I never understood the argument that “locking in your losses is actually a form of tax evasion” - or am I misunderstanding what you are trying to say?
I'm not an accountant and I definitely don't know taxes properly either, but I do know enough about taxes to know that businesses pay taxes on their net profit (gross income - losses = net profit). Those losses can be payroll costs, costs of goods, shipping and handling costs, rent, loan payments, insurance premiums, equipment purchases and upkeep, travel and lodging expenditures, and so on.
Assuming that the losses are legitimate and can be audited if necessary, this is not tax evasion and to baselessly accuse anyone of it is literally defamation.
Reasons:
- Property taxes? Tanked.
- Capital gains? What capital gains?
- Money laundering? Check.
- Gift tax dodge? Probably.
- Transfer tax? Lol.
- Asset value shenanigans? You bet.
IRS gonna love this one. Good luck explaining that "market rate" to the auditors.
Most people probably pick a mix of winners and losers. After you find out which ones were the losers, then I guess you can cash them in to lower your taxes strategically. I think that's the idea.
...depends on the jurisdiction. In many property taxes aren't based on the last transaction price, they're based on what the city assesses the prices as. Selling the property for $1 won't affect the value of the property, unless all the other buildings in the same area do the same thing.
>- Money laundering? Check.
Except property transfers are public information so it's obvious what's going on.