Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

Michaell

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

@snakeweasel - you ever recommend to any of your clients that they buy a car to help with their tax situation?

Just got back from our CPA, who did just that. Preferably a PHEV or full EV, for the tax credits, and run the costs through the business.

Nope, haven't done that since most of my clients wouldn't be able to take the full tax credit and couldn't be able to run it through a business.

Thanks!

Not to mention that while it might save you money in taxes the overall cash flow might be in the negative. In other words you might end up in a situation where you save X dollars in taxes but you're spending X+Y dollars to do it.

Right. She mentioned cash flow as well. I need some time to process all of this.

andres3

qbrozen said:

andres3 said:

$240 for 4 new Red APR Ignition coils. Glad I don't have a V8. Problem solved.

Dang. I spent half that for 6 coils for the Escape.

But did that include someone else installing them for you?

driver100

Michaell said:

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

@snakeweasel - you ever recommend to any of your clients that they buy a car to help with their tax situation?

Just got back from our CPA, who did just that. Preferably a PHEV or full EV, for the tax credits, and run the costs through the business.

Nope, haven't done that since most of my clients wouldn't be able to take the full tax credit and couldn't be able to run it through a business.

Thanks!

I haven't followed the whole conversation but can't you write off cars if you use them for the business? If you use the car to buy and deliver supplies etc then you could calculate how much time the car is used for business purposes. We bought lots of stuff...."for the business", computers, office equipment (used at home but business related". A portion for gas. That was an advantage of having a business....you can write stuff off........oh oh, I have given JMonroe some ideas! I can see it now....his new book, "Flipping Homes and Using it as a Tax Advantage".

btw, I heard that the profit on flipping homes has not been as great lately, the cost of buying a home is high, and material and supplies have all increased in price.

qbrozen

@andres3 said:
But did that include someone else installing them for you?

Heck no. If yours did, then good deal. They’d prob charge at least 2 hrs labor on mine since the intake needs to come off to get the rear 3.

kyfdx

@Michaell

Nothing wrong with restructuring things you do already, to save on your taxes.
Taking on expenses that you wouldn't otherwise, to lower your tax bill? That seldom pays off.

Also, putting a vehicle in your company name, without actually using it for business? I know that happens all the time, but better hope you don't get audited.

snakeweasel

@driver100 said:
I haven't followed the whole conversation but can't you write off cars if you use them for the business? If you use the car to buy and deliver supplies etc then you could calculate how much time the car is used for business purposes. We bought lots of stuff...."for the business", computers, office equipment (used at home but business related". A portion for gas. That was an advantage of having a business....you can write stuff off........oh oh, I have given JMonroe some ideas! I can see it now....his new book, "Flipping Homes and Using it as a Tax Advantage".

btw, I heard that the profit on flipping homes has not been as great lately, the cost of buying a home is high, and material and supplies have all increased in price.

In the U.S. you have the option to use actual costs or a per milage rate (currently 56 cents a mile) for business usage. So if you drive a total of 10,000 miles and use your car for business 1,000 miles you can write off 10% of your expenses or $560 based on milage. Most times the milage rate is better plus record keeping is easier. Leased cars must use the standard milage rate.

Now if you take the actual expenses the IRS may limit what you can expense, do you really need that half million dollar Ford GT to make deliveries?

This only applies to businesses you actually own (self employed on a schedule C). If you use your car for business purposes as an employee and don't get reimbursed you're out of luck.

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

@snakeweasel - you ever recommend to any of your clients that they buy a car to help with their tax situation?

Just got back from our CPA, who did just that. Preferably a PHEV or full EV, for the tax credits, and run the costs through the business.

Nope, haven't done that since most of my clients wouldn't be able to take the full tax credit and couldn't be able to run it through a business.

Thanks!

Not to mention that while it might save you money in taxes the overall cash flow might be in the negative. In other words you might end up in a situation where you save X dollars in taxes but you're spending X+Y dollars to do it.

Right. She mentioned cash flow as well. I need some time to process all of this.

Damn, buyers remorse already.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Michaell said:

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

@snakeweasel - you ever recommend to any of your clients that they buy a car to help with their tax situation?

Just got back from our CPA, who did just that. Preferably a PHEV or full EV, for the tax credits, and run the costs through the business.

Nope, haven't done that since most of my clients wouldn't be able to take the full tax credit and couldn't be able to run it through a business.

Thanks!

I haven't followed the whole conversation but can't you write off cars if you use them for the business? If you use the car to buy and deliver supplies etc then you could calculate how much time the car is used for business purposes. We bought lots of stuff...."for the business", computers, office equipment (used at home but business related". A portion for gas. That was an advantage of having a business....you can write stuff off........oh oh, I have given JMonroe some ideas! I can see it now....his new book, "Flipping Homes and Using it as a Tax Advantage".

btw, I heard that the profit on flipping homes has not been as great lately, the cost of buying a home is high, and material and supplies have all increased in price.

In the US there’s also section 179 deduction where you can fully depreciate equipment in the year of purchase instead of over a number of years. I used that a few times to offset taxes on the business.

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

@Michaell

Nothing wrong with restructuring things you do already, to save on your taxes.
Taking on expenses that you wouldn't otherwise, to lower your tax bill? That seldom pays off.

Also, putting a vehicle in your company name, without actually using it for business? I know that happens all the time, but better hope you don't get audited.

You’d be surprised how easy it is to get away with that.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
You’d be surprised how easy it is to get away with that.

jmonroe

I’m not surprised. How can they possibly prove you DON’t use it for biz?

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

You’d be surprised how easy it is to get away with that.

jmonroe

I’m not surprised. How can they possibly prove you DON’t use it for biz?

You have to prove use, they don't have to disprove it.

qbrozen

@kyfdx said:
You have to prove use, they don't have to disprove it.

And how do you do that? Pics of you driving it in a uniform?

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

@kyfdx said:

You have to prove use, they don't have to disprove it.

And how do you do that? Pics of you driving it in a uniform?

If you use a vehicle partially for business, you are required to keep a mileage log.
If your business is Forums Moderation, then having a car for "business" might raise a red flag.

Pretty sure that the taxpayer saying: "Prove I didn't use it for business", will not end well.

28firefighter

They can also ask for data to correlate to your mileage log if they think it isn’t accurate.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

You’d be surprised how easy it is to get away with that.

jmonroe

I’m not surprised. How can they possibly prove you DON’t use it for biz?

Only if you’re foolish enough to be honest.

When I bought my 86’ Toyota pickup for farm use I only declared 75% business use so if I occasionally took it to the grocery store I wouldn’t be violating the rules. As it turned out business use was about 99%.

Anyhoo, I got audited and the stern woman dinged me because I declared 99% actual business use when I had initially said 75%. I asked if I could change the percentage in light of actual facts and she said no, once declared it could never be changed. This sounded fishy to me but I was sick with a 103 fever at the time so I paid an extra $400 in taxes.

Experiences like that must create a lot of jmonroes.

roadburner

We were asked to substantiate our charitable donations in 2003, IIRC. I mailed the IRS a one inch thick envelope of receipts; I've heard that when that happens and you have the documentation the IRS tends to leave you alone for some time.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

You’d be surprised how easy it is to get away with that.

jmonroe

I’m not surprised. How can they possibly prove you DON’t use it for biz?

That’s right but I don’t remember you enrolling in one of my seminars.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

Michaell said:

snakeweasel said:

Michaell said:

@snakeweasel - you ever recommend to any of your clients that they buy a car to help with their tax situation?

Just got back from our CPA, who did just that. Preferably a PHEV or full EV, for the tax credits, and run the costs through the business.

Nope, haven't done that since most of my clients wouldn't be able to take the full tax credit and couldn't be able to run it through a business.

Thanks!

I haven't followed the whole conversation but can't you write off cars if you use them for the business? If you use the car to buy and deliver supplies etc then you could calculate how much time the car is used for business purposes. We bought lots of stuff...."for the business", computers, office equipment (used at home but business related". A portion for gas. That was an advantage of having a business....you can write stuff off........oh oh, I have given JMonroe some ideas! I can see it now....his new book, "Flipping Homes and Using it as a Tax Advantage".

btw, I heard that the profit on flipping homes has not been as great lately, the cost of buying a home is high, and material and supplies have all increased in price.

We bought flip #4 a good while ago maybe 6 months ago because the price was too good to pass up. Since we were heavily involved with flip # 3 we just let flip #4 sit dormant. The taxes were very very low so no loss doing that. But materials for flip #4 will be a little more than material costs in the past but those costs will be passed onto the buyer and unless the bottom drops out of market for houses we should be OK. Neither my Son or I can think of a situation where it still wouldn’t be at least moderately profitable but the only way to prove that is when it sells.

However, I was all for being pretty creative with the total cost of the materials bought for flip #4. Like this:

Just a little explanation before I start — My Son has a pro account at Home Depot that gives him a discounted price when he buys many thousands of dollars worth of material at one time. Home Depot sends large orders like this to be quoted through what they call their “Bid Room”. Going in after that large dollar amount for a few hundred dollars worth of material isn’t high enough for the Bid Room but I can still get my 10% Military Discount on any purchase at any time. Not as good as the Bid Room but still a worthwhile savings. Being the nice guy that he is my Son has placed a of couple large orders for friends that have done some bathroom remodeling on his account to save them some money. Home Depot doesn’t care how much he buys because they’re making sales. Not being one to pass up the opportunity of higher business expenses, I said to my Son that he should just claim those purchases as expenses for flip #4. He gave me a disgusted look and said, “do you really think the IRS is going to believe that this small 3 bedroom house has 6 bathrooms”? I told him we’ll never know until we try. Nope, he ain’t willing to try that.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
That’s right but I don’t remember you enrolling in one of my seminars.

jmonroe

I’m ahead of the creative accounting curve. Why pay for the seminar when I can get the bootleg for a fraction

explorerx4

Converting VHS to DVD is going to cost you.

explorerx4

Decided what was one of the long gone kid's bedroom to tone down the color in prep for putting our house on the market and the horrible job when it was painted it in the current color.
Went to Lowes and bought some paint. They have six price levels.
I bought the 4 (Valspar Signature) out of 6, 1 being the best.
Seems to be working well other than needing 2 coats.
I went to hang a mirror back up on the wall, then said to myself, What are you doing? We are selling the house.

Michaell

If you'd bought a better quality paint, you'd only need one coat.

venture

Michaell said:

If you'd bought a better quality paint, you'd only need one coat.

...and that's when the fight started.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

Decided what was one of the long gone kid's bedroom to tone down the color in prep for putting our house on the market and the horrible job when it was painted it in the current color.
Went to Lowes and bought some paint. They have six price levels.
I bought the 4 (Valspar Signature) out of 6, 1 being the best.
Seems to be working well other than needing 2 coats.
I went to hang a mirror back up on the wall, then said to myself, What are you doing? We are selling the house.

We have bought the best grade Home Depot paint almost exclusively so far but we have not been satisfied with how it covers with one coat. My Son decided to try the best grade Glidden paint at Home Depot just to see how that went for one room. It’s a little cheaper but not one bit worse as far as we can tell.

I don’t like painting and I’m willing to spend more (within reason) for a one coat coverage paint but don’t know what brand that would be.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

We were asked to substantiate our charitable donations in 2003, IIRC. I mailed the IRS a one inch thick envelope of receipts; I've heard that when that happens and you have the documentation the IRS tends to leave you alone for some time.

Once the IRS wanted $2000 more than I had figured. I sent them photocopies of the section in the 1040 instruction manual that proved me right. They left me alone.

explorerx4

I paid $37 for a gallon(plus tax). The next step up(#3) was another $7. The top level was way more.
Putting on an extra coat isn't a big deal for me, I have the time.
The post was more about me being a dummy and putting stuff back on the wall when we are going to move.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

If you'd bought a better quality paint, you'd only need one coat.

These days when I buy paint I tell them that I want paint that will last 100 years and can be cleaned with a flamethrower. I’m too old to do two coats.

driver100

So, I am going to spend the night trying to sleep a bit....at Tampa International Airport.
My plane departed the gate about 30 minutes late.
We sat on the runway for 3 1/2 hours. Apparently there were local rain storms and wild weather North of us.
When they reached the allowable time they could keep us on the runway they dropped us off at the gate.
They told us there would be another flight in a few hours.
After a little more than an hour they said the crew was at their limit so they couldn't fly again.
They gave me a flight for tomorrow.
Every hotel is booked as no planes could land or take-off. One lady said Southwest also had computer breakdowns.
My flight was on Air Canada....who's motto is "We aren't Happy Unless We Can Make You Unhappy"
Was't there a movie about a guy at the airport like this........

Michaell

driver100 said:

So, I am going to spend the night trying to sleep a bit....at Tampa International Airport.
My plane departed the gate about 30 minutes late.
We sat on the runway for 3 1/2 hours. Apparently there were local rain storms and wild weather North of us.
When they reached the allowable time they could keep us on the runway they dropped us off at the gate.
They told us there would be another flight in a few hours.
After a little more than an hour they said the crew was at their limit so they couldn't fly again.
They gave me a flight for tomorrow.
Every hotel is booked as no planes could land or take-off. One lady said Southwest also had computer breakdowns.
My flight was on Air Canada....who's motto is "We aren't Happy Unless We Can Make You Unhappy"
Was't there a movie about a guy at the airport like this........

"The Terminal", with Tom Hanks

So sorry to hear about your travel issues.

I saw a note from SWA about their tech issues affecting their flight schedule.

driver100

@Michaell That's the one....I feel like him.
I thought all these people getting stranded at airports only happened on the news, or in movies.

stickguy

Paint never covers in one coat. Most of the labor is in prep. Pound foolish to not throw a 2nd coat on.

explorerx4

One time when we went to Disney for the kids dance performance, we all got booked on some cheapo airline.
We boarded on time, but then had to pull over and we watched plane after plane take off before us for an hour.
At one point I asked the stewardess for a pillow. She snapped "We don't have any". OK.
When we got to Atlanta, the terminal had pillows everywhere. I guess lots of people had gotten stuck overnight.
I even wrote a song about it, which I kept to myself. The ValuJet Blues.

Sandman6472

We had a line of somewhat nasty weather, lighning & thunder with heavy rain, go threw the Boca Raton/Coral Springs area about an hour ago. Rain was so hard I went to look out the front door. All quiet now and betting that was the line of storms that passed through Tampa earlier. Been dry lately so we can use the extra rain.

28firefighter

@explorerx4 said:
One time when we went to Disney for the kids dance performance, we all got booked on some cheapo airline.
We boarded on time, but then had to pull over and we watched plane after plane take off before us for an hour.
At one point I asked the stewardess for a pillow. She snapped "We don't have any". OK.
When we got to Atlanta, the terminal had pillows everywhere. I guess lots of people had gotten stuck overnight.
I even wrote a song about it, which I kept to myself. The ValuJet Blues.

ValuJet aka AirTran (AirTrash) aka Southwest.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

So, I am going to spend the night trying to sleep a bit....at Tampa International Airport.
My plane departed the gate about 30 minutes late.
We sat on the runway for 3 1/2 hours. Apparently there were local rain storms and wild weather North of us.
When they reached the allowable time they could keep us on the runway they dropped us off at the gate.
They told us there would be another flight in a few hours.
After a little more than an hour they said the crew was at their limit so they couldn't fly again.
They gave me a flight for tomorrow.
Every hotel is booked as no planes could land or take-off. One lady said Southwest also had computer breakdowns.
My flight was on Air Canada....who's motto is "We aren't Happy Unless We Can Make You Unhappy"
Was't there a movie about a guy at the airport like this........

I remember coming back from my niece’s wedding in Key West and getting stuck in the Atlanta airport overnight. It was like going from paradise to purgatory. We went from sleeping in a private luxury bungalow to laying on a dirty floor.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

So, I am going to spend the night trying to sleep a bit....at Tampa International Airport.
My plane departed the gate about 30 minutes late.
We sat on the runway for 3 1/2 hours. Apparently there were local rain storms and wild weather North of us.
When they reached the allowable time they could keep us on the runway they dropped us off at the gate.
They told us there would be another flight in a few hours.
After a little more than an hour they said the crew was at their limit so they couldn't fly again.
They gave me a flight for tomorrow.
Every hotel is booked as no planes could land or take-off. One lady said Southwest also had computer breakdowns.
My flight was on Air Canada....who's motto is "We aren't Happy Unless We Can Make You Unhappy"
Was't there a movie about a guy at the airport like this........

I remember coming back from my niece’s wedding in Key West and getting stuck in the Atlanta airport overnight. It was like going from paradise to purgatory. We went from sleeping in a private luxury bungalow to laying on a dirty floor.

Yah, Like how am I supposed to sleep and watch my luggage?

driver100

@Sandman6472 That was the string of showers that went through here too. People say Florida needed rain....but, why today!!!!!!

cdnpinhead

driver100 said:

So, I am going to spend the night trying to sleep a bit....at Tampa International Airport.

If you actually enjoyed driving a car cross-country you wouldn't have to put up with any of this crap.

Just sayin'.

driver100

Should I reply or should I not?
Nah, much better things to do with my time.

Well, I hope this sucker takes off at 4:15 today because I can't take another day of this. Roam around the airport, people watch, try to sleep in a chair, at least I have my laptop so I have internet. Oh, I have my book too and coffee and food.

I wasn't going to say anything but some might want to compare...2 1/2 days of driving compared to less than 3 hours flying time. It probably costs more to drive than to fly. Why would I drive when I have a car here anyway. And if I did drive I'd be adding about 3000 miles to get here and back plus Florida miles to the car....about another 4000, 7000 a year and the E400 would have a lot more maintenance and would get traded sooner.......but yeh, driving down I-75 would be a lot of fun. That's why God invented airplanes.

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

We have bought the best grade Home Depot paint almost exclusively so far but we have not been satisfied with how it covers with one coat. My Son decided to try the best grade Glidden paint at Home Depot just to see how that went for one room. It’s a little cheaper but not one bit worse as far as we can tell.

I don’t like painting and I’m willing to spend more (within reason) for a one coat coverage paint but don’t know what brand that would be.

jmonroe

I have read that HD paint is uniformly subpar. The Behr brand they promote is their in-house brand and supposedly overpriced in terms of its quality. I have never bought it though so I have no first-hand experience.

When I have painted in the past I had consistently good results with Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams higher grades. For a while Pratt & Lambert was considered very good paint but I have not heard much about them in recent years.

ab348

stickguy said:

Paint never covers in one coat. Most of the labor is in prep. Pound foolish to not throw a 2nd coat on.

If you're going to be living in the house for a while, yes. If you are selling, you just want the 6-month special gray paint flippers buy.

Michaell

ab348 said:

jmonroe1 said:

We have bought the best grade Home Depot paint almost exclusively so far but we have not been satisfied with how it covers with one coat. My Son decided to try the best grade Glidden paint at Home Depot just to see how that went for one room. It’s a little cheaper but not one bit worse as far as we can tell.

I don’t like painting and I’m willing to spend more (within reason) for a one coat coverage paint but don’t know what brand that would be.

jmonroe

I have read that HD paint is uniformly subpar. The Behr brand they promote is their in-house brand and supposedly overpriced in terms of its quality. I have never bought it though so I have no first-hand experience.

When I have painted in the past I had consistently good results with Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams higher grades. For a while Pratt & Lambert was considered very good paint but I have not heard much about them in recent years.

Funny, we've used Behr paint exclusively when we've repainted - both interior and exterior, and we've been pretty happy with the results.

We've talked about repainting the interior of our current house - it's currently got the builder-grade paint on it that is coming up on 6 years old. But, we aren't sure how much longer we'll be here, so we've been on the fence about the cost and inconvenience of getting it done.

driver100

"Talking about paint is about as interesting as watching paint dry"

Sorry, I couldn't resist, maybe this sitting in an airport is getting to me.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

"Talking about paint is about as interesting as watching paint dry"

Sorry, I couldn't resist, maybe this sitting in an airport is getting to me.

Nah, you were long gone before yesterday.

Hope today is better for you. We’d hate like hell to hear you go off again.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@driver100 said:
Yah, Like how am I supposed to sleep and watch my luggage?

You sleep ON your luggage, of course

driver100

qbrozen said:

@driver100 said:

Yah, Like how am I supposed to sleep and watch my luggage?

You sleep ON your luggage, of course

Smart. That's what I did....kind of. I put my medium size suitcase and smaller carry-on on their sides. I got in the chair, used a jacket as a pillow, sprawled out and put my legs on top of the suitcases. Worked like a charm, Rick Steves could do a segment with me....the Weary Traveler.

kyfdx

driver100 said:

qbrozen said:

@driver100 said:

Yah, Like how am I supposed to sleep and watch my luggage?

You sleep ON your luggage, of course

Smart. That's what I did....kind of. I put my medium size suitcase and smaller carry-on on their sides. I got in the chair, used a jacket as a pillow, sprawled out and put my legs on top of the suitcases. Worked like a charm, Rick Steves could do a segment with me....the Weary Traveler.

Don't you own housing in Tampa? Why not just go home, until the next day?

Sandman6472

Back in 1967 at the end of December, we were taking a teen tour to Puerto Rico from our home just north of New York City. Snowed like a mother the night before and the roads were covered but somehow our friends dad got us to Kennedy airport on time. Turns out, all flights were canceled till that evening so here we are, about 16 kids with 2 sets of parents in charge of us all. We kids had a blast running around the airport and think after like 13 hours, we were able to take off.
Sometimes one just needs to grin & bear it when it comes to flying & mother nature. She surely controls everything and all we can do is wait it out sometimes.

driver100

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

qbrozen said:

@driver100 said:

Yah, Like how am I supposed to sleep and watch my luggage?

You sleep ON your luggage, of course

Smart. That's what I did....kind of. I put my medium size suitcase and smaller carry-on on their sides. I got in the chair, used a jacket as a pillow, sprawled out and put my legs on top of the suitcases. Worked like a charm, Rick Steves could do a segment with me....the Weary Traveler.

Don't you own housing in Tampa? Why not just go home, until the next day?

That was my original plan.....it would have been $130 bucks both ways. There is only one limo service in our area and he wouldn't take me. I had my Canadian cell with me and didn't think I would need my U.S. cell, as it is I had MrsD100s tablet and my tablet, plus a laptop and Cdn cell,,,,how many phones can I carry? What will security think I am doing? Then it got late and I was too tired to coordinate it....and by the time I got home....and no food around, possibly no internet or cable TV.....it would have been about as draining....not to mention getting things going again and then shutting it down in a few hours. If I did that right away it would have been the best plan.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

"Talking about paint is about as interesting as watching paint dry"

Sorry, I couldn't resist, maybe this sitting in an airport is getting to me.

Nah, you were long gone before yesterday.

Hope today is better for you. We’d hate like hell to hear you go off again.

jmonroe

So far....they haven't canceled my flight and it looks like an OK day for flying. I'm actually getting used to Starbucks coffee. I just got a tiny sandwich at the fancy place....$9.99, It's like sticker shock for me....I remember when a real hamburger was 25 cents and FFs were 10 cents, and were a lot better than this cold sandwich that was mostly a bun.