taxes on $37,750 in speaking fees he donated to his college alma mater, a Senate panel said on Monday.

I don't see anything worth frothing about. He amended the tax return, so what's the problem?

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Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Going back to the article posted earlier, it would seem that's more or less what happened in this case: I don't see anything worth frothing about. He amended the tax return, so what's the problem?

i agree - people in the 35% bracket don't try to stiff the government out of 10k. Kirk is a partner at a law firm (Vinson & Elkins) that profits over 1 million per partner. This guy definitely isn't trying to defraud the government of 10k.

i would say the same thing if dick cheney was the one under the microscope.

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 i would say the same thing if dick cheney was the one under the microscope.

Me too. These are the things that get scrutinized by the opposition I suppose when you have a President who sets the bar pretty high.

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