Useless Conversation

[bhodi]

That's disturbingly vague.

[Paelos]

That's disturbingly vague.

I make my living maximizing opportunities in the disturbingly vague.

[Johny Cee]

Since we're back on this, I have to ask - if $1 isn't an appropriate amount, what *is*?

To have a legal contract, you need to have some form of "consideration" (money) exchanged.  So, legally, you have transferred the property.

Tax law requires that a transaction has to have "economic substance"...  especially in the case of related parties.  If the transaction isn't for tax avoidance purposes (which is a big no-no), then what you're looking at is picking up the fair market value of the property as some form of gain.

That's disturbingly vague.

Really, the art is in structuring things so that the deal is beneficial to your clients, while at the same time, if the IRS comes in to challenge (a reputable firm always assumes you're going to catch an audit) that you have some reasonable position to stand on.

Trust me, it's happened often enough that it isn't worth it for us to be too aggressive.

[Paelos]

It's not worth it to be aggressive in a time when you know the government is running low on funds, either. But yes, Johnny Cee's right.

[Sky]

It means you're a normal 501c3. If you work at a 501c3 non-profit, your loans qualify.

We're 501c3 non-profit and I got the same message.

Dude.  It's a 0% long-term loan.

Right on, I'm cool with that part. If they didn't then remove the repayment requirement from the majority of the "credit" eligibility term (09/10). That's the part that gets me steamy, the new bathroom and tools I got with the "credit" (loan version) are great and you can't beat the deal on the loan. Unless you don't have to repay it :p

Iirc, the eligibility began with April 08 closings, no? I remember thinking I was just under the wire, though I do bow to your professional knowledge! Speaking of which, what are the employee limits on that health insurance credit? The library can really use anything we can get!

[Nerf]

Fun little thing I learned today. The government has a plan to forgive your student loans if you plan on working in public service for 10 years.

Unfortunately for me, they don't consider being a university professor as "public service".  If I'm wrong, please send me a link.  I have well over $100k I'd like to have forgiven.

Search where you work here: http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/

If you're on that list, your loans would qualify. There are obviously hoops and catches, and I would have to be your CPA to go into them, but it's a good thing to bring up with whomever does your work.

What if you've already worked in public service for 10 years?  I know Moki still owes a hefty chunk on his student loans, having them forgiven for having to deal with the texas public school system would be pretty awesome.

[Abagadro]

Another mortgage refinance at 3.875 for ten years, closing tomorrow.  Rock on.

In other news, we plan on advertising our son as eight years old so that we don't have to pay the ridiculous rate for renting a booster seat with a car while in Colorado next week.

You can check a booster seat on the airplane and they won't charge you a bag fee (at least on Delta and I think others).

[Merusk]

Off to the Windy City in a few hours.  Let's hope it's worth it.

[Mosesandstick]

Good luck.

[ghost]

Hope it goes well, Merusk.  Good luck.

[Paelos]

What if you've already worked in public service for 10 years?  I know Moki still owes a hefty chunk on his student loans, having them forgiven for having to deal with the texas public school system would be pretty awesome.

No, the 10 years started in 2007, nothing before qualifies.

[SnakeCharmer]

Charlie Sheen has taken a high speed train to crazy town   

[Merusk]

Goddamnit, don't you hate when you've lost your laptop cord and it's not charged. I'll have to do without a computer and e-mail/ web access for the next ~48 hours. /twitch.    I hope the wife's DS gets me by.

Charlie Sheen has taken a high speed train to crazy town   

I've been wondering exactly WHAT he's on to have been spouting some of the shit I've seen.   A warlock? What?

[Rasix]

So, yesterday we talk to our doctor about why we were charged $700 total for 2 doctor's visit.

Dr.: "We're not in network."
Us: "You took a $10 copay from us.  What was that for?"
Dr.:  "Well, we kept billing the insurance and they've kept paying."
Us:  "Shouldn't you have told us you weren't in network anymore?  How long haven't you been in our network?"
Dr.: "Two years.  And no it isn't our responsibility?"

I'm not sure how we were supposed to know this, since we've been paying only our copays and not seeing any other bills for this time period.  The doctor is even still shown in the provider search on the insurer's webpage.  I can only imagine how many calls this is going to take before they still attempt to stick us with the entire bill.

My wife's been seeing this doctor for the past 13 years too.   

[Yegolev]

You can check a booster seat on the airplane and they won't charge you a bag fee (at least on Delta and I think others).

Humm... news to me.  I'll pass this to the wife to see if there are complaints.  Thanks.

I'm thinking medical professionals need to start wearing eyepatches and saying "yarrr" a lot.

[ghost]

My wife is getting a huge chunk of her loans repaid because she sees a certain number of Medicaid patients per month.   

[Nerf]

What if you've already worked in public service for 10 years?  I know Moki still owes a hefty chunk on his student loans, having them forgiven for having to deal with the texas public school system would be pretty awesome.

No, the 10 years started in 2007, nothing before qualifies.

So if he held out a couple extra years and retired in 2017 instead of 2015/2016 he could get all of his student loans repaid?  Where do I need to send him to talk to someone about this?

Also, Mrs. Moki is a nurse, and won't be retiring in the next 10 years, that site linked on the last page said something about healthcare professionals, and I'm pretty sure she handles some medicare stuff, she's a hospice nurse.

I don't think they've ever dealt with a CPA, at least not in the last 30 years since Moki broke his back and couldn't run his construction business anymore, and always just do their taxes online or at H&R block or something.

ETA: Meh, read that link some more, I think they've had the loans in forbearance for awhile so the 120 payment thing would disqualify them, welp.

[WayAbvPar]

Off to the Windy City in a few hours.  Let's hope it's worth it.

Hope it doesn't blow.

GL.

[Polysorbate80]

Another mortgage refinance at 3.875 for ten years, closing tomorrow.  Rock on.

In other news, we plan on advertising our son as eight years old so that we don't have to pay the ridiculous rate for renting a booster seat with a car while in Colorado next week.

You can check a booster seat on the airplane and they won't charge you a bag fee (at least on Delta and I think others).

Did that with the son's booster on our last trip to Hawaii.  Damn thing was so irritating to move around the airports, I honestly think I'd rather have rented one.

[Yegolev]

Another mortgage refinance at 3.875 for ten years, closing tomorrow.  Rock on.

In other news, we plan on advertising our son as eight years old so that we don't have to pay the ridiculous rate for renting a booster seat with a car while in Colorado next week.

You can check a booster seat on the airplane and they won't charge you a bag fee (at least on Delta and I think others).

Did that with the son's booster on our last trip to Hawaii.  Damn thing was so irritating to move around the airports, I honestly think I'd rather have rented one.

Discussed this with the wife and apparently there is both a train and a shuttle involved with getting out of DEN, so we are falling back on claiming he is eight if we are actually stopped and questioned.  Also, he has been begging to be allowed to ride in the trunk, so that's an outside possibility.

[IainC]

DIA has a monorail from the gates to the main concourse, other than that I don't recall having to handle multiple changes of transport betwixt 'plane and car. In fact you don't pick up your luggage till you're off the monorail either.

[Yegolev]

Obviously I need to investigate the travel plans a bit more.

[Chimpy]

Yeah, the billion dollar bag eating machine takes checked items from the plane to the baggage claim which (like most newer airports) is right by the exit from the airport. You may need a shuttle to get to your rental car as most airports these days do that it seems.

[Yegolev]

The order of transport is important, but I'm still not excited about catching a shuttle while carrying a booster seat.  Breaking the law has a lot of appeal, though.

[Samwise]

So I came across this today and remembered that we were talking about Filipino accents in here a few pages back.  Enjoy!

[Abagadro]

The order of transport is important, but I'm still not excited about catching a shuttle while carrying a booster seat.  Breaking the law has a lot of appeal, though.

Just take the bottom half.  Would probably fit in a suitcase.

[Sky]

Pretty messy solution. I'd think the top half would be the one you'd preserve, but whatever.

[Abagadro]

Why?  The purpose of the booster seat is to BOOST the child up so the shoulder strap doesn't come across their neck. The back part of the chair isn't that important once they get to around 6 or so.   You can even just buy them backless.   The bottom part is the important part and is pretty easy to pack as it is flat.  We just carry it around and check it.

[Furiously]

Yea - most are like 40 inches tall or 40 lbs and you are good to go with just the bottom part.

Of course, then it gets a bit odd....

"Children less than eight years old must be restrained in child restraint systems, unless the child is four feet nine inches or taller. A child who is eight years old or older, or four feet nine inches or taller, must be properly restrained with the motor vehicle's safety belt or an appropriately fitting child restraint system.

Children under thirteen years old must be transported in rear seats where it is practical to do so."

[Cyrrex]

It's possible Sky was jesting that you would want to take along the top half of the child, and you fell into the sarchasm?

[Murgos]

It means you're a normal 501c3. If you work at a 501c3 non-profit, your loans qualify.

Great! Yeah, we're a non-profit lab. This should save me about 20 grand.

[Der Helm]

I just went from ap. 3 foot of hair length to 3 mm.   /

Hair on my head that is. 

[Sky]

It's possible Sky was jesting that you would want to take along the top half of the child, and you fell into the sarchasm?

I just went from ap. 3 foot of hair length to 3 mm. 

Do you guys have something like Locks of Love? I got two donations this last time around, in 2009 I donated 18 inches and in 2010 I donated 12 inches. Going to be a while before I can donate again, I'm digging my DiCaprio cut.

[Der Helm]

Do you guys have something like Locks of Love? I got two donations this last time around, in 2009 I donated 18 inches and in 2010 I donated 12 inches. Going to be a while before I can donate again, I'm digging my DiCaprio cut.

Gonna have a look. Thanks.

[Ironwood]

God, I hate interviews.