It's Taxing

Gjelina's Patio

"Jake Gyllenhaal, enjoying a late lunch with a guy pal on the patio at Gjelina restaurant on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Calif. The actor sipped water with lime during his quiet meal of thin-crust pizza. "It seemed like a really relaxed lunch," says an observer, noting that even ultra-trendy patrons of the hip local spot were rubbernecking for a peek at the actor. "They lingered for a while." -- People April 15, 2009

"late lunch"
"guy pal"
"quiet meal"
"really relaxed lunch"
"even ultra-trendy patrons of the hip local spot were rubbernecking for a peek"

Hmmmm...... this doesn't sound like his standard business lunch. ; )







A few months earlier:

Accountant: "Jake, there are few things I need to go over that you have marked as business expenses."

"Go For it. "

"January 20th - Breakfast."

"Business"

"February 29th - Coffee"

"Business"

"You have a receipt for a black and blue plaid shirt , it's written here lumberjake or is that lumberjack ?"

"Business"

"What about the other plaid shirts you've been seen them? With the birds?"

"No, that's personal."

"You had no expenses for a trip to NY late February?"

"Not my business expense."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Coffee - March 15th?"

"Business. Look if there its for two coffees and that's it - BUSINESS!"

[Accountant --- going through a stack and pushing a big stack over to the side]

"And you put in everything for your gas and mileage?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Receipts for Charleston?"

"Well there's no money from the production company so make that business, except anything dated around May 1-3 - send to Evelyn."

"What about a dinner in a place called Zaytinya in DC ?"

"BUSINESS. It's Business If I marked it business it's business."

"Ok. Ok Jake."

"I just have to make sure - I mean I need to make sure if the IRS decides to audit you, why you wrote off everything as business. I mean it might look a little odd that everything with your ... uh well..."

"yes..."

"Ms Wi... well you know... the person you are "dating" marked business
Like this ... your birthday, dinner .... how can that be business?
I mean you had to buy your own birthday dinner ?"

"Yes"

"Damn, that's getting the business"

For those in the U.S. who have not filed their taxes yet, today's your last day.
(Hey I might see you in the line...ahem)

A sobering thought and an OMG rewind from last year on this day.

"For gay couples, the April 15 tax filing deadline can be a reminder of the disparities they face, even in a nation that is becoming more accepting of same-sex couples.

Gay couples often pay higher taxes because they don't get the federal tax benefits that go with marriage. And for couples in state-sanctioned domestic partnerships, civil unions, or same-sex marriages, filing federal income taxes can involve doing three sets of paperwork instead of one." - The Advocate (Online 4/8-4/12, 2008)

Check out the rest of the article

The Advocate

and another article about federal rights for same sex couples

Massachusetts couples suing for Federal Rights

But change is happening. Things are changing each and every week, like Iowa, Vermont.
And this week.

New York Gov. David A. Paterson, tomorrow will announce plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in the state of New York.

Change is happening. Change is happening. Change is happening. Hello California...

Gay News Corner- Tax Time!

Today is April 15th, which means we file and pay our taxes in the U. S. Not having our relationships legally recognized can create many headaches for gay couples. Check out this article from the Advocate-

Tax Time for Gay Couples Means Complications, Higher Bills

For gay couples, the April 15 tax filing deadline can be a reminder of the disparities they face, even in a nation that is becoming more accepting of same-sex couples.

Gay couples often pay higher taxes because they don't get the federal tax benefits that go with marriage. And for couples in state-sanctioned domestic partnerships, civil unions, or same-sex marriages, filing federal income taxes can involve doing three sets of paperwork instead of one.

''It's a significant financial disability,'' said Beth Asaro, who last year entered into one of New Jersey's first legally recognized civil unions.

While the debate over government recognition of gay marriage is a political hot-button with arguments about morality, civil rights, and tradition, the tax issue is a mostly practical one for thousands of same-sex couples.

Most states don't recognize same-sex unions in any way. Only in Massachusetts can gay couples legally marry. Since 1997, nine other states and Washington D.C. started offering civil unions or domestic partnerships that give some or all the legal protections of marriage.

Those protections include allowing gay couples to file state taxes jointly -- potentially saving them money. But they can also make tax filing more complicated for the couples.

That's because the state protections do not help with federal taxes. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, the government recognizes marriage only between a man and a woman.

''You're running one household,'' said John Traier, a partner in the Butler, N.J., accounting firm Hammond & Traier. ''But the federal government and a lot of states treat them as two households.''

The same is true for unmarried straight couples who are living together.

There are two main effects of the different treatment under federal law.

One is the tax rate. Take two couples where one partner has a taxable income of $20,000 and the other makes $40,000. If they can file their federal taxes jointly, the tax bill would be $8,217.50. Filing separately, the combined bill would be $9,032.50 -- more than $800 higher.

Another disparity comes with the federal government's treatment of employer-provided health insurance, which also affects unmarried heterosexual couples.

For example, Dan Jessup is a project manager at JPMorgan Chase in Indiana. His partner, Bob Chenoweth, is self-employed, running two businesses out of the couple's Mooresville, Ind., home. So Chenoweth gets health insurance through Chase.

But Jessup is required to count the company's cost of his partner's benefits as additional income for tax purposes.

State and federal taxes on those benefits cost about $1,800 per year, Jessup said.

''I certainly think about it every payday,'' when the extra withholding is taken from his paycheck, he said. ''If you think about 10 years, $18,000 is a lot of money. That could buy me a pretty nice car.''

The tax on benefits for domestic partners also applies to employers. Companies including Chase are endorsing the Human Rights Campaign's push for a bill that would end the tax on health plan benefits for people who are neither the spouse nor legal dependent of the employee. Versions of the bill have been introduced in Congress in the last three sessions, but have never moved out of committee.

A government analysis estimated the bill would cost about $10 billion in lost federal tax revenue over 10 years. Advocates for the bill say it would create savings elsewhere, including reducing the Medicaid rolls.

Ryan Ellis, the tax policy director for Americans for Tax Reform, said his group supports the concept, but not the specific language of the bill, because it does not propose increasing how much domestic partners could put into health savings accounts.

It's not just the higher bills that can be frustrating for same-sex taxpayers; it's also the process of filing taxes, particularly in states that offer some joint benefits to gay couples.

''I don't want to say it's chaotic, but it's very difficult for a lot of reasons,'' said Traier, the accountant who is in a civil union partnership himself.

In New Jersey and the other states where same-sex unions are formally recognized, couples can file their state taxes jointly, but they must file their federal tax returns as individuals.

That means doing income calculations twice. Many tax programs such as Intuit's TurboTax are set up to deal with that extra math.

But there are other issues even up-to-date software might not solve.

These issues also affect unmarried straight couples.

For instance, couples with children must decide which partner gets to claim them as dependents for tax purposes on federal returns and returns in states that don't recognize same-sex unions. Similarly, couples who own homes together have to sort out how much of the mortgage interest payments each partner gets to use as a deduction, said Lara Schwartz, the Human Rights Campaign legal director.

''If you are not a different sex'' from your partner, Schwartz said, ''you are strangers, basically, under federal law.'' (Geoff Mulvihill, AP)

Below is a lovely scene from the Botanic Gardens to help you get through your taxes. Note- this pic does include orchid porn! Make bigger by clicking on it. It is lovely enlarged and you can see the names of some of the orchids.

Pic by Wicked's Mrs.