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Hi Bill,
What did you think of the book? I went to Amazon to check it out and was
suprised to see it was about $80. The readers reviews were interesting.
Most felt it did not dedicate enough coverage the subject of taxes as it
applies to the Trader as the title would indicate. Here is one of the more
interesting reviews:
"This book gives a unique point of view so, it does not duplicate what you
can get in other tax books. It advocates you try to qualify for 'Trader
Status', and there are several Supreme Court tax cases concerning this
difficult to qualify status. This status means that your TRADE as a serious
business, hold postions for generally less than a month. All your expenses
become fully deductable on Schedule C, HOWEVER you lose Capital Gain
treatment AND must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your Self
Employment income but you can set up a pension plan and/or SEP IRA. I think
there is too great a danger of a nasty IRS audit, and not enough taxes
saved. A difficult route for a Futures Trader, nearly impossible for a Stock
trader except for some SOES traders."
My understanding of the situation is that if you show income from another
source like a job or business, then there's little chance that you can
convince the IRS that you're in the business of trading (even if you trade
commodities and hold for short periods). Therefore while you show
gains/losses on Schedule D, you cannot deduct or expense any of your
operating costs like telephone, computers, software, etc.
If you're not certified or licensed and trade only your own commodities
account as your primary source of income are you only self-employed or are
you in the "business of trading", and can expense or amortize your various
expenses? I guess it's up to the individual to decide it they want to risk
a potential test by the IRS.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Coward <wrcoward@xxxxxxxxx>
To: metastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <metastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: Using "Trader" Status for Income Taxes
>Lou,
>
>According to Ted Tesser, author of TRADER'S TAX SURVIVAL GUIDE, and a CPA
>and tax accountant specializing in investment taxation, trading activity is
>considered to be capital gain income (or loss) and should be reported on
>Schedule D. It should not be reported on Schedule C, the form for
>reporting earned income from a business or trade, nor should it be reported
>on Schedule SE, the form for calculating self-employment tax on earned
>income from a business or trade. He goes on to say that, since the income
>is not earned, no retirement plan contribution should be made against it.
>
>Thanks for your feedback.
>
>Bill
>
>----------
>> From: Lou Baker <louab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: metastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: Using "Trader" Status for Income Taxes
>> Date: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 12:40 PM
>>
>> Bill, although not a direct answer to your question, look carefully at
>the
>> self-employment tax you may be liable to pay if you claim a trade or
>> business, unless you max out on other earned income, of course. Lou
>>
>>
>
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