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It could happen to you too

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Re: It could happen to you too

#61

Post by rtpg »

eqreqeq wrote: post #25

Without more details the whole story sounds iffy. Since he did not give us more details but still shared his story I will speculate that he took advantage of what he thought were some clever tax loopholes in MA. Remember that hid did state very passingly that he has a presence in MA. Specifically this: >>Again, I hadn't lived there or worked there since 2003, but I did own part of a business that was headquartered in…

As with all these stories, need to be taken with a nice handful of salt. Owning a business in MA would make it seem like you would qualify for state taxation (on that part at least).

The US taxes its citizens even outside of their own jurisdiction. It wouldn't surprise me if MA taxed people that still made money in MA.

Re: It could happen to you too

#62

Post by SeanLuke »

aneth4 wrote: post #13

My personal and business banking is done at Chase. I've found them to be fantastic and managed to avoid pretty much any fees by following the guidance of very helpful employees. I know everyone loves to bag on big banks, but Chase has been great. Bank of America is another story - their website barely works. That said, I highly recommend anyone with significant assets open a bank account in a foreign country where se…

> My personal and business banking is done at Chase. I've found them to be fantastic and managed to avoid pretty much any fees by following the guidance of very helpful employees. I know everyone loves to bag on big banks, but Chase has been great. Bank of America is another story - their website barely works.

Nice try, Jamie Dimon.

Re: It could happen to you too

#65

Post by AJ007 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #42
Zimahl wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But filing a state return with $0 on it is pretty straight forward thing these days with efiling. It's stupid to have to do that. They shouldn't be estimating your income, they know exactly how much you make from your W-2s, 1099s, etc. This is all to be reported to the state by an employer. As for the guy in the article, there isn't something quite right. The state could be completely wrong here but there is somethin…

Two part response: "It's stupid to have to do that." - yes it is. However, as the author points out, states are broke, so they do everything they can to maximize revenues. (California is horrible at this, they twiddled two of the digits in my social security number and the first I heard about it was a tax lien filed against my house, really sad.) For a long time not filing a tax return effectively deferred your tax l…

It is bad behavior by the states, high income earners explicitly avoid ever residing in certain areas that are notorious for long term harassment -- even when they have zero problem with the tax rate itself.

Several states are playing the all in card on their expenses, because they know when there is a real financial crises its much easier, politically, to purge excess expenses (The Federal government is doing this too I think.) The more they spend today the quicker that day arrives.

Re: It could happen to you too

#66

Post by tapatio »

Do not use these companies:

Chase bank or American Express

They will turn there back on you when you need them most. I had a horrible experience with both back in 2008 when the economy was collapsing. And no, I don't have crappy credit.

Re: It could happen to you too

#67

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

andrewfelix wrote: post #59
ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

Sigh. I understand the angst, tax organizations are the worst. However, a piece of advice. If you file a tax return in a state, and then you leave. Make sure you file a tax return the next year as well but put down zero taxable income. What I have seen states do, is take the last year you filed a return "presume" you made that much in the next year but just "forgot" to file, and then charge you for back taxes. You co…

Jeez I thought our tax system was broken. This must happen all the time. Thankfully Australia's taxation is handled federally.

We have federal income taxes too. The US IRS will play the same sort of tricks for delinquent taxes (imagined and real).

Re: It could happen to you too

#68

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

Wells Fargo has a similar give-your-money-away-to-any-semi-legit-looking-official-who-comes-knocking policy.

I have a nice small town bank. The VP knows me by name, goes to my wife's church (whisky-pagan). I know where he lives. ATM fees? None, the bank doesn't own an ATM, and refunds any fees I pay for using ATMs at any other location. Makes it a lot harder for things like that to happen, or at least I hope it will, if it ever comes to that.

Re: It could happen to you too

#69

Post by niggler »

oasisbob wrote: post #47
niggler wrote: post #5

You should always have assets at multiple banks and have lots of cash stored outside of the banking system (in a safety deposit box, at home, in car, etc). *note: be careful about how you accumulate said cash. CTRs are generated if you withdraw too quickly.

note: be careful about how you accumulate said cash. CTRs are generated if you withdraw too quickly. This is very bad advice, as it's illegal in the US to intentionally evade CTRs by aggregating smaller transactions. It's known as structuring: http://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/irm_04-026-013.html Also, CTRs aren't inherently a bad thing, and they aren't generated behind your back. If you hit the $10k reporting limit, it's…

If you are interested in taking out 100K this year, nothing is illegal about withdrawing 2K per week as opposed to taking out 100K at once.

Re: It could happen to you too

#70

Post by yooy123 »

Fucking IRS.

I must say I always paid taxes and never had problems with them. 2008 I made some nice stock trading profits. Paid taxes for them all to the last penny. Actually, I taxes more than I had to, since the bank statement reported higher profits that actually occurred (must be a real gypsy bank). What the bank statement did not report, was the buy and sale of an ETF. I held it for 3 months, made maximal 1% profit of it. The IRS became aware that I sold this ETF, but they could not figure out when and for how much I bought it. Hence, they assume, the sales price is 100% profit. Not they want: * back taxes for a profit that never occurred * Fine me since I did not pay taxes for this profit that never occurred. * on top of that, want interest for this whole cluster-fuck.

I did not receive some letters from them since I was abroad because I was totally broke. I have no idea how I can pay this. It makes me also think that I might have to go offshore. I have to save urgently for retirement and just can not afford that the IRS pulls some random gypsy charges out of nothing.

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