Tax Day - Im neunten Kreis der Hölle - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Ken_meyer]

Heute ist der Tag der Abrechnung mit der IRS.
Ob das die C-Strohhalme (Konsumentenausgaben, Konsumenten-
vertrauen) aushalten ...
Davon abgesehen erzeugt das ein trügerisches Bild der
Unternehmensgewinne.


April 15, 2001
Market Watch: Employers Dodge a Bullet That Their Workers Can`t

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

Excruciating. That`s the best way for many Americans to describe this tax season. Enduring the most pain are many midlevel employees who exercised stock options in 2000.
On most options, workers must pay ordinary income tax on the difference between the price they paid for the options and the price of the stock on the day they exercised the options. At the same time, their company takes a tax deduction equal to this amount, known as the spread. In recent years, this has significantly reduced or even eliminated tax bills at immensely profitable companies like Microsoft and Cisco Systems.
While stocks were roaring higher, individuals viewed these tax bills as a relatively low price for potential wealth. As stocks have plunged, many employees have found themselves in the ninth circle of tax hell. Those who kept their shares instead of selling when they exercised are paying huge taxes on stock gains they never realized and that have turned into losses. Many have been forced to file for bankruptcy.
Adding to these tax woes is the alternative minimum tax, a cancer placed in the code in 1986 to ensure that wealthy people and profitable corporations did not use deductions to evade taxes. Because the tax has not been changed in 15 years — it does not take into account tax credits put in effect in recent years — it hits more Americans all the time, even those with modest incomes. Many who exercised incentive stock options are now unable to pay their alternative minimum taxes.
But even as middle-income Americans are impaled on the tax, the likelihood that a company will incur the tax has been greatly reduced. A little-noticed ruling from the Internal Revenue Service on Jan. 18 ensures that many companies will escape what could have been the reach of the tax.
The ruling, notable for its two-sentence length, seemed to come out of nowhere. It stated that companies with employees who exercised stock options would not be liable for alternative minimum tax related to the tax deductions the companies received on those option exercises. It said a company`s earnings and profits — which are its taxable income for alternative minimum tax purposes — were diminished by the deduction, reducing vulnerability to the tax.
Such rulings are issued for a reason. Asked about this one, an I.R.S. spokeswoman said it was issued "for clarification." Clarification is usually needed only when there are alternative points of view on an issue. So what were the different opinions and who held them? The I.R.S. would not say, but the Treasury Department said the difference of opinion originated at the I.R.S.
One tax expert in the private sector said that a case could be made that the alternative minimum tax ought to kick in as a result of option exercises. After all, the company`s earnings were not actually reduced because option grants represent no economic outlay.
The recent ruling essentially precludes any agent from making that argument. And it makes options even more appealing to companies than they were. That is not good news for shareholders.
Corporations had already been incurring alternative minimum tax bills much less often than individuals. Robert Willens, a tax analyst at Lehman Brothers, said that the tax was generally limited to companies in capital intensive industries that reduce their tax bills by taking heavy depreciation expenses.
Today, companies are cutting or erasing their tax bills by deducting the spread on their employees` stock option exercises. Happily, for them anyway, the alternative minimum tax will not undo these tax breaks.
Memo to Congress: For the Treasury Department to reduce the vulnerability of corporations to the alternative minimum tax while individuals continue to be eviscerated by it does not pass the smell test. Why not just rid all Americans of this cancer?

[Ken_meyer]

Die armen Microserfs...





A K T I E N O P T I O N E N

Microsofties gehen Bankrott
Die Märchen über Microsoft-Millionäre sind Vergangenheit. Stattdessen stehen immer mehr Mitarbeiter vor dem persönlichen Ruin - weil sie an Aktienoptionen glaubten.
Seattle - Etliche Mitarbeiter von Microsoft

© AP
Es ist nicht alles Gold, was glänzt: Microsoft-Firmenschild in Redmond
seien durch das Aktienoptions-Programm der Firma hoch verschuldet, berichtet die "New York Times". Nachdem Hunderte von Microsoft-Angestellten in den Boomjahren dank ihrer Beteiligung zu Papiermillionären wurden, treibe sie der Kursrutsch nun ebenso schnell in die Pleite: Mindestens 25 hätten bereits ihre persönliche Bankrotterklärung bei den Behörden eingereicht. Das Muster ist nach Angaben der Zeitung in allen Fällen das Gleiche: Der Microsoftie übt seine Optionen aus, kauft Aktien zu einem Vorzugspreis, der weit unter dem Marktpreis liegt. Die Differenz muss er als Einkommen versteuern. Um die Steuerschuld zu bezahlen, nimmt er auf Anraten von Microsofts Hausbank Salomon Smith Barney einen Kredit auf. Als Sicherheit gelten die Aktien, die nach seiner Rechnung eigentlich nur steigen können. Nun fallen die Aktien aber, und ein verhängnisvoller Mechanismus tritt in Kraft: Die Bank hat jetzt das Recht, die Aktien zu verkaufen, auch mit erheblichem Verlust. Die Zeitung beschreibt die Geschichte eines Programmierers, dessen Microsoft-Aktien zu den besten Zeiten 1,5 Millionen Dollar wert waren. Inzwischen steht er ohne Aktien und mit 100.000 Dollar Schulden da. Besonders pikant wird die Sache dadurch, dass sowohl Salomon Smith Barney als auch Microsoft am Elend des Mitarbeiters verdienen. Die Bank erhält Zinsen, und Microsoft kann jede ausgeübte Option von der Steuer absetzen. Auf diese Weise haben Microsoft und andere große Tech-Firmen in den vergangenen Jahren trotz riesiger Profite keine Steuern gezahlt.