schedule a - donations

[JoshinNC]

I could prepare Romney's return

I agree. Questioning someone's level of experience is pointless. Everyone started, at one time, with NO experience, even those who now have 40 or 50 years experience.

Even the most experienced tax preparer may have some pretty basic questions in some areas. How many of us could prepare Mitt Romney's tax return and keep his tax down to about 15% legally?

and PresBo's too. Neither are all that difficult. I've reviewed both for each year that has been made public (I'm a tax return voyeur I guess) and there is nothing on either one that I haven't had to do for a client before.

[JoshinNC]

Is there a special form for "carried interest"?

Do you actually believe it's that simple?

There were a lot more gimmicks than just LTCG and dividends that kept his taxes low.

Are you up to speed on the "carried interest exception?"

Romney has saved a lot of money over the years with the carried interest exception, a loophole that allows private equity managers—i.e., the people who run private equity funds, not the people who invest in them—to treat part of what they're paid in fees as investment income, even though they didn't necessarily invest the money. Often, this results in people like Romney paying a 15 percent tax rate on income that would otherwise be taxed at 35 percent. They pretend their labor income is really investment income by calling it 'carried interest' and paying at a low rate.

If there is, I missed it. "Carried interest" is not an actual item, it's just a way of politically charging the discussion of a fund manager's ownership share in their fund. Are you up to speed on the "carried interest exception"? Can you explain it succinctly so that your clients actually understand what it means so they can make an informed decision on it? Have you explained this to your clients? " People like Romney" paying a 15 percent tax rate on CAPITAL GAIN income was the LAW at the time. CAPITAL GAIN income was not taxed at 35 percent, then or now. Ordinary income, which Romney reported during the time he actually was a Bain employee and was managing these funds, may have been taxed at this higher rate, but the CAPITAL GAIN income he reported in '10 and '11 were taxed at the same 15% you or I would have paid (unless, of course, you were in the 0% CAPITAL GAIN bracket. Speaking of that, was it ok that some people, maybe your clients, maybe you yourself, were able to pay $0 in tax on CAPITAL GAINS for a few years?).