67
In the US (and realistically every other country in the world that has graduated income tax brackets), the marginal rate applies only to income in that bracket, not all income. The intention of the tax code is not to penalize someone that makes an extra $1 in income by taxing every previous dollar they've made at a higher rate so they end up worse off after ...
33
It's not completely risk free - what happens if you lose the gift card? In addition, the gas company isn't losing anything - it's the grocery store where you bought the card that eats the 2% merchant fee for the gift card. They most likely make up for it with slightly higher prices on other items. The 2% on gift cards simply isn't material to them.
Plus, ...
28
If you buy a Marathon (or any other brand) gift card, you're giving the merchant cash now. Most people don't spend their gift card immediately so the company gets to use that cash as working capital until you redeem it. Many people also end up with gift cards that have a small amount left on them that linger in their wallets for quite a while. If you buy $...
20
In addition to other reasons, this can be an example of market segmentation: making each customer pay as much as they are willing to.
By spending some time going through the gift card route, you separate yourself from the people who value their time more than the small saving. The gas station gets more money from "spenders", while not losing the ...
14
Two issues here. First you aren't taxed on your gross income, at the minimum you'd typically reduce your gross income by the standard deduction (12,550 for single, though doesn't apply if married filing single or if you're a nonresident alien/dual status alien barring certain exceptions). Search "taxable income vs gross income", or "...
11
If everyone only purchased the gift card, and then used it up completely at the pump, then the gas station would not benefit from this. If every one of those people would have paid the extra CC fee outside had the gift card option not been available, then the station would even lose a little bit by offering this.
However, many people do not only do that. ...
6
A large portion of money spent on gift cards is not used
A quick google search of "what percentage of gift cards are not used?" shows from between 3% to 20% of gift card balances are never spent.
So the merchant gets the money spent on the gift card now, and a significant amount of that money is never actually redeemed.
An additional point, is that ...
5
As a landlord myself, I can tell you that the eviction moratoriums have us all being a lot more cautious when screening potential tenants, because it is very difficult to get out of a bad tenant situation right now. That said, a year is an awful long time to sit on a property without income.
If they bought the house as a flip they might be timing the market ...
4
You are looking for Title Insurance. Basically, you pay a lawyer to perform due diligence to confirm that yes, the land is registered to the counterparty, without any outstanding debts registered against it, and if their search is incorrect, you have insurance that protects the value of your purchase.
Calling the named law office offered by the seller [...
4
Just for fun, let's suppose your second offer was for $165K instead of $175K. Now, if tax brackets were flat percentages, your after tax would be:
$153,000 * .76 = $116,280
$165,000 * .68 = $112,200
So you wouldn't want to make more money; yikes!
If that's how tax brackets worked, anyone approaching a cutoff (which in this case is $164,926 in 2021), would ...
3
The ownership of the land should be registered with the local government. As an initial check you should se if the listed owner matches the information you were given. But even that isn't enough to protect you.
You will need title insurance. If you will have a mortgage and be pledging the property as collateral the lender will insist on it. Regardless of the ...
3
Some tenants are hard on houses. They paint the rooms weird colours, they cause damage you can't get back from their deposit, they go without paying the rent for months at a time then leave unexpectedly, leaving a mess behind you have to tidy up. If you only plan to have the house empty for 6 months, getting tenants for supposedly a year is likely more ...
3
Which factors should be considered to choose from which Stock Exchange to buy?
There is no straightforward answer. Generally speaking, if exactly the same ETF is listed on many stock exchanges, you should buy the ETF wherever is most convenient for you. If there are differences in transaction fees, you may want to choose the place with the lowest ...
3
Tenant rights in major cities can be so strong as to incentivize vacant housing.
A interviewee in an academic study
believed rent control increased vacancy as landlords either remove
units from the market (to avoid the regulation) or take longer to find
the right tenant because you only get “one bite at the apple.”
3
Another point is that AFAIK (I've never actually seen a gas station gift card) only major brands offer gift cards. By selling you that gift card, they've locked you into buying gas from one of their stations, at which the price generally will be significantly higher than the unbranded generic gas from the convenience store.
Taking your picture as an example,...
3
Credit card offers like this generally don't apply to gift cards. The card you are looking at specifically mentions "Only Purchases Earn Points":
You’ll earn Points for purchases using your Card Account, minus
returns and refunds. Balance transfers, cash advances, checks that
access your Card Account, items returned for credit, unauthorized
...
3
If you own shares in a mutual fund in a taxable account, then whenever the mutual fund does a quarterly or annual distribution of dividends, interest, or capital gains you will receive a 1099 at the end of the year. You will then include that 1099 numbers in your income tax calculations. Depending on your income situation, and the nature of those ...
2
Is a 0% coinsurance always the better option? Not always. It depends on the cost of the insurance, the size of the copays, the amount of the deductible, and your incidence of claims.
I don't know your details so I'm going to describe Medicare supplement and hope that you can do such an analysis with your circumstances.
The traditional Medicare copay is 20%....
2
Plans change. Perhaps it has been the owner's intent to move in "next month" for the past 11 months, but they have been unable to do so for one reason or another. To go through the trouble and risk of getting a renter for just one month might not make much sense. If the intent was not to let the property sit vacant for so long, the vacancy is ...
2
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is listed on the NYSE ARCA stock exchange. "VOO" is the ticker symbol of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF's listing on NYSE ARCA. This ETF is traded in many places, including on the Mexico Stock Exchange's Global Market (SIC).
"VOO ARCA" appears to be the one you are looking for, because it is the official listing ...
2
This may indeed be a loophole if you can purchase gift cards at an appropriate category of store with the credit card AND ensure that your spend at that category of store will be the largest on the credit card each month. However, 5% of $500 is $25, so your maximum potential reward each month for exploiting this loophole is not very big. There is also ...
1
I have a paper 4883C letter which puts an action on to me (I have not yet successfully gotten through the telephone line to resolve it), and it is not shown in my IRS account online.
1
As an NonResident Indian (NRI), you are in violation of Indian law by maintaining a regular savings account in India, whether jointly with a resident Indian (your father) or as an individual. If you had created an NRO account (which can be held jointly held by an NRI and an Indian citizen) or transitioned an existing regular savings account held jointly with ...
1
I currently work for a company based in Florida. We sell merchandise
and entry to sporting events in many states including Arizona.
If I work remotely from Arizona, will it trigger a tax nexus?
If you sit in Arizona while working, it doesn't matter where the company is located, or where the customers are located, you have Arizona income. Now if you travel ...
1
I don't think 29 days would be a problem. Has a lender told you it isn't possible? I'd ask one or more lenders to confirm. If they can do 29 days, then great, no issues. (This is my expectation.)
Update: I just asked a friend of mine who is a mortgage broker in Illinois what's the fastest he could do, and he said 15-20 days. So call some brokers ASAP.
But ...
1
When a mutual fund sells one of its holdings for a capital gain, the total amount of cash received the mutual fund from the sale by the holding "remains" in the fund and is usually re-invested into other holdings, stocks or bonds (or both) as the case may be, as per the prospectus of the fund. There may be other sales during the year of mutual ...
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