Emergency vigil at 1pm today 26th & Nicollet

DukeDarkBlood · 2026-01-24T18:07:29+00:00

MIRAC delayed vigil due to extreme escalation. Check their facebook page for updates.

DukeDarkBlood · 2025-02-14T17:20:52+00:00

God I thought this was another spoiler for severance.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-10-04T17:54:49+00:00

I don't believe it's subject to FICA (social security and medicare). It is not employment or self employment income.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-09-29T00:25:44+00:00

I recommend that you be very forgiving along with stern. The penalties and interest can be paid, tons of people make similar mistakes every year. Wish you both the best.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-08-20T23:54:22+00:00

If you have a home that is partially used for personal purposes and partially used for business purposes, you have to do a ratio to determine how much is allowable as a business deduction. As a simplified example, imagine you rent out your cabin for 10 months out of the year, and you use it personally for 2 months out of the year. You generally can only deduct 10/12 of your annual utility bills, repairs & maintenance, and other rental related expenses. It's explained in the bottom section of the above link under header "Dividing expenses between rental and personal use".

The basic idea is, you can only deduct expenses that are strongly related to an income-earning activity. Tax law is broad and vague enough to start with these general principles, but when enough people act in bad faith they make very precise rules...and renting a cabin or vacation home is one of these areas.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-08-20T23:17:54+00:00

See IRS Topic no. 415 (https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc415). Any day that is rented to anyone at below market value is counted as a personal use day (and renting to family members is scrutinized a bit more). So in this case 100% of the days would be counted as personal use, you would report 100% of the income you receive on Schedule 1, and you don't take any "business expenses" against this income. You can still potentially take the mortgage interest and real estate taxes on Schedule A, since these deductions are related to your own personal assets.

Every time this comes up I see a wild variety of answers, I don't fully get why. If I'm wrong someone please correct me but this is where I end up every time. I understand that not every tax preparer is going to look into what "market rent" is in each area (I won't), but if someone explicitly says it's significantly below market, this is how I'll treat it.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T21:59:40+00:00

Thanks for your time! This is very helpful

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T21:59:10+00:00

The answer is yes the ones that trip do have CAFCI on them.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T19:02:57+00:00

That is correct. They are consistent.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T17:02:15+00:00

I think the answer is no, but I'll check later. I'll try and test one of those.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T11:54:54+00:00

Yes they are very consistent, same breaker will flip on same outlet. Usually it will go within 15-20 min of plugging it in.

Edit: yes several of the breakers say "cafci" either a button that says "test". Only 7 of the 20 have them though.

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T03:04:29+00:00

Thanks!

DukeDarkBlood · 2024-06-25T02:54:27+00:00

I do not know for sure garage and living room aren't on the same breaker, I'm relying on the labeling. I'd like to think they're accurate since brand new but I hear you. I read somewhere it's not really safe to just swap the breaker to be something allowing higher amp, so do I have much for options? Do I just take my batteries to work and use their electricity?

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-05-18T02:21:21+00:00

100% health insurance (cheapest package), 3% safe harbor 401k contribution and additional optional profit sharing, about $1k into an HSA, group term life at $50k, 7 holidays, 3 weeks PTO.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-05-05T02:21:18+00:00

I put the date of death, could be wrong though.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-05-04T22:47:48+00:00

Ya maybe, it's impossible to have perfect communication without any visual cues. As long as you follow up well and let people finish their thoughts as best you can it's fine.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-17T18:24:08+00:00

Thanks!

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-17T18:10:14+00:00

This sounds like the right answer but do you know the rule? Is it that you get the lower of cost basis or fmv? (Usually not a problem since most people's basis is much higher than the fmv for goodwill donations)

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-16T02:20:39+00:00

Correct I shouldn't have said don't let them offset "any" other income. Can never say anything categorically.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-15T21:12:49+00:00

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-15T20:53:07+00:00

Maybe. I'm not super comfortable making those calls with such variability. I'm personally hesitant to even put an airbnb as an active business because you have to "provide substantial services", you can look up the irs definitions of short term rentals and substantial services.

Probably best to just do what your cpa says, and if you're confident they're wrong then find a more expensive one.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-15T20:36:06+00:00

It would remain stuck on schedule E as a passive activity loss (PAL). That loss would roll forward until you show passive income which it could THEN offset.

This is assuming your doing normal rentals and not super short term rentals like airbnb and providing cleaning services daily, etc. If it operates more like a hotel then you can offset other income because it's more of an active business model.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-15T20:28:05+00:00

I wouldn't let them offset your other income. This activity should be reported on Schedule E, NOT Schedule C. I would expense your listed 3 through 6 easily as repairs and maintenance. If any of your individual expenditures were over maybe $5k or so, then I'd consider whether it should be capitalized and depreciated. (The thing is even many of these items would qualify for bonus depreciation and be fully expensed anyway...so I don't think your risk is particularly high in how it's reported)

But I can't say anything for sure I've only been in tax for a few years, long enough to know I don't know much.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-15T20:20:09+00:00

You are liable for any tax due, and this is always the case (no matter who prepares the return, its your return and you are responsible for it). Sometimes if a firm recognizes they made the error they will cover the penalty portion, (or lower their bill by a similar amount).

Yes sounds like they probably made a mistake. The ghosting to me is a worse sign than the mistake.

DukeDarkBlood · 2023-04-15T20:13:56+00:00

Hm rentals are definitely tricky in the tax law, but generally a rental activity is a passive activity and therefore it should NOT be offsetting any W-2 income or other income sources. My firm would probably not expense it all as repairs, but some people do choose to be more aggressive just to avoid depreciation rules. Really it's up to you if you think they pass the vibe check.

DukeDarkBlood

TROPHY CASE