taxes - soaked for extra $

[Jon Page]

When I moved 5 years ago, I was worried about having to pay capital
gains on the section I used for business. A CPA looked at my previous
tax records and said that since I only claimed expenses (utilities, property
tax, mortagage interest) on the business percentage and not depreciated
that area, I need not pay capital gains. Saved me about 5K.
So, I'm not depreciating real property now either.
Now I import data from Quicken to TurboTax. What a breaze. I only have to
make sure I have entries in Quicken earmarked for the proper tax form.
Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
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At 12:41 AM 4/11/97 -0500, you wrote:
>A ticking time-bomb with a lot of home office deductions explodes when
>you sell your house.  The portion that you have claimed as an office may
>be treated as business property and therefore is not exempt from the
>usual capital gain rollover when you buy a new house for more money or
>the one-time capital gain exemption (for those over 55).  There may be
>other ramifications as well (depreciation recapture - you really don't
>want to know).
>
>The lesson:  what you deduct now may be added back later.  Only you can
>figure out if it's really worth it now.
>
>See IRS publication 587 and the instructions for Form 8829 before making
>a decision.
>And of course, consult your own tax advisor to deal with your individual
>circumstances.  (I have to say that)
>
>Don McCallion - don@ct2.nai.net
>New Milford, CT
>(admitted to bar, U.S. Tax Court)
>
>