Tk77Mann

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    • Wed Oct 29th 12:17 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      New Accounting Practices Will Boost Bank Equity Values
      While Mark to Market can be painful, think of how painful other more judgemental valuation methods are in the hands of bad and / or corrupt management. Enron managers would have loved to be able to set their own (wildly inflated) values on crooked assets. They might have avoided going to jail for even longer than they did.

      The bottom line is companies have to minimize illiquid assets whose values are not easily judged.
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    • Wed Apr 16th 13:14 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Who's to Blame for the Commodities Boom?
      The real fix to overheated US prices is to stop the record government deficits and record import deficits. Commodity prices are high because the US dollar has been weakened so much by our government and its policies, especially in the past seven years. The rest of the world is just adjusting the value of our currency to acknowledge its true value. Commodities are just another asset whose price in US dollars is adjusting / weakening, much like foreign currencies.

      World demand for commodities is not going to be limited by the rest of the world, who wants our lifestyle and quality and choice of products.

      The US standard of living is coming down whether we like it or not. We have to pay the piper for our economic excesses.
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    • Wed Apr 16th 13:02 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      8 High-Yielding Stocks for Income Investors
      If you buy them for an IRA account you will pay the Canadian government their 15% and also the US government when you take money out of the IRA account. So, to avoid double taxation, a lot of folks just buy CanRoys for their trading / investment account.
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    • Tue Apr 1st 12:31 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      8 High-Yielding Stocks for Income Investors
      d_teller,

      Here is a link to the 990-T instructions that tells that UGBI must be reported on a 990-T form for IRA and Roth IRA accounts. The specifics are at the bottom of the second column on page 2 of the instructions.

      www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pd...

      I had asked my buddy, who is a tax lawyer, about this issue. He confirmed that IRA accounts holding partnership units / shares are considered "unrelated" investments by the IRS, which is why the 990-T filing requirement. Corporation shares are related investments for IRAs but PTP shares are not. (No, it does not make sense, but this is the government, so . . . .)

      With regard to the above link, if you copy and paste the whole thing into your browser address line, it works. (or it did for me just now.) The software on this webpage split it into two pieces and just clicking on what appears to be the linkable piece does not take you anywhere.

      Also, for more taxing uncertainties for us CanRoy owners, the Canadian government announced in their "Halloween surprise" that they plan to tax CanRoys like corporations starting in 2011. So the U.S. taxes on dividends might increase, as d_teller identified, after George Bush's tax reductions go away, but higher Canadian government taxes might still offset the higher US taxes in 2011. The US and Canada have offsetting tax codes in a treaty that covers this.

      For sure things will be uncertain for a while with CanRoys and how they are taxed on both sides of the border. That is one reason, along with normal fluctuating oil and gas prices, why CanRoys are priced low, which give them such a high yield (for now at least).

      View article »
    • Fri Mar 28th 12:48 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      8 High-Yielding Stocks for Income Investors
      OneRichOne and D_Teller, even though distributions from publicly traded partnerships (like PGH, BPL, and FUN) are not taxed, I believe their Unrelated Gross Business Income (UGBI) does have to be reported on tax form 990-T, if it is more than $1,000 and if the shares are in an IRA account. It does not mean the revenues or distributions into tax-deferred accounts is taxable, it just means you have to file that form every year. Here is what the Cedar Fair (FUN) PTP tax form states: "IRAs and tax-exempt entities with more than $1,000 of Unrelated Business Gross Income (UGBI) are required to file a tax return (Form 990-T). UGBI is identified on your Schedule K-1 and is located on the Federal Supplemental Information Schedule that is included in your tax package." Since PGH has such a high payout, it does not take many shares before you hit the $1,000.

      PGH is a publicly traded partnership and its UGBI meets the above requirements for IRA filing. HTE and PWE are not PTPs for US tax purposes and their distributions count as regular dividends. These companies are fairly easy to file taxes for.

      User 166382, you must be very detailed oriented (and even more compulsive than I am). The K-1 values go into a whole lot of tax forms (1040, 1116, 4797, 6251, 4952 and Schedule D) and it is anything but crystal clear to me. There are even values on the PTP graphic guides which do not have instructions as to where they should go on the tax forms.

      Check out page six of the FUN tax guide for the visual direction FUN gives on how to fill out taxes for their distributions:

      www.cedarfair.com/_upl...

      PGH in their tax FAQ this year says they offer an automatic download from their website into TurboTax but that TurboTax does not populate form 1116 correctly and that we should contact our tax advisor for assistance with this form. If TurboTax can't even handle all the inputs, I think K-1 tax filings are a pain.

      I look at the cash flows, much more than profits, when I look at any potential stock investment, especially good dividend payers. Some companies have huge depreciation and amortization expenses (non-cash, of course) that are much bigger than their annual capital expenses. This gives them much better cash flows than their income statements and P/Es would make you think. They can pay great dividends and buy back lots of shares, and still stay in business. Take a look at CZN, WIN, and EQ for great dividends.

      CTL is in the same industry and has the same high cash flows but mainly buys back their shares with all their cash, but is not too much of a dividend payer. In 2007 CTL bought back $460M of their shares, which is great for a company with a total market cap of just $3.52B. If they keep that buyback rate up I will own all of the company in 8 years because I am not selling. LOL.

      Yahoo has regularly updated cash flow statements for all US-based stocks and they are a great reference, IMHO.

      As stated above, great discussion on this site. Much better than on a typical Message Board.



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    • Thu Mar 20th 11:14 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      8 High-Yielding Stocks for Income Investors
      Good article, but one important thing about PGH is that it is treated like a partnership by the US government for personal tax reporting purposes. That means you have to file additional, detailed, and hard to use paperwork every April 15 when you own these shares, even in an IRA or other tax-deferred account. Otherwise it is a good company to own shares (or units, more precisely) in but the annual tax reporting is not for those who want an easy filing every year.
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