I'm not giving my name, but they scrutinize everything I do too....at an average working person's pay (about $50k/yr).
For many years I always took the standard deduction because it was easier. Generally speaking when I work(ed) on my taxes, I'd have just a little over the standard anyway. After 28 Jan 2011, that practice ended. And because of that, I take every.single exemption, deduction, write-off, etc that I can legally take, and I mean all of them (that I know of--and I try my best to stay up to date on it). They want to play, I'll play...legally and they know it. Taxes are in the back of my mind in about everything I do.
it is ridiculous and it "should" be illegal. But the IRS agent once told me and I directly quote "we are the irs we can do anything we want"
they want you to pay 50% or more taxes on what you own, and they do it legally by playing the wording (just as politicians always do)
On motor vehicles you pay tax on gas/diesel, personal property, sales and use tax, tax on repair and maintenance parts, tire tax (on top of sales and use tax that you also pay on the tires), much much more...it all adds up.
on farm tax exemptions, you have to be careful. I think I mentioned before that they were actively going after people who were using their "farms" for their own tax incentives here. My friend had the agents show up looking for a certain side-by-side as part of an audit. When asked why he was looking for it, it was explained that the tax code requires that if it is claimed on the farm, it must remain on the farm property only and be used for farm purposes...meaning if they found any deer hunting tools or evidence of it going off the property for anything but repair, etc (recreational use), they could be fined. My friend told them to come back with a warrant which they did. I asked him about sale of farm use property and he said that as long as the bill of sale stated that it was sold to the farm's name and not to an individual, it should be fine. Keep a copy of the signed bill of sale and you're good to go. On the financials, cert check should be ok so long as the farm's name is on it and the bill of sale reflects that. Always write up a bill of sale, and if you don't know how, generally your state should have a downloadable template for you to use, on one of their many websites. Unfortunately you have to protect yourself as much as you can regardless of whether you are the buyer or seller. Even best friends, sometimes things happen (happened to me with an old truck). I sold my old chevy to him and listed the sale price on the BOS for a little less than the taxable threshold, but actually sold it for about $1200 more. Cash sale. Well a few days later he had a problem with the truck (transmission, GMC, imagine that!) and took me to small claims over it, and I nearly got my tit in the wringer over the BOS and sale amounts. I easily won the case but with a stern warning from the judge. In my case, unless the sale contract and/or BOS states otherwise, all vehicles are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale so I was cleared of that part, but they sure weren't happy about the listed sale price vs actual cash sale.
