Tax Carnival #20: Stars and Taxes Forever!

Welcome to the July edition of carnival of taxes.

If you work in an office and are actually there today, you're probably counting down to Wednesday's holiday. Maybe your boss will be nice and let you out early tomorrow.

Some of you are probably going to take the rest of the week off to extend the July 4th break  through July 8th.

If you're not in today, you're likely taking time off on the front end of the holiday. Coming back to work for just two days this week is not a bad approach either.

And if you're like me and work at home, you're going to ease into and out of the holiday from both sides!

But before I completely quit working this Independence Day week, we have our 20th Carnival of Taxes to get to.

I'm calling this edition Stars and Taxes Forever in honor of the great John Philip Sousa composition, which is America's official march and the traditional accompaniment to the Washington, D.C., National Mall fireworks display. Click here to go directly, via RealAudio, to the song.

Since this is a week of celebration for Americans, let's start with some good news, specifically the pleasant tax surprise that Super Saver over at My Wealth Builder got when requesting a 2006 return extension this filing season.

The news hasn't been so good, though, for actor Wesley Snipes, who's facing tax evasion charges. But Joe at Roth & Company Tax Update wonders, will the O.J. defense work for Snipes?

Wesley's one of those rich Hollywood types and we all know rich folk do a lot of tax planning, especially for their heirs. That's what Eric looks at in his post Protect, Provide & Profit - A Family Limited Partnership over at My Estate Planning Career Blog. Eric says "a family limited partnership is becoming one of the most popular methods to pass the equity in a larger estate to the heirs at a discounted tax rate, while retaining control, and at the same time, protecting the assets from lawsuits."

More tax and investing info comes from Larry, who presents two examples of the tax assets graphic in VeriPlan over at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog. "These two examples of the TAX ASSETS graphic come from VeriPlan’s “Sue and Sam Saver” tutorial," says Larry. The visuals separate their cash, bond, and stock assets by account taxability and makes projections for the hypothetical couple's lifetime.

Steve at DebtBlog gives us some capital gains tax strategies - May You Forever Need Them.

For most of us, our biggest investment is our home. A couple of bloggers look at opposite ends of the real estate spectrum and the tax consequences of both.

FMF has posted Your House is Foreclosed On - Congrats, You Now Owe More Taxes! over at Free Money Finance.

Allison addresses the tax concerns of people who have a vacation home they want to rent, posted at Queercents. "Are you one of the lucky people who own a vacation home?" Allison asks. "Here’s a quick tax guide to help break down the details."

What if you have one house and you want to tap its equity? Then check out Brian's post Pay Cash & Refinance Later? BAD Advice over at World Wide Wealth Planners.

If you have real estate or other tax issues that complicate your filing life, you might want to get professional tax help. Matthew tells us How to Choose an Accountant (And Save Thousands in Taxes), posted at Getting Green.

Your accountant probably also knows the news that Robert, aka THE WANDERING TAX PRO, brings us: It's not just for kiddies anymore!

Mark25 urges us not to lose sight of the tax bite to our salaries in Are You Aware of TAX? posted at HotStrategies.com.

Moneywalks presents the different forms of taxes we encounter, posted at, where else, Money Walks, and also throws in a look at some global tax tallies.

Staying with that worldwide theme, Lubna presents Taxing Communication (Law Street in The Economic Times for May 2007) posted at Talking Tax, saying, "In India a tax tribunal has recently followed the OECD's concept of dual tax payer approach. But if this tenet is blindly applied, it will have adverse tax consequences for foreign companies."

A little further south, Gavin at Putland Uncensored offers VAT vs. Retail Tax: An open letter to Messrs Howard and Rudd, saying, "If Australia must have a Goods and Services Tax (GST), then it should be more like U.S. state sales taxes -- that is, a single-stage retail sales tax, not a multi-stage value-added tax."

And bringing us back to North America, we have Big Cajun Man, whose fitting Tax Freedom Day is posted at Canadian Financial Stuff. "Tax Freedom day in Canada is calculable from this useful link," notes BCM, "but it's a lot later than it is in the U.S.A.!"

With that revelation, we conclude our 20th Tax Carnival. I hope you found this edition's items as illuminating as the fireworks we'll be enjoying in a couple of days.

Be sure to come back next month, when our 21st Tax Carnival goes up on Aug. 6. You can be a part of that event by submitting your blog article via our carnival submission form.

Until them, enjoy the summer and have a safe and fun Fourth of July!