IVA and Finance Blog

The IRS mileage rate as of January 2009 can be used to determine how much you should be allowed to claim as a deductible expense for operating a car or vehicle for business use, for medical use or for moving purposes.

Efficiently it means that the IRS rate for business use is now calculated at 55 cents/mile driven.

Somehow, this amount drops to 24 cents/mile driven for any medical purposes. It’s okay for you to claim deduction of fourteen cents per mile driven from any charitable organizations.

With the cost of fuel slowly creeping up again, making the most of claiming for deductible expenses for vehicle use means the IRS mileage rate could prove very convenient for many people.

You should keep in mind that there are 2 ways to count deductible car costs when you’re counting your very own deductible expenses and factoring in the IRS mileage rate throughout the tax year.

The primary is the IRS mileage rate which by far the easiest process. The amount of 55 cents per mile driven for business reason calculated by basing estimates of the costs of running a vehicle.

For the vast majority of people using the IRS mileage rate can help to reduce your tax liability and increase the amount you’re potentially likely to claim in deductions.

However the alternative option for some business people is to calculate the actual expenses of operating a vehicle throughout the year. This means keeping a correct log-book to note all miles driven. That is also means keeping your receipts for maintenance cost and fuel as well as servicing. Registration and insurance costs should also be included, along with any other routine maintenance or repairs that may arise through the year.

Recording so many costs throughout the year can be a little burdensome on the paperwork side of things and so many people prefer to simply use the calculation for the IRS mileage rate. You may find that your deductions outweight the amount handed automatically by the IRS mileage rate if you are willing to put up a little discomfort of keeping receipts that real costs.

You may speak to your accountant whether you should take advantage of the IRS mileage rate or the actual cost basis or keep running cost of your total cost for 3 months and then multiply that amount by four so that you will get estimation of how much you can claim in a year. If you’re unsure of which way to proceed, call the IRS and they’ll be able to assist you with any questions.

Bankruptcies are a legal means of protecting citizens from dire financial circumstances. The current federal bankruptcy law helps making sure that public of the country can make use of a legal course of action to get rid of their financial woes and do something to handle non-payable loans whenever their situation is not under control. However, it pays to understand that despite the existing federal bankruptcy laws that bankruptcy is not a solution to every financial problem and it is also not an easy means to regain financial stability.

Stricter Laws Of Federal Bankruptcy Law

What’s more, ever since the year 2005, federal bankruptcy laws have become stricter and so, today a person that plans on using the federal bankruptcy law to file for bankruptcy will encounter far more problems than people did when filing for bankruptcy prior to 2005. In case you are sure that you want to take seek shelter beneath existing federal bankruptcy laws then you must file for bankruptcy in a bankruptcy court.

Remember, that present federal bankruptcy laws also require that you file in a bankruptcy court and not in the state court. What’s more, there are over ninety different districts which are governed by federal bankruptcy laws and each of these districts has their own bankruptcy courts.

If you are not aware of existing federal bankruptcy laws then you need to find out more and for this you need to check the Bankruptcy Code. Furthermore, you have to also ascertain which particular type of bankruptcy to file for and each type is categorized as a Chapter and there some very well known Chapters including Chapter 7 and Chapters 11 and 13.

There are separate bankruptcy laws in regard to individuals and businesses. The federal bankruptcy laws take into account the applicant’s personal situation and as long as the applicant ensures doing the paperwork properly there is good reason to believe that the laws will protect them and provide them with relief.

The existing federal bankruptcy laws allow for the debts to be wiped out completely or the applicant can pay back the debts through process of liquidation or even according to a court settled payment plan.

As there are separate chapters that deal with business bankruptcies and individual bankruptcies it pays to find out more about business bankruptcy laws if you are a small business that is planning to file for bankruptcy. Typically, this means that you should understand Chapter 11 bankruptcy that deals with businesses that want protection from financial woes.

Sal Buscemi of Dandrew Capital Partners discusses his hedge fund’s involvement in the distressed assets business.

Bulk REO Investing is proving to be one of the most profitable fields of investment during 2009 and beyond. Bulk REO Investors profit by purchasing groups (commonly called “REO portfolios”) of properties from lenders who have repossessed the properties and have urgent need to release pressure from their balance sheets. Due to the urgency of the balance sheet needs of the financial institutions coupled with the investor’s ability to buy a package of REO properties rather than individual properties, it’s frequently possible for a well-capitalized bulk reo investor to acquire REO packages at extremely attractive prices.

To get the full details, I chatted with Salvatore Buscemi of New York-based distressed asset hedge fund Dandrew Capital Partners.

“Dandrew Capital works by making offers to financial institutions on the basis of a percentage of unpaid principal balance. This means that if we make an offer of 60 cents on the dollar for a package of mortgages with a remainder of $3,000,000 in principal balance, then we’ll pay $1,800,000 to acquire that package” says Buscemi.

There are probably few people who are better positioned for the present economic downturn than Salvatore Buscemi and Dandrew Capital Partners. “Several years ago, everyone in the financial world thought that there would be no end to the booming real estate market. That made it very challenging for us, since we began marketing our distressed real estate asset fund before the real estate market began to fall apart.”

But Buscemi is obviously on the right side of the market trends. “Clearly, our strategy has been vindicated. Our fund is fully subscribed and we have plans for starting another fund exclusively for foreign investors.

What is particularly interesting about the way Dandrew Capital monetizes their property investments. “At the conclusion of our reo portfolio transactions, we own multiple properties which must then be monetized to bring a return to our fund. To do this, we resell our properties to retail home buyers via seller financing. By cutting traditional lenders out of our transactions, we are able to sell our properties quickly and at very attractive terms” says Buscemi.

The future seems quite bright for astute Bulk REO investors.

Most of the bankruptcy that we hear about comes from the periodicals and small business owners are the ones that are experiencing the largest number of bankruptcies. This section of the public is not well informed about bankruptcy, which is why they are experiencing problems. Let me share a little help for them here.

Small Business Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is the situation that will happen when an organization or an individual is unable to pay their debts to creditors. In a lot of cases the debtor himself files for bankruptcy and sometimes it is the creditors who file bankruptcy for a company. Many times companies will go for Bankruptcy Chapter 11. The key purpose behind filing bankruptcy is to be able to repay your outstandings, and to turn over a new leaf. In addition the person who files for bankruptcy will be protected by the court from those creditors who may take possible legal or illegal action like compelling payments or social pressure.

The timing of filing a bankruptcy should be proper and right. in the event that the company is not doing well and all other resources for paying back your creditors have been exhausted then you should certainly file for bankruptcy. Small businesses can be classified as having less than 50 employees. They can be sole proprietorships, partnerships or corporations. Yearly sales records are not very significant.

Bankruptcy can be filed by the business owners when their enterprises fail. Small businesses in this position are often given an exemption by the state to protect the company and its assets. So that they can continue to operate their business even at the time of bankruptcy.

But the most difficult task for the small businesses is re-establishing or building a new business. With this scenario organizations like International Charter can provide certificates that will testify to the quality of products and work the company produces this will attract the attention of potential customers and new customers. Nevertheless your best bet is to gather satisfied customer referrals.

A small business gets into the state of bankruptcy because of poor planning and bad economic conditions. Secondly the business owner does not have much capital to manage the losses that will lead to bankruptcy. When you take care of these things it will stabilize the business and avoid the need to file for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy procedure usually begins with a debtor filing a bankruptcy petition.

A group of creditors can give a joint petition if the sum is huge. In filing the petition, the creditor must hand in the proof that the debtor is unable to pay in order to get the petition into effect.

After the raising of the petition, the court will decide if the it is OK to declare bankruptcy. Once the order of bankruptcy is passed, an official will be appointed to take charge of the debtor’s property.

The debtor has to submit the Official Receiver within 21 days of the making of a bankruptcy order the statement of affairs. Once the order is received, the official will call for a meeting with both the debtor and the creditor. The personal property of the debtor’s would be treated under the trustee of the bankruptcy and only a few properties will be exempted from the bankruptcy. Possessions that are not exempted will be sold for cash.

The official in charge of the debtor’s properties will have to sell the properties, the sold amount will then be used to clear the debts of the debtor.

A secured creditor does not depend on the trustee for the repayment of the debts that are due to them. If the sale is unable to produce sufficient funds for covering the debt, then the creditor has the option to claim the balance amount as an unsecured creditor. On the other hand, if the sale of the debtor’s property is more than the debts owe combined then the repayment will be distributed equally. The Trustee is is a court assigned officer with certain authority. This officer called as the bankruptcy administrator having the responsibilities of supervising the filed cases and activities between the creditors and the debtor.

All debtors who files for bankruptcy must go for credit counselling course. Do ensure that you attend the course from the court appointed one. The course will educate you in the details of bankruptcy. All of us should be well-versed in the laws of bankruptcy and the fees involved so that it can help when the need arises.

Bankruptcy offers hope to those people that have been snowed under by non-payable debts and who need a legitimate solution to their problems. Having debts that are non-payable often leads to very serious issues and requires being handled carefully and properly. Filing for bankruptcy can help you out as it offers a chance to make a fresh beginning in life. Recently there have been a few changes that have taken place in regard to chapter 7 bankruptcy laws and so if you are planning to use Chapter 7 Bankruptcy it pays to understand these changes and know what effect the changes have on your ability to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Discharge Your Debts As per Guidelines Given In Chapter 7 Of Bankruptcy Law

Chapter 7 bankruptcies is a good means for an individual to discharge their debts though with the changes that have taken place in regard to chapter 7 bankruptcy law you have to now, in case you plan on filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, prove that you are incapable of repaying your debts. The way that you have to prove your inability to pay off your debts is through taking a test known as means test.

The means test takes into account the applicant’s present income as too their expenses and then sees how much the applicant is snowed under. When the income of the applicant is less than their state’s median income then the chapter 7 bankruptcy law works in your favor. However, in case your income is higher than the state median income then the chapter 7 bankruptcy law will force you into hiring a lawyer to sort things out.

The good news however is that regardless of changes that have been made to chapter 7 bankruptcy laws chances is great that most people will still qualify for declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

To ensure that you do not violate chapter 7 bankruptcy laws it does however pay to consider hiring a Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney to handle your case. Due to the changes that have altered chapter 7 bankruptcy laws it is compulsory that a specialist handle the filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy because now the Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws have become more complex which a normal person may not be able to understand on their own. Even judges are having difficulties in interpreting the new chapter 7 bankruptcy laws!

In respect to understanding federal bankruptcy regulations; though these laws are valid in all over the country each of the state has their own guidelines that administer how to handle bankruptcies in the state. This means that certain states have enacted their own rules to help decide on matters such as exemptions and other related matters.

Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in which a debtor declares his or her inability to pay consumer or business debts as they become due.

You may find yourself in such dire financial condition that you truly feel there’s no way out, short of filing bankruptcy. There are surely cases where filing bankruptcy is your best or only option. However, bankruptcy is a serious situation which requires considerable research and thought before you proceed. Recent changes to bankruptcy laws have made it more difficult for an individual to file for bankruptcy. The law is quite complex and there are many caveats, which exclude certain types of debts from being discharged. For these reasons, you’ll want to get some straight answers to bankruptcy questions before you commit yourself in court. Let’s take a look at some situations that may apply to your case.

There are several types of debts which the court may not allow to be discharged in your bankruptcy filing. For example, if you have obtained a government funded or guaranteed loan for education, you will still be required to repay this debt. If you owe alimony or child support, the court will not discharge this obligation. Certain debts owed for injuries or death as a result of a DUI will also stand after bankruptcy. In some cases, condominium fees you owe will also not be discharged. There are also tax claims which are not dischargeable. You can see that having all of these debts may make your bankruptcy pointless. This list is certainly not comprehensive, so you’ll do well to consult an attorney or simply do some research on getting some of your answers to bankruptcy questions before you incur yet more debt.

A lot of people facing bankruptcy still assume that they are allowed to keep vehicles that are financed, which is no longer true. A lender has the right to repossess your vehicles if you have a couple of vehicles that are financed.  In this case, bankruptcy cannot protect you.

Another common thing is if you are paying a mortgage on your home, the debt also survives bankruptcy.

Regardless of bankruptcy your creditors have the right to challenge you in a separate court proceeding on a debt which they feel they should be allowed to collect. They can sue you to validate their claim.

Do your research and get all of your answers to bankruptcy questions before you opt for filing if you are considering bankruptcy. There are a lot of options that may serve you well.

Article by Chris B, you can find more about him on his profile.

Some people may accumulate too much debts and they may encounter a situation where they cannot pay off their debts. If that is the case, filing for bankruptcy may be your only way out. There are many people who opts to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. In this chapter, all your non-exempted assets will be sold or liquidated which would allows a debtor to some ability to repay their debts. The process is fully supervised, and the court will appoint a a person known as a trustee to get sales from all the non-exempt assets of the defaulter and appropriate the sales money to various creditors. Exemptions means that there are assets that you get to keep when chapter 7 bankruptcy is filed. It is true that chapter 7 tend to help the debtors more and with with the exemptions in place, a debtor can bring their personal liability to the bottom and keep some personal belongings.

In this exemption the debtor keeps the property that he is allowed to keep. This list will be provided in the Federal Bankruptcy Code. All the property of the debtor will be separated as exempt or non-exempt once the trustee files a property exemption report. The exemptions are not across the board and the law can be very different in some states, but the basic laws should remain the same.

Debts that are classified as secured debts will be paid first. As for debts that are unsecured, there are possibilities that the creditors of unsecured debts may not get the money in full. The trustee will pay the right creditors in the right amount. One thing to note, if you want to file bankruptcy chapter 7 exemptions, the debtor must file the case in the state where the debtor resides for a period of 730 days before he/she can file for this type of bankruptcy. Or the debtor may also file the case in a state where he/she has previously lived for more than 180 days, up to 2 years.

Federal exemptions may also be provided including retirement benefits, death disability benefits, survivor’s benefits and miscellaneous. Take note that not all the benefits are available in all states.

No one like bankruptcy. It takes away a lot of things in your life and, your credit score will fall because of a filing of bankruptcy. Not only you will lose most of your possessions and you need start a new leaf, both personal and business wise. It must only be considered when there is no other option.

Unfortunately, if you are in the dired situation, then always learn as much as possible about chapter 7 exemptions as it can help you reduce your personal loss of assets and get to repay your debts as soon as possible.

Bankruptcy is not an easy way out. We should get that out of the way right up front. It is important to know right from the beginning that bankruptcy isn’t a “get out of jail free” card from the government. Bankruptcy can take away most debts, but it is going to cost you something in return.

Important Bankruptcy Information You Need to Know

The first step should be to gather all of the information you can on bankruptcy. I recommend free organizations like the Bankruptcy Help Desk. If you can’t avoid it and absolutely have to file for bankruptcy, your first step needs to be to get into a credit counseling plan. Filing bankruptcy has to come after you’ve completed your credit counseling plan. This is because you need to be viewed as unable to pay your bills. A credit advocate has to say that there is no hope of you paying off your debt, so bankruptcy is the only option.

If you file for bankruptcy, it will stay on your credit report for 10 years. After you’ve filed for bankruptcy, it’s going to be hard to get new credit for quite awhile. Most people find out they can’t get credit for two years at the minimum. Unfortunately, some people can’t even get that.  A bankruptcy on your credit report can actually determine whether or not you get a job. Many employers will request credit reports to see how potential hires handle their money. This is particularly essential if you’re going to be in a profession like accounting.

Bankruptcy and Your Credit Line

When you do get credit after your bankruptcy, you’re going to get hit with high fees and interest rates. That will mean tacking on thousands of dollars in interest onto any price tag. A lot people try to wait out that 10 year period until the bankruptcy is removed from their credit report. On top of waiting 10 years, you’re also going to be starting off from square one with a beginners credit score.

Your first step should always be to find and talk to a credit counseling service to see what help they can give you. These services can generally help reduce debit and required payments and also blocking interest accrual. That will help you pay off the debt faster without adding more to it. If your credit isn’t terrible yet, you could see about liability consolidation. That allows you to lump together all of your unguaranteed debts. These types of debts are those that have not been assured. This lets you consolidate all your debts into one simple payment.

Bankruptcy isn’t easy by any means, but there is a secret: credit companies are willing to work with you. They know that if they work with you, they may get some or most of that debt back. If they turn you away, they get nothing. It’s always in their best interests to keep you out of bankruptcy. To find out more about tricks like this click here for free bankruptcy resources.

Credit agencies are not governmental organizations.  They are fundamentally huge companies that are certified to bring together, store, classify and disseminate private fiscal information, and to make a profit providing the data to those who pay for it.

The services and the information that credit reporting firms provide largely helps the banks and other lending institutions that provide loans.  To a lending institution, a loan is an investment; they give money and logically anticipate to be paid off in an appropriate way and with interest.  Any investment analyzes risk along with probable compensation. So banks are obliged to assess how risky an advance is in order to determine what fee to charge, or whether to provide the money at all.

So, both the credit reporting agencies and the banks want your credit information to be as complete and accurate as doable. If pieces are lost that point toward some person or company may perhaps be an elevated credit risk, lending institutions may well provide capital that may well never be repaid.  In contrast, if a credit report includes inaccurate damaging credit marks, they may refuse a loan to someone who merits it and would have , without doubt, no concern about repaying it within the provisos of the loan.

The credit reporting firms collect information from lots of sources, for example municipal or judicial records, landlords, and of course, different creditors. With billions of separate entries running through the credit reporting system each week, it is not startling that a lot of of them are assigned to the wrong borrower.

It is your job to ensure that your credit history is exact. The initial step is to request a credit reports at regular intervals - a minimum of once per annum - and look at it completely. Highlight any items that you think are in error.

There are lots of reasons as to why your credit report may include errors. Many reports , in reality, include at a minimum one mistake or erroneous item. In order to fix credit entries, you have to dispute each one with the credit agency that gave the history in the first place.  To do so, you can either create a letter to the reporting agency, or complete a form on the bureau’s web site. Entering a dispute online usually offers more rapid answer to the matter.

Whichever approach you elect to communicate a dispute to a credit agency, be sure to include as much data as you can in order to help the reporting bureau isolate the inaccurate item and forward the problem to the lender.  Be sure to include your full name, your social security number, present-day postal address and telephone number. If your credit report holding the erroneous item has an ID code or number, be sure to include it as well so the agent working on your case can inspect the same report that you have. Clearly identify your account and lending institution that reported the false details, and explain succinctly which information is wrong and why it is wrong.

Once you dispute an item, the credit reporting agency will forward the question to the creditor under discussion, and expect them to bear out the accurateness of the item.  The creditor should take action to the inquiry in less than 30 days, so you should get confirmation in about a month from your original request. The creditor will either provide confirmation that the data is correct, or forward amended information.

When a lender authenticates a disputed item that you are certain is wrong, you may have to supply supplemental details to support your claim, ask that a further examination be opened, or even get in touch with the lender promptly to solve the matter. In any event, do not stop; proceed calmly and competently with the lender that reported the inaccurate data. Consider that, though your good credit is mainly critical to only you, the creditors and the credit firms do want your credit report to be accurate, also.

Entering a dispute online is typically the quickest way to commence the issue. The credit reporting bureaus will contact you via e-mail when a reply is received, and you can generally view the status of the issue on the credit bureau’s site.

Possessing clean credit is crucial. Try to head off any problems with your personal credit report and dispute erroneous items as soon as you can. Having to go through bad credit repair, particularly when it is unjustified, can limit your opportunities and make credit considerably more pricey to pay off than they should be.