Of Modern AUs and Taxes(mild three houses paralogue spoilers)

[Dragoncat]

A conversation on Discord brought up that Seteth, in a modern AU, might say Flayn's his little sis instead of daughter for tax benefits. A google for "child vs sibling as dependent on taxes" implies there's no difference in the IRS' eyes. Dependents are calculated the same whether they're your child or sibling or cousin etc. But it's also hard to read this info and I'm not an expert.

Tagging resident lawyer @Shoblongoo, maybe he knows something.

Or post your "Seteth commits tax fraud and Yoshi is his kingpin" jokes here.

This is what I got by googling btw: https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/properly-defined-dependents-can-pay-off-1.aspx

[XRay]

4 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

A conversation on Discord brought up that Seteth, in a modern AU, might say Flayn's his little sis instead of daughter for tax benefits. A google for "child vs sibling as dependent on taxes" implies there's no difference in the IRS' eyes. Dependents are calculated the same whether they're your child or sibling or cousin etc. But it's also hard to read this info and I'm not an expert.

Tagging resident lawyer @Shoblongoo, maybe he knows something.

Or post your "Seteth commits tax fraud and Yoshi is his kingpin" jokes here.

This is what I got by googling btw: https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/properly-defined-dependents-can-pay-off-1.aspx

Dependents are all the same. It does not matter whether it is your child or sibling. As long as that person is dependent on you financially, you can get tax benefits. You can even claim your parents as dependents, although there are some additional criteria and rules that they have to meet before they are claimable.

Keep in mind tax laws change every year, so these rules may change. It is why you see DIY tax software companies release a new version every year.

I am not a lawyer, but I studied accounting during college.

Edited September 1, 2019 by XRay

[Dragoncat]

4 minutes ago, XRay said:

Dependents are all the same. It does not matter whether it is your child or sibling. As long as that person is dependent on you financially, you can get tax benefits. You can even claim your parents as dependents, although there are some additional criteria and rules that they have to meet before they are claimable.

Keep in mind tax laws change every year, so these rules may change. It is why you DIY tax software companies release a new version every year.

I am not a lawyer, but I studied accounting during college.

See, this is what I was thinking.

I wish I could claim my cat.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Dragoncat

[NinjaMonkey]

2 hours ago, XRay said:

Keep in mind tax laws change every year, so these rules may change. It is why you see DIY tax software companies release a new version every year.

That's really dumb. Then again, that's America for you.

Edited September 1, 2019 by NinjaMonkey

[Dragoncat]

I am mildly disappointed about the lack of Seteth + the IRS jokes here. I will remedy that.

Tax Advisor: How many dependents?

Seteth: Two.

Tax Advisor: Name them and state their relation.

Seteth: Flayn, (internally) daughter (externally) younger sister. Bartholomew, noble steed.

Tax Advisor: You cannot claim pets or animals as dependents.

Seteth: My wyvern is part of the family.

Tax Advisor: Sorry sir. You have one dependent.

[XRay]

25 minutes ago, NinjaMonkey said:

That's really dumb. Then again, that's America for you.

I am pretty certain most countries have them changed every year too. Having static tax laws limits a government's ability to adjust and tweak the economy. The basic/core tax laws are generally the same year to year, but things like tax breaks/incentives, how certain income is classified, how to depreciate certain assets, etc. are pretty flexible, so laws regarding those aspects are adjusted and tweaked to influence the economy.

For example, President Obama implemented ACA (aka Obamacare) when he was in office, and it is/was an old/new tax law that taxes everyone, but people can avoid paying that tax if they have approved health insurance plans. ACA is/was pretty much dead once Obama stepped out of office and Republicans took over Congress and the White House. ACA still sort of exists, but it is now just mangled corpse of its former self. If a Democratic president wins the next election, I expect the ACA to be somewhat revived, and then once a Republican president comes back, it will probably die again, and ad infinitum.

Accounting rules (we American accountants call it GAAP and use that rule set; most of the rest of the world use IFRS) are also updated and changed periodically, and these rules can have a huge impact on taxes. In my opinion, GAAP and IFRS are works in progress and you cannot never really achieve a perfect set of rules, especially when businesses are innovating new ways of doing business and technology constantly improving.

[Shoblongoo]

Oh I don't touch tax law with a 10 foot pole 

[Dragoncat]

11 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

Oh I don't touch tax law with a 10 foot pole 

Lol thanks anyway

[XRay]

On 9/1/2019 at 1:21 PM, Dragoncat said:

I wish I could claim my cat.

This is just a joke idea, and it probably counts as tax evasion rather than tax avoidance, so do not try it.

1. Speak to lawyer and see if it is possible for Cheeto to give you the power of attorney. I am pretty sure animals can give consent for basic stuff like rubbing their belly, but it might be tricky to determine whether Cheeto consented to give you the power of attorney. Cheeto cannot read, speak, or write, so you will have to do a lot of these things for him in the following steps, and the power of attorney means that you can act on your cat's behalf.

2. Set up a bank account and credit card with your cat's name, and make sure that you are an authorized user of Cheeto's credit card. I am pretty certain at least some banks allow you to set up a bank account for your pet. I am not sure if banks issue credit cards to pets, but just say that you will be the guarantor or co-signer for Cheeto's credit card when you talk with your bank's representative.

3. Volunteer at an animal shelter, but have Cheeto work there as a greeter. Make sure to strongly advocate for his wages/salaries though, because minimum wage laws probably do not apply to non humans.

4. Cheeto gets paid, but you do not.

5. As far as I know, the IRS only taxes humans and does not tax animals. Cats are not humans, so I am not sure if the IRS would even accept Cheeto's tax return. Even if you do not earn any income, you should still file your taxes, because just in case they drag you to court, they cannot charge you for failure to file taxes. Since you earned nada, you do not have to pay taxes.

6. Use Cheeto's credit card as normal to pay for living expenses and so on.

And there you go! The government gets no income taxes from the two of you.

Edited September 4, 2019 by XRay

[Dragoncat]

3 hours ago, XRay said:

This is just a joke idea, and it probably counts as tax evasion rather than tax avoidance, so do not try it.

1. Speak to lawyer and see if it is possible for Cheeto to give you the power of attorney. I am pretty sure animals can give consent for basic stuff like rubbing their belly, but it might be tricky to determine whether Cheeto consented to give you the power of attorney. Cheeto cannot read, speak, or write, so you will have to do a lot of these things for him in the following steps, and the power of attorney means that you can act on your cat's behalf.

2. Set up a bank account and credit card with your cat's name, and make sure that you are an authorized user of Cheeto's credit card. I am pretty certain at least some banks allow you to set up a bank account for your pet. I am not sure if banks issue credit cards to pets, but just say that you will be the guarantor or co-signer for Cheeto's credit card when you talk with your bank's representative.

3. Volunteer at an animal shelter, but have Cheeto work there as a greeter. Make sure to strongly advocate for his wages/salaries though, because minimum wage laws probably do not apply to non humans.

4. Cheeto gets paid, but you do not.

5. As far as I know, the IRS only taxes humans and does not tax animals. Cats are not humans, so I am not sure if the IRS would even accept Cheeto's tax return. Even if you do not earn any income, you should still file your taxes, because just in case they drag you to court, they cannot charge you for failure to file taxes. Since you earned nada, you do not have to pay taxes.

6. Use Cheeto's credit card as normal to pay for living expenses and so on.

And there you go! The government gets no income taxes from the two of you.

This is glorious.