Merritt Webb is Hosting a Flu Shot Clinic

Flu season is nearly upon us! Merritt Webb’s Durham office is hosting a Flu Shot Clinic on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM for all of our clients in the Raleigh-Durham area.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone who is at least 6 months of age or older should get a flu vaccine this season. This is especially important for people who have certain medical conditions including asthma, diabetes, chronic lung disease, pregnancy, or people 65 years or older. These individuals are considered high risk and should get a flu shot.

The vaccine takes up to 2 weeks to take effect so the CDC also recommends that you get vaccinated as soon as the flu vaccine becomes available in your community. 

Come out on to our Durham office on Tuesday and get yours!

Some Dogs Need Space

A new Facebook campaign may make taking your dog for a walk that much safer. The Yellow Ribbon campaign has been launched as an initiative to prevent unwanted conflicts while taking your pet out in public. 

The new campaign, which promotes attaching a yellow ribbon to the leash of a dog that needs “space” from other dogs, hopes to promote fewer public canine conflicts by warning other dogs owners, people, and small children to proceed with caution and give the dog some space.

The initiative is aimed to protect not only the dog but the people as well and is meant to focus on dogs who might be members of an “aggressive” breed. The campaign is intended for all dogs that might require space for a variety of reasons, including health, training, or even for owners who would like people (and children) to think twice before rushing up to pet their dog.

Merritt Webb Welcomes New Attorney Andrew G. Foster

Merritt Webb would like to welcome a new attorney to our Durham office.  Attorney Andrew G. Foster has joined the Merritt Webb team as our in-house tax attorney.

Andrew is from Fayetteville, North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in Business Administration. After taking a few years after college to work, Andrew attended N.C. Central University School of Law where he graduated first in his class. In 2011, he graduated from the University of Florida’s LLM program in Tax. 

Andrew has been working in the tax field for 2 years and when he’s not being a tax attorney he likes to play golf, play with his 15 month old white Lab, and go to the lake with his wife, whom he met in college. The last book he read was A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

Welcome to Merritt Webb, Andrew!

How to Conduct Yourself During a Traffic Stop

Traffic stops commonly occur for many reasons, like speeding, swerving, or a busted tail light. Police officers can be confronted at these stops with anything from a smile to a display of physical agitation. Because of this, officers undertake extensive training on traffic stops on a variety of topics like safe places to conduct a stop to interpreting basic human behavior. This is done because traffic stops aren’t just the bread and butter of police work; it’s also the most dangerous police work an officer can undertake. For example, in California a two-man unit activated their lights for a traffic stop of an SUV. The driver then slammed on their brakes and jumped out of the vehicle, firing through the patrol car's windshield with a laser-sighted gun, seriously wounding both officers.

• Act calm and don’t do or say anything that can be interpreted as threatening, even as a joke.
• Do not get out of the car unless the officer tells you to do so.
• Keep your hands in plain sight, like on the steering wheel.
• Do not reach for anything without letting the officer know you’re reaching for it and what it is.
• Do not argue with the officer. Although you may feel you’re right and the officer is in the wrong, it will make no difference; you’ll have your chance to argue in court. 

Officers are trained to observe and interpret motions and movements that you and I would consider innocent during a traffic stop. Sometimes these motions are seen as potentially threatening, which has the potential of escalating an innocent traffic stop into something much more dangerous. Here are some tips on how to behave during a traffic stop; it’ll make you and the officer more comfortable:

Remember to stay safe out there!

Thanks to Police Magazine.

The Cost of Winning

It’s been said death and taxes are the only things to be sure about in life. It’s easy to reason that Gabrielle Douglas wasn’t thinking of either of those things on the Olympic podium earlier this month, especially at the age of 16. But like any other American teen with a part time job (well, career) she has to pay taxes on her earnings. And how! According to yahoo.finance.com, a gold medal with a cash prize of $25,000 is taxed at 35%. This means the taxes on each gold medal is $9,000. According to Yahoo, Gabby, with her 2 gold medals, owes Uncle Sam around $18,000, while Michael Phelps, who over the course of his career has won 18 gold medals, has paid $162,000 to Uncle Sam in the past 8 years. Yahoo’s report on this matter has created uproar against taxation across the nation, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio proposing an amendment to the tax code to make Olympians, and their winnings, tax exempt.

The issue with Yahoo’s reporting is that they report the tax rate for a gold medal at 35%, which would mean that the individual being taxed would have to earn over $388,500 a year. Certainly, with the endorsement deals that follow an Olympic victory, Gabby and Michael will likely qualify for that tax bracket. But what about the winners who won’t cash in on that kind of fame?

Prize winnings, Olympics or otherwise, have to be reported on tax returns and sometimes the taxes end up costing you more than the winnings. But it’s not just cash prizes that qualify either; you’ve got to pay the taxes on the fair market value of any property you win.

Ever hear of the HGTV Dream Home giveaway? Every year, Home and Garden Television networks has a drawing where one lucky winner wins a mansion, a cash prize of over $100,000, and a new hybrid car. The sweepstakes is entered by thousands every year and can be a life changer for the winner.

What many don’t realize is that a lot of winners can’t afford to pay the taxes on their prize. Take, for example, Don and Shelley Cruz who won the 2005 HGTV Dream Home giveaway. The home they won was located in Tyler, Texas and came with 6,000 square foot lake front mansion, a guest house located on the lake, a brand new hybrid SUV, and a cash prize of $250,000. The cash value of the prize was nearly $2 million dollars. Mr. Cruz was a stay at home dad while his wife, Shelly, was an administrative assistant who had gone back to school to become an accountant. Within 2 years, the home they won and the prizes had to be sold at auction, by that time the Cruz’ were reportedly nearly bankrupt.

In an interview given with about.com columnist, Sandra Grauschopf, Don Cruz admits that, even though he and his family auctioned off the million dollar dream home, he still enters the sweepstakes every year hoping to win again. He called the experience life changing, and for many winners, Olympians included, winning a prize of such caliber can be life changing indeed.