• Tricky Rules for Travel Deductions
    The experience of a professional blood donor
    Few tax rules are as long standing and as stringently enforced as the IRS’s blanket prohibition of deductions for the costs of commuting between home and work. But most deduction-restriction rules have their exceptions.
  • Where There’s a Will . . .
    Avoid some all-too-common misunderstandings
    Many couples mistakenly think that they’re relieved of the need to bother with wills because they own most of their property jointly.
  • Tax Rules Differ for Foreign Gamblers
    Special tax rules for nonresident aliens
    I’m a Canadian citizen. I visited the United States last month and won $20,000 at a casino. To my dismay, I left with just $14,000 because $6,000 was withheld for U.S. income taxes. Should I hire a tax professional to prepare a refund claim? If yes, how do you rate my recovery prospects?
  • IRS Limits Deductions for Shareholders' Meetings
    But courts often interpret the law far more liberally
    In 1956, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 56-11, which bars deductions for travel expenses when stockholders attend meetings merely to get information to help make future investments. Subsequently, however, the IRS yielded on a deduction for expenses incurred by the leader of a stockholders' revolt.
  • Hobbies May Be Serious Business
    Operating in businesslike fashion is key
    The law allows you to offset business losses incurred in the early years of part-time, sideline ventures against salaries from full-time jobs and other sources of income. Failure to deduct such losses means you’re paying more taxes than legally required.
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What We Do

Silver Planet® helps baby boomers guide their parents to age in place by providing services and products related to aging at home and housing options.