Forum Archive Index - July 2000

[jesse <johne777@hotmail.com>]

Hi Roger
1. No. No income from trading to claim expenses against.
2. No. If your trading, yes. Any expense incurred in order to earn the
income.
3. No. But why wouldnt you? Depreciates at a rate of 50% a year. IRD
accepted my valuation obtained from looking at going prices in
newspapers etc. No formal quotation necessary. Just dont try and make
out your $500 computer is still worth $1500.
4. No. Sorry. Never heard of.  Best software to get for your trading? In
your head. This trading software stuff doesnt pick winners. They take
data which is free to you and me anyway,  package it into charts etc,
analyse it, and make recommendations based on the analysis. There is
nothing they do that  you cannot. Its for people lacking confidence,
knowledge and time. Of these, lack of time is the only reason I'd get
it, because it can shorten the analysis for you. But the $ cost!! If you
havent got time to do your own research, how are you going to trade
anyway? Thats my opinion. If you dont enjoy analysing stocks, get the
software, but I wouldnt be trading if I couldnt analyse my transcations.
Software programs for picking stocks are no better than software that
picks racehorses.

One thing to check with your accountant. From the moment you start
trading, claiming expenses etc, IRD view you as a trader. From my
experience, you will be hard pressed to claim that some of your
transactions are long term non taxable, while others are trades and
taxable. I put this ? to my accountant. What if I have some long term
investments that I buy, as well as short term trades. I  buy XYZ as a
long term hold, but 1 week later, my son needs an operation. I sell the
long termer for a nice gain. It looks like a trade, but my intention was
long. Do you suppose IRD will agree with me? More likely, once you begin
down the traders path, all your transcations will be viewed that way and
taxed accordingly. Something to consider anyway.
j














Can anyone help me with the following;

  1. As I have not done any trading, can I still claim expenses eg
  newspapers, interest, subscriptions etc.?

  2. Can I claim the brokerage on the trading share buys as an expense?

  3. Do I have to claim depreciation on my computer and if yes, do I
need
  some kind of formal valuation?

  4. Can anyone tell me about MAUS Stockmarket Plus software (price,
easy
  to use etc?) or recommend any other software which is good for
  beginners.

  Cheers.

  Roger




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