Lessons From Mitt Romney's Tax Return - John R. Dundon II, Enrolled Agent
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Lessons From Mitt Romney’s Tax Return

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31 Jan Lessons From Mitt Romney’s Tax Return

Posted at 00:00h in Abusive Tax Shelter, Accounting Method, Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), Asset Classification, Audit Technique Guide, Basis, Business Expense, Business Income, Charitable Contribution, Cost Basis, Mitt Romney Taxes by
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Check out Mitt Romney’s 2010 tax return and learn how he does it. The most important lesson I learned in perusing his return (besides the significance of sheltering your $$ outside of the USA) is the immediate impact of targeted charitable contributions. In my professional opinion the absolute best way to reduce your tax liability is to make charitable donations of money or property. Also you can try to:

  • Avoid salary, wagesand tips if you can. Instead generate income from long-term capital gains
  • Avoid Muni-bond interest. It triggers Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) making this investment vehicle laughable at best for the truly wealthy
  • Pursue Qualified dividends.  They are essentially ordinary dividends that meet the requirements to be taxed as net capital gains. Check out Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses
  • Avoid the home-office deduction. It offers a small tax benefit requiring large tax prep effort (aka $$). Usually not worth the time and effort.
  • Itemizing deductions is probably not worth the personal disclosure required
  • Beware that capital gains and dividends can also trigger the AMT
  • Offshore investments can be perceived as abusive because they rob the US Treasury of much needed tax revenue. Basically the US Tax Code encourages the wealthy to invest OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES which is so backwards it makes my head spin.

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