Tax Matters

Dumb Things to Say #1

From time to time I will add to this list.  The order that will be attached will be the order the item is written and will bear no resemblance to which is the stupidest thing to fall out of a mouth.

 

DUMB THING TO SAY #1

Recently I was told that I could not submit a penalty of perjury statement on behalf of a client if it was not notarized. 

Okay now did I grow up on a different planet? Are the notaries in the State of California blessed by God and then set forth in the world with magical power?

As far as I know a notary is affirming that the person who signed their book had identified to the notary that he was in fact that person. When the notary places her seal on the document she is affirming that the specified individual was in her presence at that moment at the stipulated location.

So when I was advised that a document I submitted for review that had been signed under penalty of perjury was rejected because it had not been notarized I was stunned.  How can a notary make a person’s statement truer?  OR, the lack of a notary in this case make the statement completely FALSE?

Sometimes I think people in a small corner of a somewhat legal profession get really stupid fixed ideas and then go out in the world and spout their myth as if it has a god like quality.  If this were true every criminal would go into court and have a notary sign his penalty of perjury statement stating he was innocent.

 

Dumb Things to Say #2

From time to time I will add to this list. The order that will be attached will be the order the item is written and will bear no resemblance to which is the stupidest thing to fall out of a mouth.

 

DUMB THING TO SAY #2

An aircraft must be owned or titled in an LLC at all times to give the owner liability protection.  -- Anonymous

As my avocation I have been coaching high school baseball for several decades. The best advice I ever heard was there are NO ALWAYS and NO NEVERS.

When my clients tell me they have been advised to ALWAYS register an aircraft in an LLC, I ask, “Who said that to you?” Many times he can’t remember. Sometimes he admits it was his fellow pilots. But, it does come from CPA’s and attorneys who tend to always be very conservative and think they are doing the right thing.

The facts are:

Many business aircraft owners fly their own jets. In those cases the LLC was a complete waste of time. Think about it.  If Joe titles his Pilatus in an LLC because he wants liability protection and he drops his aircraft onto a school yard full of kids, don’t you think he is going to get personally sued? After all he had his hands on the controls of the aircraft.

There is no blanket answer that is correct in all cases. You have to get all the facts before you move forward.

 

Aero & Marine Tax Professionals Helps Flight Instructor Obtain Sales Tax Exemption on Airplane

Tax Consulting Firm Helps Obtain Sales Tax Exemption On Amphibious Aircraft

SACRAMENTO, CA: Aero & Marine Tax Professionals (http://www.aeromarinetaxpros.com), a tax consulting firm, recently helped obtain a sales tax exemption for their client, Max Trescott, the 2008 National Flight Instructor of the Year and owner of Glass Cockpit Publishing, on the purchase of a Lake LA-4-200 amphibian airplane. The company is a specialist in aircraft and marine vehicle sales tax exemption in state of the California.

The instructor, Max Trescott, stated: “Tom Alston helped me obtain an exemption for my first aircraft eleven years ago, so I thought I understood the current rules. However, the regulations changed since my first purchase and I didn’t fully understand the changes. So I contacted Tom Alston again and he and his staff were quick to help me understand the current rules and the documentation needed. The savings will help fund some of the upgrades to the plane that I’m contemplating.”

Tom Alston commented, “Well there are very few companies out there that know the field as well as we do and have the contacts where it counts. We know the tax codes in this area backwards and forwards, and that includes keeping up with the changes as the years go by. You have to factor in the new laws passed each year. Well, actually you don’t, because that’s our job. We study each new piece of legislation as it comes out and stay fully familiarized with every aspect of obtaining a sales tax exemption on an aircraft or marine vessel. And that’s why we’ve never lost a case.”

Aero & Marine Tax Professionals shows purchasers how to avoid sales tax, specifically how to avoid aircraft tax and vessel tax in California and to make certain the full value of their next aircraft, vehicle or vessel goes into their pocket--not the government's. They have successfully filed hundreds of tax returns with the California State Board of Equalization. Mr. Alston has also published many articles on sales and use tax.

 

If you think you DON'T OWE California tax on your aircraft purchase-YOU ARE WRONG

Here is a seminar we gave recently in Medford, OR on the subject of avoiding sales and use tax on the purchase of an airplane.

See Aero & Marine Tax Professionals at NBAA show, booth C6524