How to Kushner my taxes?

[Anonymous]

There was the big story this weekend that JK didn't pay anything in federal taxes. And there was a fight between those defending him for being smart and using the tax code to his advantage and those saying that those codes only help the rich.

I'm not rich. I'm barely making it. I make less than 100K. I'm a single parent. I have a fed job. What do I need to do to maximize how I do things so I'm not losing about a 1/3 of my salary to taxes every year. Help my Kushner my income.

Go.

[Anonymous]

You probably can’t, unless you have some assets (real estate) that are depreciating. But get a good accountant who can pull out all the stops for you. Man good one will pay for themselves in what you save in taxes.

[Anonymous]

There really isn't much you can do if all of your income is coming from W-2 wages. The deductions available to you involve spending a lot of money for minimal benefits - mortgage interest deduction, the various child related deductions and credits, charitable contributions, etc. Itemized deductions are even less valuable now that you have a lower marginal rate and have to clear a higher standard deduction.

In summary, there's not a damn thing you can do that would actually leave you further ahead. The one thing you could do to see a lower tax bill would be to have another child... but I think we can agree your outlays would FAR exceed any tax reductions.

[Anonymous]

Ha, I recall when scum was predicting bankruptcy for Jared from 666 park avenue.

You can use real estate in the same way but not without substantial risks.

[Anonymous]

buy a building, sell it and put the proceeds immediately into another similar building to defer any taxes on the profit - 1031 exchange.

as pp noted, if you earn wages there are few tax benefits. If, however, you own assets, whether tangible or intangible, you have many more options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was the big story this weekend that JK didn't pay anything in federal taxes. And there was a fight between those defending him for being smart and using the tax code to his advantage and those saying that those codes only help the rich.

I'm not rich. I'm barely making it. I make less than 100K. I'm a single parent. I have a fed job. What do I need to do to maximize how I do things so I'm not losing about a 1/3 of my salary to taxes every year. Help my Kushner my income.

Go.

Get rich, and then you can Kushner your assets. The tax code is written by and for the wealthy. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

You can't earn your wages from an actual job. Those of us who do are screwed.

[Anonymous]

I retired four years ago, at 53, with about $5 million in investments. I haven't paid a dime in federal taxes since.

[Anonymous]

I would like to pay the capital gains rate on my investments instead of my tax bracket rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired four years ago, at 53, with about $5 million in investments. I haven't paid a dime in federal taxes since.

Thanks for the useless response. Means nothing without some context.
I assume you’re saying you pay no taxes because you have no realized gains or income; i.e. you’re living off of $ that was already taxed. If that’s the case, good for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't earn your wages from an actual job. Those of us who do are screwed.

+1 this is why Warren Buffet has been saying for decades that it’s ridiculous that his secretary pays a much higher tax bracket than he does. The tax code has Always been skewed to the the wealthy and this administration has really modified the tax code to support the ultra wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Move to VA for one. There is no way around social security taxes if you earning income an employee.

Max out your 401k is another way to shield income or take the largest mortgage deduction allowable.

He probably owns a lot of companies and had losses to offset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired four years ago, at 53, with about $5 million in investments. I haven't paid a dime in federal taxes since.

How do you do this? Invest in only fed tax free bonds? Never sell anything with cap gains that you don't have losses to put against?

[Anonymous]

First, be born into a wealthy family so you start on 3rd base.

Then go into "real estate development" -- that's basically using other people's money to buy buildings.

Now, when tax time comes, claim the building is worth far less than you paid and write off a chunk of that reduced value as depreciation.

Lather, rinse, repeat and you can be a multimillionnaire paying zero taxes for a lifetime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired four years ago, at 53, with about $5 million in investments. I haven't paid a dime in federal taxes since.

How do you do this? Invest in only fed tax free bonds? Never sell anything with cap gains that you don't have losses to put against?

Losses on paper from real estate investments, for one thing. The Kushner way.

Tax free bond funds.

Zero percent tax bracket for capital gains.

Etc.

We live off of about 200k a year generated from a combination of the above, and pay no taxes.