"Peter C. Gatto" <pgattocpa[at]excite.com> wrote:
- quote -

Ah, that explains it, Peter. I live in San Francisco, so
certainly know where Richmond is (the mysterious East Bay),
but even so the low cost of housing did surprise me. I'm
used to seeing 2 bedroom 1 bath fixers for half a million or
more Fortunately we bought our house over 20 years ago.
Couldn't afford it today!

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"Bob Oaks" <bobinsfoNOSPAM[at]yahoo.com> wrote
- quote -

Sorry Bob, I haven't been on MTM for a bit.

Yes, I do live in CA. The house was in Richmond which is in
the East Bay across from SF. The main problem is the school
district went down hill from when I was a kid. Also,
certain parts of the city have relatively high crime, so the
whole city gets the taint. Otherwise I should have been
able to sell it for six times what I paid as Richmond is a
coastal city with temperate weather and the longest
coastline of any of the Bay Area cities. 15 miles from SF.

Of course, we moved to a city with a much better school
district and lower crime so we paid a commensurately higher
price. (Twice what we sold the old house for.) In the
three years we've been here, the value of the house has gone
up over 50%.

Absolutely ridiculouis. Of course, as I shake my head, I am
looking and sounding like my father did 20 years ago.

Regards,

Peter

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

It seems to me that there are a lot of gifts involved in a
wedding. Each attendee is given a gift, his share of the
cost of the reception. Divided up this way, I really can't
see much of anything exceeding the $11k ($22k joint) limit.


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Bob Oaks wrote:
- quote -

My first home cost $23,500, 1970$, in the Hudson Valley in NY.

--
Frederick E. Jorden http://Tax-Accounting-Payroll.com
7825 Midlothian Tpk - 207 Richmond, VA 23235-5247 EMAIL knowtax[at]bigfoot.com
(804) 320-6210 FAX (804) 320-6211

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"Michael T Wing CPA" <mtwingcpa[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -


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Peter C. Gatto <pgattocpa[at]excite.com> wrote:

- quote -

Add to Moderator's comment, "...and buy a home!"

MTW

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Frederick Jorden wrote:
- quote -

Grief! Now I KNOW yankees are godless; imagine getting
married in a tavern.

C$,
HL

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A.G. Kalman wrote:
- quote -

Right of course. But even the more ludricrous! lol

C$,
HL

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Joel Berry, CPA wrote:
- quote -

Ah finally , we have a winner!

But..... IF the childbride had filed a joint return with
her new hubby?

C$,
HL

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Harlan Lunsford <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote

- quote -

You need an updated imagination! <G> Perhaps the problem is
in the Napoleonic translation. Here are the figures from a
few years ago by region and nationally:

Total Cost Per Person Cost

Northeast 31,777.00 168.13
Southeast 17,142.00 90.70
Midwest 19,324.00 102.24
West Coast 17,517.00 92.68
All USA 18,874.00 99.86

Interestingly, I just saw a quick fact that nationally, the
average cost of a divorce is $20,000 - roughly the same cost
as the average wedding.

It reminds me of when I bought my first house almost 20
years ago for $73,000. My father thought I was crazy. When
I sold it for three times that amount he just shook his head
in disbelief.

Peter C. Gatto, CPA

================================================== ==========
Moderator:
It's just more evidence that encouraging your children to
either shack-up or elope is in your economic best interest!
================================================== ==========

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Harlan Lunsford <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

I will send my kids to LA for their weddings . Up here
weddings can easily exceed $22,000.

Drew Edmundson, CPA (NC)
e-mail is my first name at nccpa dot com

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Harlan, you must not have kids of marryin' age. My daughter
got married in May, and my son is getting married in
January. Wedding costs are unbelievable, and that's for a
"regular", i.e. not a "country club", wedding. I continue
to be amazed at some of the costs for wedding items.

Around thirty years ago, before I became a CPA, my family
was in the bridal business. I couldn't believe then how
much people spent on weddings. The cost has gotten worse
since then.

Joel Berry, CPA
Sugar Land, Texas

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Harlan Lunsford wrote:
- quote -

You must have never been to a NY wedding! $11,000, chump
change. Get a quote for the Tavern on the Green.

--
Frederick E. Jorden http://Tax-Accounting-Payroll.com
7825 Midlothian Tpk - 207 Richmond, VA 23235-5247 EMAIL knowtax[at]bigfoot.com
(804) 320-6210 FAX (804) 320-6211

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Harlan Lunsford <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

$44,000 for joint to bride and groom.

Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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Wedding expenses traditionally are paid for by the parents
of the bride. This dates well back to medieval times. Thus
if the parents Pay for the wedding, it is not a gift. If
however, the Parents Give money to the bride and or groom
ant they use it to finance wdding expenses, The IRS may look
at it as a Gift.

Most likely The IRS would want to be assured that the funds
are actually used for the wedding and not an end run around
the gift tax laws.

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"Gary Goodman" <XgaryX[at]gdgoodman.com> wrote:

- quote -

If your child is your dependent in the year in question, and
does not file a joint tax return with his or her new spouse,
the expenditures count as support, as follows:

Rev. Rul. 76-184, 1976-1 CB 44 -- IRC Sec. 152
Reference(s): Code Sec. 152; Reg § 1.152-1

Full Text:
A parent made expenditures for a child's wedding apparel and
accessories, the wedding reception, and for flowers for the
wedding party, church, and reception. The child did not file
a joint return for the year in which the child was married.

Section 152(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 defines
the term "dependent" as including a child of the taxpayer,
"over half of whose support for the calendar year in which
the taxable year of the taxpayer begins, was received from
the taxpayer." The term "support" is defined in section
1.152-1(a)(2) of the Income Tax Regulations as including
food, shelter, clothing, medical and dental care, education,
and the like.

Held, the expenditures made by the parent in the instant
case for the child's wedding apparel and accessories, the
wedding reception, and for flowers for the wedding party,
church, and reception, are part of the child's support for
purposes of determining whether the child is the parent's
dependent for Federal income tax purposes.

Joel Berry, CPA

Sugar Land, Texas

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"Gary Goodman" <XgaryX[at]gdgoodman.com> wrote:

- quote -

I asked the same question of this group in Dec 2002 and got
a number of interesting replies, mostly along the "throwing
a party" line. A search of Subject: Re: Is Wedding a
"gift?"? should find it.

-bill
cc: copy of most replies direct to questioner.

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Gary Goodman wrote:

- quote -

I can't answer the question about IRS's attitude, but for it
to be considered a taxable gift, the expenditure would have
to be over 11,000$. I can't imagine a wedding costing that
much. (or even 22,000$ assuming joint gift!)

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA in LA

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"Gary Goodman" <XgaryX[at]gdgoodman.com> wrote:

- quote -

You mean does it pass the snicker test? There is NOTHING
about financing a wedding party which would be deductible,
unless there would be some business purpose for the party.
Gifts are not deductible, no matter how you structure them.

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Gary Goodman <XgaryX[at]gdgoodman.com> wrote:

- quote -

No, but a couple of clients have asked about it. I favor
having the parents cut checks for the major expenses
DIRECTLY, rather than just handing a lump sum of money to
the kids. An alternate approach, I suppose, would be to ask
the kids to submit an itemized list of expenses paid (a sort
of an "accountable plan" <g> ).

MTW

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