Don Priebe wrote:

- quote -

Interesting idea there, using statistical sampling
techniques to estimate actual sales tax. It would be
interesting to see if an IRS auditor/examiner would accept
such in the absence of what "they" call for, i.e. actual
receipts.

If one of my clients might be tempted to use such estimates,
I would be pained to ask him if he had considered the fact
that some of his food purchases might have been made across
the river in Georgia, where there is no state sales tax on
food (but there is local tax of 3%). After all, he probably
didn't buy all his food over there.

- quote -

Yep, and that is why I keep receipts for three years,
business receipts that is. Personal receipts, no, cause
after all, I don't itemize on federal return.

- quote -


It was last Thursday. (I feel a country song coming on.)

But....
it was just to visit son, family and grandkids for Christmas.
she's coming back (good news (or bad news?)) tomorrow.

Maybe fifteen years ago we visited daughter up near
Cincernata, and froze! So I vowed never again to go north
of Mason Dixon lline during winter time.

Happy New ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford

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- quote -

It's fairly easy to reasonably reconstruct the amount of
sales tax that you paid during the year if you have been
using Quicken or equivalent to track your expenditures. My
only gray area was food. That category included all grocery
store purchases - both actual food (non-taxed) and other
items such as soap and soda pop which are taxed. Sampling a
month's worth of register tapes gives a handle on that.

I keep records, not receipts. I know what Pub 600 says; I
don't know what the regulations say.

< Looks like a white Christmas up here!
--
Don EA in Upstate NY

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Don Priebe wrote:

- quote -

Ah, so you keep all your receipts, Don?

You DID keep all your receipts, didn't you? (grin

anyway,

MERRY Christmas, Y'all
Harlan Lunsford

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Harlan Lunsford wrote:
- quote -

Not to mention that not all payments amount to taxable
sales.

Stu

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rburns[at]texas.net wrote:

- quote -

These are optional tables one may use in the absence of
having receipts to back up what was actually spent.

there may be some people who make AND spend every dollar of
100,000, but in the main they don't. Also those tables only
take into effect state sales tax, and may be adjusted for
local sales taxes.

Merry Christmas,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
Mon, 20 Dec 2004 22:31:59

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rburns[at]texas.net wrote:

- quote -

In that case, you are permitted to determine the amount
based on your actual expenses (assuming that you have
records of same). Also note that the tables only reflect the
STATE portion of the tax. If your state allows localities to
tack on local rates, you need to use the worksheet in Pub
600 to come up with the appropriate total amount.

In my case, I've "guessed" the table amount to be about 85%
of what I actually spent (WA state). I am curious as to what
others have concluded in this regard, as it probably isn't
worth going to much effort to "document" the difference if
it is only in the neighborhood of about 15%.

MTW

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rburns[at]texas.net wrote:

- quote -

According to
http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/sales/index.html, the
Texas state sales tax rate is 6.25%, which translates to
$16,000 in sales taxable purchases in a year. That's a
pretty good amount of taxable purchases for one person.

If your total rate is 8%, you get to add an additional
[(8-6.25)/6.25]=28% to the table amount. So if your table
amount is exactly $1,000, your sales tax deduction would be
$1,280.

I live in Oklahoma, a state which has an income tax, and my
combined state and local sales tax rate is 10% (which
applies to everything but prescription drugs and services),
so I don't feel too sorry for you.

My sales tax deduction (on much much less income) is about
$1,200, which is probably more than I actually spend on
sales tax, so IMHO the tables are overly generous.

Phoebe

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- quote -

The table amount in my case seems to be about 57% of what I
actually paid.

--
Don EA in Upstate NY

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"rburns[at]texas.net" <rburns[at]texas.net> wrote:

- quote -

Many of the things you spend the most money on probably
don't charge sales tax. For instance, your mortgage or
rent, your car payments, medical expenses, and utilities.
Does Texas have sales tax on groceries (in Mass we have
"meal tax", so you pay tax at restaurants, but not when you
buy individual items at supermarkets)?

Take a look at your budget and figure out how many of your
expenses are taxable?

Anyway, if the table doesn't match your circumstances, you
can keep your receipts and use the actual sales tax you
paid. This is similar to the standard deduction, which is
too low for most homeowners.

--
Barry Margolin, barmar[at]alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA

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Am I missing something here or are the amounts in their
tables WAY too low? How can someone earning over $100,000 in
TX (at 8.00% state sales tax) pay only about $1,000 in sales
taxes for the year? If I pay sales taxes on only a quarter
of this income, it is still twice this much! Can somebody
clue me in on this?

Thanks,
Ross

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