2005 Income Tax Planning

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Income Tax Refund

The other day, a rather peculiar incident occurred. I got an income tax refund from the IRS. Normally, I am only used to paying the IRS through my nose. Each year I struggle to make ends meet by working odd jobs. Rarely, when I find a job that employs me for more than a couple of months, I find that any savings I ever make are often ploughed back into the system by the prospect of income tax. Like the adage goes, no one can avoid death and taxes. Imagine my joy nay ecstasy when I actually managed to get an income tax refund. I was thrilled to bits to say the least.

My mother has always been one to get income tax refunds. This is essentially because she is a very meticulous sort of person. She has been working for over thirty years and in all this time, she has changed employers once. And that too because the previous employer went bust! Anyways, to get back to the point, she was always the one to get income tax refunds in the house. Each tax season while dad would be ranting and raving over the amount of tax he had to pay, she would be really calm. For she had her finances so well managed that she not only had to pay any tax, but even if she did, she was sure that she would get an income tax refund for it.

Contrary to popular belief, there are legal ways to avoid paying income tax. Most of these entail making savings or investments for a certain amount, in some government linked bonds or investment avenues in order to minimize the tax burden. The idea being that if you are willing to let's say buy infrastructure bonds which will put money in the pockets of the government for a period of five years, then there is no need to charge you for it. The explanation has always been be a partner and enjoy the benefits or pay up and forget all about it!

Anyways, investing in such instruments is one sure way of avoiding income tax. Sure, you will still have to file your own papers and will even have to register etc. But the activity loses some of the threat that it normally carries for most people. Who knows? The process might even make the idea of getting an income tax refund much more familiar. I know that I got my first income tax refund this time. And I'm surely going to try and make it an annual even from now on.

2005 Income Tax Planning News

Obama's Tax Planning Needs New View of New Deal: Amity Shlaes - Bloomberg

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama is using the New Deal as his model for how to deal with economic crisis. He might want to distinguish between what worked and what didn't. One reason the Depression lasted until World War II, as ...

FP Newspapers Income Fund Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results - Market Wire

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA--(Marketwire - Nov. 14, 2008) - FP Newspapers Income Fund (TSX:FP.UN) announces financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. FP Newspapers Income Fund owns securities entitling it to 49 percent of the distributable ...

Tax-loss selling may be silver lining in 2008 bear market cloud - Windsor Star

This autumn's stock market crash has produced little but bad news for most advisors and their clients. But as the end of the calendar year approaches, there may be an opportunity to salvage something through tax-loss selling. In normal years, tax ...

SPACEHAB Reports Financial Results for First Quarter Fiscal Year 2009 - StreetInsider.com

SPACEHAB posted first quarter fiscal 2009 net income of $55,000, or $0.00 per share, on revenue of $6.0 million compared with first quarter fiscal year 2008 net loss of $856,000, or $.66 per share, on revenue of $8.6 million. "Now that our turnaround ...

Technip: Third Quarter Results - Marketwatch

On November 12, 2008, Technip's Board of Directors approved the non-audited third quarter 2008 consolidated accounts. Thierry Pilenko, Chairman and CEO, commented: "In the third quarter, we continued to perform in line with our goals. Operating ...

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