Results tagged “taxes” from Daily Link

For last-minute income-tax filers: Two Postal Service locations will collect mail for postmarking until midnight tonight. Those locations are the Long Beach Processing Center at 2300 Redondo Ave., Long Beach, and the Airport Station Los Angeles Post Office at 9029 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles, near Los Angeles International Airport. For frequently asked questions regarding mailing your return, a postage calculator and a tax checklist, go here. Or, to find the post office nearest you, check out the USPS locator.

Did you know that California may have already done your state taxes for you?

Consult the Franchise Tax Board to find out. If you were single, had no dependents and had only one employer last year, the tax board likely has automatically completed a "ReadyReturn" for you.

But you don't have to settle for what they put together. You can modify or disregard the return.

The Daily Breeze reported last week that Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach will reassess as many as 310,000 homes because of the downturn in the real estate market and consequent drop in home values. Numbers in the county have dropped 12.7 percent between February 2007 and last month, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors. Over the same time period, the drop in South Bay home prices stood at 7 percent.

Homes purchased between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2007, are up for automatic reassessment. The Manhattan Beach Confidential real estate blog discusses in detail the thinking behind the move and the span that it will cover. It also features information for those left out of the reassessment bonanza; because after all, a lower reassessment means lower property taxes.

MBWatcher writes: “Anyone can, at any time, file a 'Decline-in-Value Reassessment Application' to seek an adjustment in the assessed value of a property. You don't even need to support your case with data, but it's better if you do. The form asks for you to list 2 recent comparable sales 'that sold as close to January 1, 2008, as possible.'”

As one blog commenter points out, prices will inevitably rise again, and when they do, assessments will rise with them. The tax savings may last only as long as the current downturn, but for many, that's long enough.

Our Ask Us editor, Stephanie Walton, gets a lot of questions from readers about gasoline prices. We've compiled her best in our online Ask Us archive.

She's answered such questions as "How much of the cost of a gallon of gas goes to taxes," "Why does my receipt say I paid more than the station's sign," and "How do I pre-pay for gasoline to lock in a lower price?"

If you've got a burning question about something in the South Bay or Harbor Area, email Stephanie at askus@dailybreeze.com

The tax season will be here before you know it and it's painful to see how much you earn compared to how much you net. Predicting your net income after taxes is difficult. There are calculators at Paycheck City that can help you predict your bottom line, and whether salaried or hourly, taxes and other considerations are deducted.