Question: If I have a capital gain of $5,000 and a loss of $10,000, can I write off the entire loss plus the $3,000 to offset ordinary income?
-Steve
Answer: No.You haven’t made quite enough in capital gains to do that this year.
The tax law allows you to use capital losses to offset capital gains, which are typically profits on stocks or mutual funds. So you’d take $5,000 of your loss and use that the offset $5,000 of your gains. From the $5,000 in losses that you have left, you could use another $3,000 to offset ordinary income, typically the kind you earn from your job.
You’ll have $2,000 in losses left, to use in future tax years. You get to roll it over until the losses are all gone. You can use up to $3,000 a year to offset your ordinary income.

Send me your questions on personal finance and I'll find the answers. Either use the comments section here or email them to helpline@SunSentinel.com. I prefer to respond to people who provide me with their name and the city where they live.

> Discuss this entry

Taxes are on H. Wayne Huizenga’s mind. But he’s jumping the gun.

Huizenga, who has sold 50 percent of the Miami Dolphins, seems to be concerned about when to sell another big chunk of the team's ownership because presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.plans to raise capital gains taxes.

"He wants to double the capital gains tax, or almost double it," Huizenga said. "I'd rather give it to charity than to him."

Blunt, to be sure. But not entirely correct or comprehensive in describing the candidate’s proposal.

- Obama's plan, as his camp has revealed it, is to raise capital gains taxes from a current maximum of 15 percent to 20 percent. That's a 33 percent gain, not double.

- The increase would only be on the rich, those in top income brackets, above $250,000 for families or $200,000 for individuals. This would not be an increase on ordinary investors.

- The President doesn't make tax law. Congress does. So, Obama, first, has to: Get Elected, get a tax bill that Congress agrees to and get it passed with this idea intact.

- The likelihood of that? It could happen. It's worth noting that the last time we had a major tax overhaul was when Bush was newly elected and still popular.

- When? Next year or sometime in the next four years, your guess is as good as mine.

- Wall Street is a major political donor and lobbying force. There will no doubt be a push back against this idea once the real debate begins. No president gets to propose changes in tax law without first slogging through plenty of input from those who will be taxed.

> Discuss this entry

I know you’re out there, you folks who didn’t get your economic stimulus payment or your income tax refund. You’ve been calling me and complaining about it.

Here's your chance to collect. The IRS may just have your check. Because the agency couldn’t deliver it.

There’s almost $12 million waiting to be claimed by taxpayers in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties,. And some of those checks may be large.

In Palm Beach, the average refund that wasn’t delivered is worth $2,431, just about double the $1,221 average undelivered refund in Broward. The average economic stimulus payment in South Florida is $555.

You should act now to get your refund, because by law, the check must be sent by Dec. 31.

Here’s how to check to see if you’re due money: Go to www.sunsentinel.com/rebate.

> Discuss this entry