Michael Anderson wrote:
- quote -

You can get three free [one from each of the majors] each year in most
states now. See http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Really a good idea
with the increase in identity theft these days.

Ryan

jjj_soper[at]hotmail.com wrote:

- quote -

Sure. I used to do that. Property taxes in Texas are billed in October and due
by January 31st of the next year. So the first year, you pay in January and
December. The next year, you take the standard deduction.

I stopped doing it when I ran into the AMT, which pretty much negated any
advantage.

-- Doug

"herlihyboy" <ryan.parmenter[at]gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1124905799.123912.74230[at]g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

I don't know. I have not looked at any of my credit bureau reports in a few
years nor have I received my FICO score.

-Mike

Tad Borek wrote:

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Yup. I gave several thousand dollars worth of Caterpillar stock (that
had doubled since I bought it a long time ago) to my church earlier this
year and then didn't tithe for a few months -- while I put the money
that I would have tithed back into my investment account.

Also by doing this, I might can avoid taking any LT capital gains in a
year. Then sell one of my big losers in December and write the first
$3000 of the loss against ordinary income. If I had sold the CAT stock
and given the money to charity, I would have to apply the capital loss
against the CAT gains first before ordinary income.

Best regards,
Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
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John/Bob
Yes, this is one of the standard, completely legal, tax-planning things
you can do. When you have control over payment date, and you're on the
borderline for the standard deduction, shift your payment of property
taxes, state estimated income taxes, and charitable contributions (and
medical expenses & whatever other stuff on Schedule A, if possible) into
the most beneficial year - perhaps alternating between standard and
itemized deductions every other year.

As an example, the last estimated income tax payments (state) are
generally due Jan 15 of the next year, but you can make them in December
of the prior year. Of course if you don't pay estimated taxes this isn't
useful, but it's a good one to keep in mind for, say, retirees drawing
from IRAs.

Some people also shift these kinds of payments forward or back if AMT is
going to be a concern. That can get to be a very complicated planning
exercise because it requires gaming out the next year or two's tax
rates, deductions, etc.

Bob, another thing to consider...if this works out, and you end up
clumping charitable contributions into bigger donations "every other
year", and you have some investments that you've held more than 12
months, and that have big gains in them, you might use those investments
for your donations instead of cash. Even many smaller donees (churches,
local nonprofits) are geared up to accept these. The benefit is that you
get a deduction for the full value on the date of the donation, but you
don't pay taxes on those capital gains (neither does the charity). Might
not make sense for say a $500 donation, but if you double up and make it
$1,000 - and can do that with a stock/fund with a cost basis of $300 -
maybe?

-Tad

While we're on the subject, I was wondering about a trick I heard once
for people that had trouble beating the standard deduction (which has
been growing rather large). It involved paying your property taxes
early for the next year for a bigger writeoff to hopefully beat the
standard deduction every other year. Has anyone ever tried this?
John

jjj_soper[at]hotmail.com wrote:

- quote -

My biggest itemized deduction is charitable contributions (no brag, just
fact.) I've been thinking about making my monthly charitible gifts to
an escrow account of sorts, and pay out double charitible gifts one year
and zero the next. I would take the standard deduction on the zero
years and itemize on the payout years.

I haven't actually tried this yet, but the tax advantages are intriguing.

-Bob

Michael Anderson wrote:
- quote -

Has it shown up on your bureau? If not, I'd say it doesn't have any
impact on your credit rating.

Ryan

I pay my property taxes myself (no escrow), which come due twice a year.
There is a due date with a grace period. For instance, my 2005 Summer Tax
statment includes the phrase "Due July 1, 2005 and payable by September 14,
2005, without interest".

Is there any negative affect on my credit rating if I don't pay by July 1?
By the way, I have not paid my summer taxes yet. I just usually wait until
the last day, Sept 13 or 14 in this case, to pay since there does not seem
to be any benefit to paying this any sooner than necessary. However, if
this is the wrong approach, I will readjust my savings so that I have the
funds available by the actual due date.

Thanks,
-Mike