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Show B7 EDITOR: DAVE ANDERTON THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTheHcra1U.com) 2 SATURDAY. Ill ( I Mill K .10. 20(H) Duato files liw EEptey ADOUT TAXES LTV secures loan to avoid shutdown A Peter Kranenburg By AMY BETH GRAVES Associated Press Writer Time running .out to plan tax-cutti- ng strategies FOR INDIVIDUALS There is very little time left to take steps to reduce your tax bill for 2000. Consider these suggestions: If you haven't already done so, estimate your income and deductions for this year. Generally, it makes sense to defer income until next year and pull deductions into the current year. However, because many tax breaks are subject to income limitations, you may need a different strateg- y- Review your investment portfolio to see if you have underperforming investments you want to sell at a loss. Capital losses can be used to offset first the capital gains you've taken during the year and then up to $3,000 of ordinary income. In reviewing your investments, be aware that the capital gains tax rates on certain assets will drop 2 percent, effective Jan. 1, 2001. Generally the new rates will apply to capital assets held more than five TrouCLEVELAND bled steel producer LTV Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection Friday but reached a stopgap financing deal that averted an outright shutdown. Blaming unfairly priced imports for driving steel lows, the prices to company said the deal with Chase Manhattan Corp. would avoid laying off all of its employees. Chase holds more than $1.2 billion of LTV collateral to cover $600 million in debts. "We have been able to reach an agreement with Chase whereby we will not be closing any facilities. We will be continuing operations until we work out a formal more financial arrangement," LTV chairman William Bricker said. Bricker spoke after an 20-ye- ar hour-lon- g meeting with Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White and U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Tubbs-JoneStephanie At the same time, LTV lawyers were wheeling six s. JOHN KUNTZThc Associated Ppcss third-large- sun sets behind one of the Steel plants in the industrial flats of Cleveland. steel producer, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday. Fading away: The boxes of documents into federal court in Youngstown to file for protection Chapter 11 or the under U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The New York Stock Exchange halted trading of LTV stock on Thursday at 34.4 cents a share after the company warned that it was considering filing for protection from creditors. The filing would give LTV a second chance to reorganize its finances. LTV TT Making deductible contributions to retirement plans is still a good way to cut your tax bill. Your tax planning should consider your exposure to the alternative minimum tax. It's estimated that 1.3 million taxpayers will owe the AMT this year, e including many taxpayers. If you're planning a change in marital status at find out whether a year-enslight change in dates could save significant tax dollars. CHICAGO If you are a sharehold- d Orem CPA, Peter Kranenburg, owner of Kranenburg Accounting & Tax Service CPAs; can be reached at or (801) 224-456- 8 ' uttripleckaol.com. Besieged by competition from special- t As er in an S Corporation that will have a tax loss this year, check your basis before to be sure you will year-enbe able to utilize the loss on your tax return. d AP Business Writer d, te Court protection. Cleveland-baseThe LTV has 18,000 employees and hasn't turned a profit since 1997. Like many other steelmakers nationwide, LTV has struggled recently, posting a loss of $80 million in its third quarter. The company previously announced it would eliminate 26 percent of its jobs, By MARTHA IRVINE middle-incom- last-minu- emerged in 1993 from seven years of U.S. Bankruptcy or 3,400 positions, over three years. Bricker had said Thursday in a letter to city officials that LTV had expected to secure $225 million in loans from Chase in order to prevent shutdowns, but that the bank had backed out. On Friday, Bricker did not say why the bank decided to go ahead with a deal after all. Chase officials also declined to comment. On Thursday, the U.S. Corp., the nation's LTV International Trade Com- mission decided Thursday there was evidence that the nation's steel industry has been "material iy iiijured" by subsidized and underpriced imports. The commission is whether to considering impose additional duties on imports from Argentina, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakstan, the NetherSouth lands, Romania, Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Ukraine. Montgomery Ward closes after 128 years years.' FOR BUSINESSES year-en- d rapidly approaches, every business should review its options for cutting income taxes for 2000. Here are some strategies you shouldn't overlook. If you were planning to purchase business equipment before long, you should analyze whether squeezing your purchase into 2000 is a good tax move. You can expense up to $20,000 of business equipment placed into service this year. But be careful if a new purchase before year-en- d will push total equip? ment purchases for the year over $200,000 or if it means that more than 40 percent of all equipment you've purchased this year was purchased in the fourth quarter. The rules will limit your deductions if you are over these limits. If your business is an unincorporated family business, consider hiring your children during their holiday vacation from school. The wages you pay will be deductible by your business and taxable to the child, probably at a lower tax rate than yours. The wages you pay must be reasonable for the services performed. . Make sure you are using retirement plans to niinimize your tax bill. LTV ty retailers, Montgomery Ward, a progenitor of mailorder shopping that operated general merchandise stores in 30 states, is closing down after 128 years. It was a somber day for the company's 37,000 employees and others who were quietly pulling for the department store chain that helped pioneer American retailing. Ollie Allen, a company employee who spent her last 10 years as a telecommunications supervisor in Chicago, said she was surprised to learn 40-ye- STEPHEN J. CARRKR.VTlie Associated Press Out of business: Sonya Russell and her children leave the Montgomery Ward corporate headquarters with belongings Thursday before an official announcement that the company would be shutting down. ar Thursday that she no longer had a job. Employees will receive severance packages. "It's been a good company for me," said Allen, who was among the scores of Montgomery Ward employees filing out of the compa- ny's headquarters with boxes in hand after being told the news. "I sent three kids to college." In addition to its retail outlets, the company will close its 10 distribution centers. "It's too bad because a lot of effort has gone into trying to save the thing," said Sid Doolittle, a Chicago-base- d retail consultant who spent 28 years as a Montgomery Ward executive. Hope had been rekindled Stocks fall, end year on sour note s A in August 1999 when the company emerged from a previous stint of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, announcing a plan to revamp many of its stores. But heavy competition from chains ranging from Home Depot to Best Buy, Target and the Gap proved to be too much for the veteran retailer. "Sadly, today's action is unavoidable," Montgomery Ward CEO Roger Goddu said in a statement, citing weak holiday sales as the clincher for the decision. "You don't need to be an analyst to see that the retail market continues to be very unforgiving in fact, it's bruising," said John Sec WARDS, B10 ,...i:' . if By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK Stocks at the close of 2000 as a late burst of selling erased hopes of an upbeat end to Wall Street's humbling year. The selling mshed the technology-ade- n Nasdaq market to its loss ever worst and left the Dow Jones industrial average with its first "nual loss since 1990. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 80.77 to 10,787.99 Friday, fell tax-relate- one-ye- d I ar winhalting a ning streak that had added 550 points to the barometer five-sessi- of 30 major companies. For the year, the Dow lost 6.2 percent, finishing almost 1,000 points below the Jan. 14 peak of 11,722.98, but also about 1,000 points above its March low. By contrast, the Nasdaq composite index posted a loss of 39.3 percent in 2000, topping the previous record of 35.1 percent the index lost back in 1974. And with See STOCKS, B10 ..m l J payirwit it due 390 diyj md finra dnigw begin 380 dm from contort oata. ony. ptognjm acMet 2001 Montero and 2001 Ectoje Spydw. Some cwtomen) wi not end dele otOt02OI. Sea participettng retailen tor detaitt Tut Avarlibl quefcty through Mitiubuhl Mofot Ot&tt SpKl RW Fltn. Kibprt to pproed ox ml Intumnet. Rett Nde emletuMy mty vy Cuttomet mutt teice rvtsl dekwn from a price, term md A to new 1999, 9000 end 5001 oa. and connect mutt be ngned by mooed program |