Tax Time

NEW YORK - Come tax time, it can be a pain to gather your important financial documents together. Worse, identity thieves could be out to steal such vital information. Smart storage and disposal are especially important now, says the National Crime Prevention Council (www.ncpc.org). Here's how to organize your sensitive financial information: Retirement, savings plan statements: Keep quarterly statements until you receive the annual summary. Once you're sure the summary is accurate, shred the quarterly statements.

As Washington politicians search for budget solutions, imagine if there were a magical revenue source that operated not unlike a national consumption tax that many conservatives prefer and would mitigate global warming to please liberals, all while helping repair America's infrastructure and strengthening our national security, to the delight of almost everyone. Actually, such a tax already exists: It's called the federal gasoline tax, and it's been stuck at 18.4 cents per gallon for two decades.

Events in the past, someone once remarked, may be divided roughly into two categories: those that probably never happened and those that happened but do not matter.A wise observation. However, in my opinion, it leaves out a third major category of events in the past: those that are tax-deductible.Indeed, it is my impression that many people lead lives dictated by the tax consequences of such disparate items as: children, spouses, medical procedures, cars, houses, vacations, books, newspapers and whom to invite, or not invite, to dinner.

As a resident of Cecil County, I'm tired of being taxed for the freeloader liberals of Baltimore/Baltimore County. If the transportation trust fund wasn't raided all the time and used roads, we wouldn't need to increase taxes. Where I live, the only way to get anywhere is pay a toll, thanks to the governor and the Maryland Transportation Authority. As a Marine veteran, I remember that freedom doesn't come cheap, but you can't tax it into reality. No gas tax! Learn to spend within your means and use the money for the purpose for which it is collected.

Now that tax time is approaching, here are answers to a few questions If I sell shares in a fund or exchange them from one mutual fund to another, do I need to report my gain or loss on my income taxes?Yes, unless the transactions occurred in a tax-sheltered retirement plan or a variable annuity. An exchange of assets from one fund to another is the same as a sale and purchase for tax purposes.Will my fund sponsor provide information about my own gains and losses?Maybe. Although shareholders are ultimately responsible for calculations of their own fund transactions, a growing number of mutual-fund families do report on cost basis (including reinvestment)

Hate to file? Join the multitudes.But if you don't do it, tax time is a nightmare. Even if a tax preparer does the computing, it's still up to you to do the dirty work of finding the information that determines what to write down on Form 1040.Never pleasant, the job is easier if receipts, legal documents, canceled checks and the like are at least segregated into separate files, baskets, envelopes. It doesn't have to be a fancy system."Organization, as I define it, is functional," says Stephanie Winston, president of the Organizing Principle in New York and author of "Stephanie Winston's Best Organizing Tips" (Simon & Schuster, 1995)

New York-- Are you approaching April 15 without enough money to pay your tax? The IRS will now let you set up installment payments automatically.Just visit your local IRS office or call (800) TAX FORM and ask for the Installment Agreement Request (Form 9465). You report what's due and the monthly payment you'd like to make, and send in the form with your tax return. If you owe $10,000 or less, make a reasonable offer and have no other tax delinquencies, your proposal should go through automatically, says the Internal Revenue Service's Henry Holmes.

WASHINGTON -- If a tax-hungry Congress ever decides to soak the rich in Lizard Lick, N.C., lots of people everywhere will be in trouble come tax time."

Perhaps you're a reluctant landlord. Caught in the housing downturn and unable to sell your house or condo at a decent price in 2006, you may have decided to rent out the property. Now, at tax time, you are left with a jumble of rules you never encountered in the past. Here's what to do: Look for expenses. The rent you have been paid by your tenant is going to be income. But don't assume you will pay taxes on all, or even any of it. Before you record rental income on your 1040 form, you should try to whittle away the income you received from the renter.

IT HAS BEEN a sore point with state legislators for years. While they get blamed for imposing a heavy income-tax burden on Maryland citizens, their counterparts in local government never take any heat for their role in boosting the size of the tax bite.As it stands, Maryland is viewed as a "high-tax" state because of its top 8 percent income-tax rate. But 3 percent of that levy is due to the local "piggyback" tax. If Maryland's 5 percent state rate is viewed on its own, it compares most favorably with other nearby states: It's second-lowest in the New York-Georgia region.

It is no secret the Maryland Senate is considering a batch of new taxes, including a gasoline tax. But how can a group of highly educated people think it's a good idea to raise any kind of tax at a time when the economy is in the tank, unemployment is skyrocketing and more Americans than ever are living in poverty? I just don't get it. Our state's leaders must understand that Marylanders are being squeezed to death. The well has dried up. Sure, we've heard politicians say tough decisions have to be made during times like these.

My suggestion to the Government Accountability Office and the president is to give the citizens of this great nation a venue to buy back our national debt and hold it in perpetuity, never to be used as collateral on a national mortgage again. If the president and the GAO will tell us, the citizenry, the account number and an address to send the money to, those of us who are willing and able can put our money where the problem is. Since Congress is so involved in political wrangling in the midst of a crisis, we shouldn't involve them.

LUTZ, Fla. — Jim Thorpe hoped maybe he could just sneak onto the golf course. Show up at daybreak, toss the clubs onto a cart and head out to the tee. "Just kind of wave to everybody," Thorpe said with a laugh. Didn't work. Before the anxious Champions Tour pro could unload his trunk Tuesday at the TPC Tampa Bay, Hal Sutton drove in and pulled into his assigned spot next to Thorpe's. Welcome back, Thorpey. You didn't really think you would go unnoticed for long, did you?

Champions Tour golfer Jim Thorpe, imprisoned since April for failing to pay income taxes, has told a friend he's on track for an early release later this month. Barring complications, Mike Lewis said Wednesday, Thorpe is scheduled for a Jan. 26 release from the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. Thorpe's first stop would be an Orlando-area halfway house, then home sentencing while he works at a local golf course.

It is tax time, and the political season is starting, and the same old refrain is heard: Cut my taxes. But no one ever says, "cut my program." No, they all want to cut their taxes but my program. Everybody thinks their program is the important one, and my programs are "waste" and pork barrel spending. I might pay a little more attention if one of them would start yelling, "I think this is important but to save money we should cut it"! Then I might actually listen to them. Bob Reuter, Baltimore

"When I find a man who is not willing to bear his share of the burdens of the government which protects him, I find a man who is unworthy to enjoy the blessings of a government like ours." — William Jennings Bryan April 15 has come far too quickly for many Americans. Especially as we recover from a deep recession, tax time is a pain. However, this year, thanks to President Barack Obama and Congress, things will be just a little easier for millions of middle-class Marylanders.

IT'S TAX TIME. I know this because I'm staring at documents that make no sense to me, no matter how many beers I drink. Take, for example, my Keogh Plan. If you're wondering what a Keogh Plan is, the technical answer is: Beats me. All I know is, I have one, and the people who administer it are always sending me Important Tax Information. Here's the first sentence of their most recent letter, which I swear I am not making up: "Dear David: The IRS has extended the deadline for the restatement of your plan to comply with GUST and various other amendments until, in most instances, September 30, 2003."

It is tax time, and the political season is starting, and the same old refrain is heard: Cut my taxes. But no one ever says, "cut my program." No, they all want to cut their taxes but my program. Everybody thinks their program is the important one, and my programs are "waste" and pork barrel spending. I might pay a little more attention if one of them would start yelling, "I think this is important but to save money we should cut it"! Then I might actually listen to them. Bob Reuter, Baltimore

What's worse than paying taxes? Getting caught in a tax scam. Every year at tax time, fraudsters come up with new variations on scams involving bogus refunds, fake audits and sure-fire methods to avoid paying taxes. Whatever the method, the basic aim is to separate you from your hard-earned cash. Some might say the Internal Revenue Service has the same goal, but there's a big difference - if you lose money to a tax scam, you'll still owe your taxes. You can avoid most tax scams by remembering three basic rules: * The IRS never sends unsolicited e-mails.

THE PROBLEM : Baltimore property owners paid their tax bills, but the payments weren't properly processed. THE BACKSTORY : Carol Foster of Phoenix couldn't understand it. She paid the property tax on her husband's dental office on Harford Road in July when the bill was due. But, in December, the couple received another letter. Foster thought it was another invoice. "I said, 'What, I've got to pay this twice a year now?' " she said. It was actually a notice to pay the taxes owed or the property would be sold at tax sale.