The Federal Tax Credits Blog

Archive for April, 2008

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Question: Federal Tax Credits for Energy-Efficient Windows and Doors?

We are a residential contractor and have been receiving inquiries for replacement windows which meet the Federal Tax Credit Guidelines. We are aware of the Energy Performance ratings required, and understand that the Tax Credit is only on the cost of the windows and not the installation labor. We buy from our supplier at a cost, and mark-up that cost to our customer during the sale. My question is: Does my customer get a tax credit on what my firm paid for the window ( before mark-up) or do they receive the tax credit on the marked-up cost for the window?

Answer: If you buy the window at $400 and sell it for $600, the credit is 30% of the $600.

Please do *not* give any tax advice to your customers. Direct them to their preparer or the www.energystar.gov website.

I really detest breaking the news to elderly/poor people that since they *don’t* pay income taxes, the $1500 tax break the sales told them they’d get doesn’t apply to them.

Remodeling Market Finishes Strong 2009

Spending on Home Remodeling up 8.2 Percent as New Construction Drops 23.5 Percent

2minutewindowtips Energy Credits

Question: Was their A credit in 08 for home cooling,and heating upgrade.?

I replaced my heat pump did not check for credit on tax forms.

Answer: There was one in 2007, but it ended on January 1, 2008. The latest one didn’t start until January 1, 2009. There was no credit during 2008 for heat pumps.

Fourth quarter financial planning makes dollars and sense

Ventura-based financial planning firm encourages investors to take advantage of year- end adjustments.

HOME 1–Drilling one of 6 Vertical Boreholes for Geothermal Heat Pump System

Question: I’ve made over $21,000 what should be my tax return.?

I plan to claim my son and daughter, head of house hold and child care. This is my first year that I will claim 2 dependents. I know that I will qualify for the earned income tax credit. So far I have had $1,003.00 in federal taxes deducted and $703.00 in state. I am hoing to see at least $5000.00 or more

Answer: use the following link to get a pretty good estimate of what u will get back. not counting what u paid in child care i punched in your numbers and got back a rough estimate of a $5900 refund but do it yourself and see what u get.

http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/tax_calculators/index.html

‘Hanging on:’ Most of 2009’s business news was bad in Western North Carolina

ASHEVILLE — When consultant Tom Tveidt was reviewing entries for an award given by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this year, he was struck by one from a business that said it was doing in 2009 about what it did in 2008.

The Minnesota and federal dependent care tax credits (House research information brief) …

CHANGEBLUEPRINT #52 Obamas Plan for America

There has recently been a huge abundance of information flooding the internet with regards to the great benefits of solar and wind energy and how we should all be looking at ways to cut our energy bills and look for green energy alternatives at home.

It would appear that many more of us every day are actively searching for cheaper ways to produce electricity for our homes and this can only be a good thing. What is driving our search for cleaner cheaper, renewable energy sources could be down to any number of factors. High utility prices maybe one thing and the need for a greener environment may be another.

One thing is quite certain however – residential wind turbines can provide for both of these needs and they are cheap, quick and easy to build.

A recent survey has shown that almost 38% of people are willing to pay between $100 and $500 for residential wind turbines. However, even $100 is still too much to pay when you consider that I can show you a quick, easy and cheap way to build your very own energy producing residential wind turbines right from your own home or garage.

You will require some good quality tools to work with. This is important as you are far more likely to produce a high quality wind turbine if the build tools are also of a high quality. You will also require the materials for your turbine, which, if you shop about for the best prices, you should be able to pick up fairly cheaply from your local hardware store. You can also consider using second hand parts although you could potentially be compromising on quality and efficiency of your wind turbine so think carefully if you are doing this.

Now for the single most important part – a high quality, detailed instruction guide. This is absolutely essential to your success in building your very own residential wind turbines and without it, your project will inevitably fail. Your guide should be structured, easy to follow and provide reference diagrams. Ideally you should have access to support and help should you require it. All of these factors will ensure that your project will go smoothly and should lessen the chance of you becoming confused and frustrated.

Residential wind turbines are great fun to build, provide your home with a clean, natural source of free sustainable electrical energy and they can literally slash your electric bills in half. They genuinely are cheap, quick and easy to build and they can be made by absolutely anyone regardless of DIY experience.

Question: Flexible spending (cafetieria plan) option: Good or bad?

I signed up for a dependent care FSA this year. The total amount available per calendar year is $5000.00 and I chose the whole amount. I get paid weekly, so, I have $96.15 taken out of each paycheck.

My son’s daycare is $145 per week. I know that I will use the $5000 prior to year end so am not worried about “using it or losing it”. However, I was wondering if this is a good plan and how it will affect my child tax credits when I do my tax return next year? Also want to know if this account can also be used for my son’s medical prescriptions & Dr. visits? I heard that you may not be able to if you have only a dependent care plan set up.

Do you ultimately feel the FSA is a good advantage and why?

Thanks

Answer: You cannot use FSA-Dependant Daycare for Unreimbursed Medical Expenses (UME). However, if your employer offers an FSA for daycare, they probably also offer a similar program for UME (either a cafeteria plan or a Health Savings Acct).

This program will not effect your child tax credit, but it will effect your Dependant Daycare tax credit (you probably lost it). But the benefits you see from using the 125 plan, usually far outweigh the Dependant Daycare tax credit. Because you did the 125 plan, your tax refund will be smaller, however, you probably saved more than that throughout the year.

With the Daycare tax credit, you probably would have saved $600-$1050 (depending on your income level, higher your income, the lower the credit). With the 125 plan, you probably saved $950-$1950 over the course of the year, higher the tax bracket, higher the savings. Even though your tax refund may be smaller, you are getting larger paychecks.

To know for sure if this is a good plan for you, I would have to know a bit more information about your taxable income, but for a vast majority of taxpayers, the Cafeteria plan that you are doing is a good deal.

Robert Peston

The retail bank set up by men who’ve not run one before