In the new bill....

[taxea]

Solomon thanks for the site

[Bees Knees]

If my client purchases a new bike in Jan 2009 for $300 does he get to claim $20 per month for every month during the year that he commutes?

Its a tax free fringe benefit. If the employer reimburses the employee for the cost of a new bike, and the employee commutes to work on the new bike, up to $20 per bike commuting month can be excluded from income.

Bike commuting months are another issue. Can you imagine the regulations needed to determine what are appropriate bike commuting months?

[Bees Knees]

There is also a new carbon dioxide sequestration credit. You get $20 for every metric ton of carbon dioxide you capture and send to the recycler. I wonder how much carbon dioxide you can exhale every year? How do you capture it so you can send it off to the recycler bin? Is there some kind of gas mask we can all use with a carbon dioxide tank on our back?

[Bees Knees]

There is also an exclusion from the heavy truck tax if you reduce the amount of time you let it sit and idle.

[Bees Knees]

These are not jokes, BTW. They are in the new emergency $700 billion spending bill that we were all told needed to be passed right now, or our country would go down the tubes.

[Bees Knees]

There is also an exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.

[New York Enrolled Agent]

CCH gives (as usual) a good summary.

http://tax.cchgroup.com/Legislation/2008-Emergency-Economic-Stabilization-Act.pdf

[Larmil]

Nyea

Thanks for the link.

[DTS]

These are not jokes, BTW. They are in the new emergency $700 billion spending bill that we were all told needed to be passed right now, or our country would go down the tubes.

Does anyone know how all of us can stop this nonsense? Voting these idiots out will not do it. No President will ever have a line-item veto. Voters are not well enough informed, don't know when they are being lied to and are easily swayed by a big smile and pat on the back.

Seriously, any good ideas?

D

[Bees Knees]

They are also abating any tax, penalties, and interest you owe as of 10/3/2008 due to AMT on Incentive Stock Options for any year prior to 2008. However, if you already paid AMT tax on the Incentive Stock Options as of 10/3/2008, you get 50% of the penalties and interest you paid as a credit for 2008 and 2009, but nothing for the AMT tax you may have actually paid.

So in other words, you get away with not paying the tax, interest, and penalties, unless you actually paid the tax, in which case you get 50% of the interest and penalties back, but not the tax itself.

Is that rule clear???

[David1980]

And it's no wonder why people do the "wrong thing" and make the "wrong choice" so often. If you make a responsible decision or pay what you owe you get punished for it while those who make poor choices and get themselves into situations they need help out of get free money thrown at them.

Bailouts, the AMT tax credit (should provide 100% credit + interest!), etc...

[Bees Knees]

Retraction on AMT credit.

The refundable AMT credit has now been increased to 50% of the unused minimum tax credit from previous years. Thus, theoretically you would get your AMT tax paid on an ISO back within 2 years now, even if your tax liability is otherwise zero (since it is a refundable credit). So my previous post about getting penalized for actually paying AMT is moot. If you didn't pay the AMT on your ISO, its abated. If you did, you get it back within 2 years, plus interest, plus penalties.