Video Summary

Can I use renovations done to my home office as a tax write-off if I’m not self-employed?

This is an issue that you need to talk to your CPA about is whether or not you can write off a portion of your home as far as the expenses, the utilities and depreciate a portion of your improvements as a home office.  I don’t necessarily believe that you have to be self-employed to do the write-off.  However you do need to devote it to your particular job as far as that’s concerned as being a requirement.

But the answer to the question lies between you and your certified public accountant as to whether or not you can write it off and how much you can write off and there is a certain, I don’t think a bright line test but it’s more of a feel for the CPA to be able to tell you what percentage of the utilities and the renovations that you would be able to write off.  So I urge you to call and speak to your CPA about that issue.  But if you have any other issues well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What are the homestead laws in Florida?  The homestead laws were provided for in the Florida Constitution. The one that people are most familiar with is in Article XV that deals with real estate taxes. And it provides that if you’re a resident of Florida and you live in your home and you move in and own it before the end of any particular year, you can apply for homestead exemption by March 1^st of the following year and obtain homestead exemption on taxes. That means if you were granted homestead exemption, you get exempt the first $25,000 of your assessed valuation or taxable valuation from taxes which saves you about $500. You have to pay taxes on the taxable value of the property from $25,000 to $50,000. You get to exempt from $50,000 to $75,000 all taxes except school taxes and that will save you about another $300 and then you pay for all the tax on anything above $75,000.

There is an added benefit to having homestead exemption. It’s under Save Our Homes and I’m not sure where that’s provided for in the Constitution, but the net effect of it is that if you have homestead exemption the tax value of your property will not increase by more than three percent or the cost of living index, the lesser of the two. In years past that’s gone up very, very little and the longer you own the property the more you can appreciate it. So if your tax valuation does not go up every year, well then your tax bill should remain approximately the same since it’s only a millage rate and hovers around two percent in the county. It’s a little bit more if you live in a city.

So homestead exemption is really a great benefit and the longer you live in your home the more you appreciate it. The other nice thing about homestead and if you decide to sell your home and move to another house, whether you’re upsizing or downsizing, be sure you go whenever you apply for a homestead exemption on your new home, take your old tax bill with you and advise the property appraiser when you apply for homestead exemption that you had homestead on your prior home and there is something about portability, meaning they’ll prorate your old assessed valuation against the new assessed valuation and you can get to carryover some of the benefits from having homestead exemption on your original home.

So that’s I believe under Article XV as far as the tax valuation. Under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, it provides that the creditors cannot place a lien or a claim on your homestead property. That’s property that you live in and you can protect that from the claims of creditors. It doesn’t matter how much you owe your credit card company or doctors or anyone else other than the United States Government, they cannot take away your home. Now there is an exception for the Internal Revenue Service and the federal government in that they can attach your home even though it’s homestead property. If you file for bankruptcy, there are certain rules as far as be able to exempt it as homestead. Here again that’s governed by federal law and will tell you how long you’ve lived and if you’ve owned the home for a certain number of days which I think comes to about two or three years, well then you can exempt the property. A lot also has to do with how much your homestead is worth as far as how much the exemption can be. But the Florida Constitution does protect your home from creditors.

Another thing that you don’t want to think about but if you pass away and you leave your home to your children or your grandchildren or your heirs, that exemption says inures or passes down to your children. So if you leave a bunch of credit card debt or any kind of medical bills, whatever you leave behind as far as bills are concerned and you leave your home to your children other than a mortgage, they don’t have to pay the creditors any money and the house or your homestead passes to your children.

This is a very complicated subject and so I might do another video about whether or not to put your homestead in a trust or a joint trust as far as that’s concerned and also the effects of transferring your home during your lifetime on Medicare and Medicaid. So if you have any questions about homestead, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Insurance companies advise against assigning the benefits of the life insurance policy and the question is whether or not that’s for their benefit or for your benefit. Well, the assignment is usually you’re assigning it to someone to pay a bill or for some reason why you’re assigning it or you’re selling that benefit. And so if you’re selling it to somebody, well that means they’re making a profit. So I believe that the advice not to assign the benefits under the life insurance policy or any insurance policy is probably a pretty good idea not to do that unless you consult with an attorney as to why you’re doing it and if you have any other choices. I see that it is probably a pretty good idea to assign life insurance benefit to a funeral home, however, to pay for a funeral. If you do not have the necessary funds to pay to have someone buried and you were left to be the beneficiary and you want your loved one to be buried, well I think that’s a pretty good assignment. And then you can always see about recovering the cost of the funeral if there’s an estate proceeding.

So if there are other circumstances wherein you’re assigning the life insurance policy, you need to probably consult with an attorney as far as why you’re doing it and whether or not it’s advisable. I’m not sure why the life insurance companies or the insurance companies tell you not to assign it, but I think that that’s pretty good advice until you talk to an attorney to determine whether that’s in your best interest or whether or not you have any choices in the matter. If you have any questions about that, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

How can I dispute a landlord’s claim on my security deposit for repairs or damages?

Well it’s addressed in the Landlord Tenant Act and the landlord must give you a notice of their claim within so many days. I believe it’s 30 days from the termination. It may be 15 but they have a certain period of time where they must give you that notice. If they do not you’re entitled to the return of your deposit.

If they do send you the claim, you need to sue them in small claims court, get the return of your deposit whereupon they will have to prove what the damages are. Unfortunately your remedy is having to go to court which is usually in small claims court in order to recover your security deposit from a landlord. If you have any question about that, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

After a Notice of Commencement has been signed, can you change your contractor?  The answer is yes; however, it is circumstances surrounding changing your contractor is what’s critical.

If you change it before you go in to get your building permits, or while you’re getting building permits under a different contractor, well then you will simply prepare an Amended Notice of Commencement before you ever start work.  If however you terminate your contractor, well then you’ve got to through a termination process as far as terminating the contractor and simply filing an amendment as your Notice of Commencement is concerned.  So yes, you can.  It is somewhat difficult to do.  And usually involves discharging a contractor and then filing a Notice of Recommencement under a – filing a Notice of Recommencement to start your work.  So I guess the best way to say this you can, but you need to do it very carefully, and what the circumstances would be.  So if you have any questions about your Notice of Commencement well give me a call at 727-847-2288.