Monthly Archives: December 2014

Side Hussle Series – Declutter & Make Money

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We all have things lying around our homes that we have no use for anymore. Instead of holding on to them, sell them to someone who wants them and who will pay you for them. Look around, if you have unwanted electronics, clothes, furniture, books or CDs and DVDs, there’s a market.

Used Electronics – Those old phones, computers and tablets sitting around your home could make you some quick cash. Companies such as www.Gazelle.com, www.BuyMyTronics.com, www.NextWorth.com and www.uSell.com want your used electronics and will pay you for them. The items don’t even need to work! The process is largely the same for all four companies. Simply go to their websites, get a quote for your unwanted electronics, ship the items and get paid. These companies all provide free shipping and some are associated with national retailers so you can get paid right away.

Clothes, Shoes & Handbags – If you’re like me, you have items in your closet that you haven’t worn in years and chances are, you will never wear them! Consignment shops are a great option for helping you free up some closet space while making a little extra dough. A quick Google search will bring up consignment shops in your area. If you don’t have one nearby, try www.thredup.com. Thredup will mail you a bag for your unwanted items, with a shipping label so you can send your goods to them at no cost to you. They review your items and pay you up to 80% of the resale value of your clothes. Items that they don’t accept are either donated to a charity, recycled or mailed back to you.

If you have luxury clothing, jewelry or bags, you can try selling them through www.therealreal.com. They pay up to 70% of the item’s sale price. Like Thredup, The RealReal will send you a bag to mail in your luxury items. Alternatively, you may schedule a “White Glove Pick-up” with your Luxury Manager.

Furniture & Home Accessories – Like selling used clothing, consignment shops may be a good solution for selling your unwanted furniture and home accessories. These shops generally charge 50% of the sale price, but there are some advantages to selling this way. Namely that the consignment shops do the marketing for you and secondly, you don’t have to worry about strangers coming to your home. If you want to cut out the middleman, try www.Craigslist.com. Craigslist allows you to list items for free and buyers come to you. 100% of the sales proceeds are yours.

CDs and DVDs – Many independent music stores sell used CDs and DVDs. Search online for local shops in your area. Depending on the number of CDs and DVDs you are wanting to sell, they can often sort through your goods and let you know how much they can offer while you wait.

Books – There are plenty of online companies that are willing to buy back your unwanted books and text books. www.BookScouter.com will simplify the work for your by scanning 40 other websites and let you know which one will offer you the best price. For text books, www.amazon.com offers the most competitive buyback prices according to www.ExtraBucks.com.

With a little effort and some “letting go” you can free up some extra space and make a few extra bucks!

Budgets? “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Budget”

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Budgets rarely work. It takes tremendous effort to accurately record all transactions so that you have a valid budget. Then, frequently, after all this effort, you rarely come back to the budget. That means that the work had no payoff. Furthermore, people often claim that they had nonrecurring expenses. Doing so, they artificially understate their expenses, not realizing each year has some nonrecurring event.

A much easier way to test savings is to take a twelve-month period, look at cash and credit card balances at the beginning and end, check for any inflows from gifts or other non-salary items, and then measure the change. Did the cash accounts go up or did the credit cards go up? That is your savings/dis-savings for that year.

Rather than doing a budget to adjust behavior, force a change. You can do that by removing money from your discretionary spending by contributing the maximum to a 401(k) plan, by an auto debit that put funds into an investment account, and other auto payments. If your credit card balances go up, then you have to make a decision to alter behavior, such as cutting entertainment, or decide to delay goals (retire later, no new car now, etc.)

How does cash flow relate to debts? Managing your debt means getting the lowest after-tax interest rate so that you pay as much principle with each payment to pay off the loan as quickly as possible. You can deduct the interest paid on a mortgage and an equity line of credit debt. You can deduct up to $2,500 of student loan debt. But you cannot deduct the interest on most other debt, unless used for your business (watch for a post on side hussles).

Planning for the ever-changing Medicaid rules

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The Affordable Care Act fills in current gaps in coverage for the poorest Americans by creating a minimum Medicaid income eligibility level across the country. Beginning in January 2014, individuals under 65 years of age with income below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) will be eligible for Medicaid.

For many of our clients, Medicaid coverage is not an option. Nonetheless, there are still important steps that one can take to guard assets, protect your estate, and prepare for the possibility that you or your spouse will need long-term care: purchase long-term care insurance or self-insure.

Long-term care insurance generally covers home care, assisted living, adult daycare, respite care, hospice care, nursing home and Alzheimer’s facilities. From a tax perspective, premiums paid on long-term care insurance product may be eligible for an income tax deduction and benefits paid from a long-term care contract are generally excluded from income.

Self-insuring fits if your investment assets are sufficient to earmark a portion of your net-worth to cover possible long-term care needs. Before you decide, keep in mind that, once a change of health occurs, insurance may not be available. As always with financial planning, the best time to think about your long-term care strategy is before you need it.

Year-end tax planning – how to minimize the total tax paid in 2014 and 2015

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This year, when projecting your potential taxes, you have to factor in the changes from 2013 that affect 2014 and 2015, which can be daunting. That is:

  • You have the standard plan: “defer income/accelerate deductions unless you are in the alternative minimum tax (“AMT”)” (see below).
  • But then you also have the new 3.8% surtax, with rules that do not play well with the others!
  • Finally, the tax rates changed again for 2014 (see the table below).

If any of this is not clear, please ask questions.

Can you act?
To make your review of 2014 planning less daunting, take these separate steps: (1) ask “can you act?” – determine what you can do reviewing the “what can you act on” list below; then (2), if you can act on any of the items in 2014 or 2015 – moving from one year to the other, or delaying further – then ask “what impact does your acting have?” ; and finally, ask “what happens if I take all of these actions?” – determine the impact of all possible moves in concert, especially vis a vis the AMT. Preparing tax projections for both years is the best way to find out how to act most effectively to reduce taxes. It permits you to see which moves have the best results in which years, so that the total tax paid in the two years is minimized.

What can you act on?
Wages – Can you defer or accelerate between years or even convert income into deferred income, such as stock options, or income to be received at retirement? Can you convert compensation into tax-free fringes?

AMT – the AMT is the 28% flat rate calculated differently than the marginal rate of up to 39.6%. If your deductions bring the regular tax down too low, the AMT kicks in, so that the deductions are wasted and need to be moved to another year, if possible. Otherwise, you will want to increase income for that year to “pull yourself out of the AMT.” The AMT exemptions amounts for 2014 are $52,800 for individuals and $82,100 for married couples filing jointly.

The 3.8% Medicare surtax – This affects all income for 2014 and beyond, but only to the extent of the lesser of (a) net investment income or (b) the excess of modified adjusted gross income (“AGI”) over the threshold, which is $250,000 ($200,000 for single taxpayers). Investment income includes interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties and passive rental income but excludes pensions and IRA distributions. The 3.8% surtax must be covered with your withholdings and estimated payments to avoid penalties and interest. See our post at Update on the impact of the 3.8% Medicare surtax .

Standard Deduction – up in 2014 to $6,200 for single taxpayers and married taxpayers filing separately, $12,400 for married couples filing jointly, and $9,100 for heads of household.

Schedule A itemized deductions – can you shift income and deductions for the maximum benefit, given the income-based deduction thresholds?

  • //Miscellaneous// – only the amount above 2% is allowed on Schedule A. Miscellaneous expenses include items such as unreimbursed employee expenses, tax preparation fees and investment-related expenses.
  • //Other Deductions// – certain itemized deductions are phased out once your AGI exceeds $305,050 for married filing jointly ($254,200 for singles), so that your itemized deductions are reduced by 3%, on up to 80% of the deduction, for the excess of your AGI above $305,050 ($254,200 for single filers).

N.B. – (a) many of the deductions affected by the phase-out are the ones not allowed in the AMT calculation and (b) investment interest is not subject to reduction on Schedule A.

Schedule C income and expenses – can you defer or accelerate between years so that the net income falls in the best year?

Investment income – can you shift interest, dividends, and capital gains? The tax rate on capital gains was as low as 0% in 2013, with a cap at 15%. However, that cap went up to 20% in 2014 for AGI over $457,600, for married filing jointly ($406,750 for single; $12,150 for trusts and estates). You net losses against gains, with up to $3,000 of an excess loss over gains being allowed to shelter other income and losses you do not use carry to the next year.

Notes

  • (a) capital gains include the sale of a primary residence (above the $250,000 per owner shelter);
  • (b) if you sell to recognize a loss, and want to hold the stock again, be aware of the wash sale rule which bars recognition of the loss if you re-purchase substantially the same security within 30 days, even if it is in different accounts you own, including repurchasing in your IRA;
  • (c) an installment sale that spreads gain over several years; a like-kind exchanges involve investment property, which means you can swap, rent and later convert to residential; and
  • (d) purchasing mutual funds late in the year can lead to dividend and capital gains distributions where the mutual fund price changes but your investment does not, such that you have no economic gain for the distribution on which you pay taxes – you are effectively pre-paying taxes because you did not purchase after the declared distribution date.

Investment income also includes passive income and losses (rental property, limited partnerships and LLCs). If you can re-characterize any activities as material participation rather than passive by grouping together to meet the material participation rules, you have a one-time election to regroup (see final regulations on when and how you elect issued early in 2014).

Roth conversions – can you convert an IRA to a Roth IRA, so that future distributions are not subject to tax? Be sure to pay the tax with funds outside of the IRA so that the conversion has maximum benefit.

Stock options – can you exercise a non-qualified option (“NQ”), which is treated as ordinary income, or instead exercise ISOs, which can be investment income (but create an AMT)? Disqualifying an ISO converts it into a NQ, so that you have control over the type and timing of the income.

Required minimum distributions (“RMD”) – If you turned age 70½ in 2014, you can take a distribution in 2014 instead of next year to decrease your 2015 income – but the IRA distribution is not subject to the surtax so this would be done for the Schedule A phase outs (see below).
A direct distribution from an IRA to a charity allows you to give up to $100,000 (per person) of your RMD and lower your AGI for purposes of determining taxes.

Estate taxes – Federal Estate Tax Exemption for estates of decedents who die in 2014 is $5,340,000, up from $5,250,000 for 2013.

Gifting – can you shift assets by gifting within the $14,000 per year/per person annual gift tax exclusion, or even by filing a gift tax return to use some of your unified credit now, so that income is in the lower tax bracket of new owner? You may want to combine this estate tax savings strategy with income tax savings ideas so that you shift an income-producing asset to someone in a lower tax bracket.

Inherited IRA – be sure to divide an inherited IRA among beneficiaries to get the maximum life expectancy for RMD calculations for each.

If you made it this far, I hope you have a good idea of your 2014-2015 tax plan, or else a set of questions to ask so we can help devise one for you! //Please contact us//.

Federal Tax Rates for 2014:
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