Taxes, Investments and off-topic comments*

*TAXES , INVESTMENTS and some off-topic items 1-5-2007*

In this blog I’ll cover several items, along with some off-topic comments. One is a new tax form just announced by the IRS and the other is a discussion of the difference in pricing and trading of Mutual Funds, ETFs and CEFs. And an update on the strongest and weakest performing ETFs. Also I’ve added a link to Publication 17 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf The off-topic items are “Who’s reading this blog?" and a test of a Google feature that I can use to include spreadsheets in this blog. The test spreadsheet is for the Required minimum withdrawals from IRAs.
The IRS has a new form for the telephone tax refund.
New 1040EZ-T Form.
For people who don’t need to file a regular tax return, the IRS has developed a special, shorter form to allow them to request the telephone refund. Copies of the Form 1040EZ-T will be available from the IRS at their web site.

More than 10 million taxpayers who aren’t normally required to file a tax return may be able to use this new form. Taxpayers can either claim the standard amount on this form or attach a Form 8913 to claim actual amounts.

MUTUAL FUNDS, CEFs AND ETFs

I based the comments below, in part, from an article I read in Scott Burns’ column in the Dallas Morning News, especially the explanation of how ETFs are kept in a trading range near their net asset value. His columns are also available at http://www.scottburns.com/
MUTUAL FUNDS
Mutual funds issue and redeem shares based on net asset value ( NAV) per share of the underlying portfolio as of the end of the day. If you place an order you cannot know exactly what price you will pay until after the market closes and the fund calculates the NAV.

CLOSED-END FUNDS (CEFs)
Closed-end funds sometimes trade at substantial premiums or discounts to the value of the underlying portfolio.

EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS (ETFs)
ETFs trade very close to the underlying net asset value due to arbitraging away the spread. The ETFs have large trading entities that create or dissolve relatively large units of the fund when there is a profitable gap between the market price of the ETF and the underlying value of the shares in the portfolio.

UPDATE TO ETF relative strengths

BEST PERFORMING ETFs in order of relative strength
EWS, PGJ, EWJ, FXI, EWG (FXI was previously the strongest performer)

WORST PERFORMING ETFs (in order of relative weakness)
PBE, PXE, PXJ, TIP, OIH (When oil prices were high OIH was a top performer)

WHO READS THIS BLOG?
The last 20 were from all over the United States plus one each from Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, Argentina, Sweden, Spain and Iran (Azarbayjan).
It is encouraging to see such diverse and widespread readership.

THIS IS A TEST – CAN I INCLUDE SPREADSHEETS IN THIS BLOG?
Here is a spreadsheet I uploaded to Google’s web based equivalent of Word and Excel:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?id=o05302130521655594127.1852742422703858586.02923388698142965866.7675287589426106010
I clicked the link It is slow, but it works! Now I can include links to other worksheets in this blog.

You can also get there by clicking (hopefully) :
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pj8wJGJ7zlEmaY4_NakO2GQ
I may even try writing a blog on the Google equivalent of Word. (It is free so Microsoft can’t compete on pricing).

REFERENCES –KEY ITEMS:
WHERE TO FILE: http://www.irs.gov/file/index.html
RESTORED DEDUCIONS for Sales Tax
http://www.irs.gov//pub/irs-pdf/p600.pdf

PUBLICATION 17 This publication is a reference book covering most topics encountered in preparing Form 1040 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf It's a lengthy download since there are a lot of pages.

OTHER FORMS AND PUBLICATIONS:
Car Expense-- Pub 334,463,535 (See link below)
Sale of Principal Residence-- Pubs 523 and IRC § 121
Sec 179 write-offs for SUVs and other equipment-- Form 4562, Pub 946, IRC §167
Office in Home--- Form 8829, Pub 587
Mutual Fund -- phantom profits, reinvested dividends:-- Pub 550 and 564
Alternative Minimum Tax --- Pub 929 (individuals) Pub 542 (corporations)
Link to IRS forms and publications:http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html
Link to IRS Section No. http://www.taxalmanac.org/index.php/Internal_Revenue_Code
To subscribe to IRS Newswire http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/content/0,,id=103381,00.html
=>SEE ARCHIVES FOR December (81 blogs) ==>
Link to IRS forms and publications:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html

ELECTRONIC FILING:
To find an e-filer near you, type in your ZIP CODE after clicking this link:
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118449,00.html
TO CONTACT ME OR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG:
Email me at taxxcpa2007@hotmail.com

TO SUBSCRIBE:
RSS:

This information is not intended to be advice to the recipient. In compliance with Treasury Department Circular 230, unless stated to the contrary, any Federal Tax advice contained in this Blog was not intended or written to be used and cannot be used for the purposes of avoiding penalties.