Attention Home Owners With Fideiocomisos

This was just published in the Baja Pony Express newsletter. If you have a fideiocomiso, it may pertain to you.
_______________________________________

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR US CITIZENS AND
THEIR IRS REPORTING.

a.  IRS ruling on fideicomisos - I am attaching the IRS ruling that Amy Jetel, a lawyer in Austin, TX, received last week. I had written a notice in the Baja Western Onion about it a month or so ago. It's a private letter ruling, meaning that only the taxpayer to whom it was addressed may cite it as authority in a court case. As a practical matter, an IRS agent is unlikely to contest it in a case involving another taxpayer. It will be published on the IRS website in a month or so.
*** Editor's Note: Link to copy of ruling in PDF

 Format:  www.bajawesternonion.com/documents/Redacted_PLR_Fideicomiso.pdf 

It's important because it means U.S. holders of fideicomisos are not required to file forms 3520 and 3520A. - John, john_g_brant@yahoo.com

b.  This is the notice that was posted a month ago:  Early this spring, Amy Jetel, a partner with the Morgan Adler Buxton Jetel law firm in Austin, Texas, requested a ruling from the Dept. of the Treasury that a fideicomiso is not a foreign trust that requires a taxpayer to file forms 3520 and 3520A. The Treasury advised Amy last week that it intends to rule in her favor. Amy expects to receive the written ruling by the end of the month. It may be a month or more after that before personal information is redacted and the ruling published.
     If the ruling is published as a Private Letter Ruling, as is more likely, it only binds the IRS with respect to the taxpayer who obtained the ruling. If published as a Revenue Ruling, it binds the IRS with respect to all taxpayers. As a practical matter, it is unlikely that the IRS will take an adverse position to a Private Letter Ruling issued by the Treasury.
     If you want your own ruling, you can reach Amy at 512-370-2750. The process is not inexpensive.
I have no connection, financial or otherwise, with Amy. John

Wet Fun Water Park

I've featured the water park before but it is so cool that I'm going to post it again. We've been several times and it never gets old. If you've never been, you are missing a full day of fun for very little money. It's located about 15 minutes North of the San Jose del Cabo airport.

Am I Safer Here in Baja than in the States?

Here is another excellent article about safety while traveling in Mexico published by the good folks over at Lonely Planet.  Let me know what you think about this opinion.

Read more:
Are Americans safer in Mexico than at home?

Todos Santos Dessert Challenge Off Road Race

We went to the races last weekend over at Todos Santos. The race is the Wide Open Dessert Challenge. Fun race; 2 laps of about 70 kilometers each. Donna's son Pat and his copiloto Keith raced Pat's Class One car the "Warlock." Here are a few photos. Click here to see some short videos including Steve Berry's unscheduled pit stop to fix a flat.

The San Jose Estuary Burns Again!

Somehow the estuary caught fire a few days ago. I have 2 sets of friends who live on the edge of the arroyo. The fire was stopped almost on their property lines! One of them, Mike H. sent me these photos. Fortunately, the wind changed a bit and the local bomberos did a fine job in arresting the spread of the fire.

Colin at Roadrunner Open Mike

I have a confession.  You probably haven't noticed but I get real excited about our Wednesday open mic at the  Roadrunner Cafe in Los Barriles. There is a lot of talent walking around loose on the streets and we are lucky enough to harvest some of it. Forgive me for posting the open mic night so frequently BUT we had some really neat kids show up last Wednesday and Colin deserves some airplay. This young man is doin' it!

Is Mexico a safe place to RV? ~ Baja Good Life News

I've posted several articles related to safety for tourists in Mexico. The following post is from an RVer's perspective.

"What about the Banditos, Drug Lords and Gangs? We can never talk about RVing on Baja without someone raising these questions."
Click on the following link for the story.

Is Mexico a safe place to RV? ~ Baja Good Life News

Mexico is Indeed Safe for US Tourists

  

DECEMBER 21, 2011
From "Baja Good Life News"

DESPITE THE HYPE,
MEXICO IS INDEED SAFE FOR TOURISTS

HSI's Craig Morganson is working to dispel myths and repair damage to Mexican Tourism and its impact on travel companies.

Click here to read the complete story.

Read a related article:

Los Californios Moto Club at the Roadrunner Cafe

The Los Californios Motorcycle Club has stopped and eaten at my wife's restaurant many times. These guys look like they are livin' large. What could be better than cruising the loop on a beautiful day in Baja California Sur with a nice bike and good friends? Not much in my estimation. Last Sunday they stopped for lunch and I went out to chat with them a bit. Fortunately many of them have great English so I don't have to embarrass myself with my below average Español! Yuri Lugo and I traded info and he emailed me the link to their site. Click here to see a slideshow from their ride.

Southwest Air Announces New Flights

Air fare price wars would be a welcome change...

Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways Receive Route Approval from the US DOT to Operate New International Flights; Fares as Low as $109 one-way.  Click here for the story:

Less Mexicans Heading North

This is pretty interesting. Mexicans are less interested in going to the US for financial gain than before. Should Americans be happy?  Think this through.

Click here to read the story.


Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Antonio Orozco, center, with his sons Andrés, left, and Samuel, in Agua Negra, Mexico. Many Orozcos have crossed the border for work. View the Slide Show »

Bisbee's Black and Blue Wrapup

And the winner is....

 
 Bad Medicine!!
You never know how this is going to turn out. Their first day fish won the overall prize. Great job guys.
See the final standings at CatchSat.com.  Great site with all the data and lots of videos.

Bisbee's Black and Blue Day Two Results

There were a lot of fish hooked today but only one weighed. Francisco Navarro fishing aboard the Pegasus landed a 329# Blue in about 9 minutes. He was entered in all the daily prize categories except 5 and 10 thousand. Their catch earned them 3rd place in the overall team standings. Congratulations to Francisco and crew for making the most of their opportunity. Got to the CatchStat site for more details.

Bisbee's Black and Blue Day One Results

Sounds like the first day of the Bisbee Black and Blue Marlin Tourney got off to a good start.  At last report, bad medicine was holding the top spot with a 409# Blue.  Here's a short video of the weigh in. Like I said before, if you can get over to the docks, it's pretty exciting watching the fish come in.



You can see all the results and videos from day 1 over at 'CatchStat.com'

Hurricane Hilary

I added a link in the top menu bar to check the latest hurricane weather. It goes directly to the Wonderground Pacific hurricane page. It looks exactly like the graphic above.

Speaking of weather... If you are curious about historical conditions here on the East Cape, click on the weather gadget on the left side of the blog.  That takes you to the Wonderground administered site for individual weather stations. You be looking at data from our station which is in the Spa.  If we have a good rain, you can see how much there was.  If we have a good blow, you can see the wind speed.  Sorry, won't show if the fish are biting.

Our Weather Station

For those who use it, our weather station is working fine.  However, there is a software glitch with the folks on the other end.  I've written both Weatherlink who are the gatherers of weather data from individual stations and Wunderground who are the folks that assimilate all that data and make forecasts and keep historical data.  I'm hoping they solve the problem soon.

Bob

Fishing Tourneys

I didn't post a fishing tournament schedule this year.  "Skipped a groove man" as my young friend from LA used to say. 

However the best are yet to come.  We still have the Dorado shootout which starts July 16.  I fished it once about  3 years ago and it was a hoot. What impressed me the most was how well organized it was, especially the awards dinner.  Capt. Kit McNear from Western Outdoor News was and still is in charge. From the start, it was a seminar on how to do it right.

It's almost time for the Bisbee East Cape fishing tourney again. Registration is July 26. I spent a lot of time there last year watching the boats come in.  The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat were experienced several times as  bigger fish came to the dock. Click here for the wrap up. I've known the Bisbee's Mexico organizer Clicerio Mercado for quite a while and he knows how to put on a good show. 

The last I'll mention is our own ALMA "For Pet's Sake" tourney.  It is a catch and release billfish contest that is scheduled for Oct. 28, 29, 30. I couldn't find results from 2010 on the internet but as I recall, the ladies team cleaned UP last year. Besides a bunch of good stuff, I think they won this year's entry into the Bisbee offshore.  WOW!

If you don't fish, you might want to get tickets to the award dinners. I haven't been to one yet that wasn't worth going to.

The Better Crossing Signal

We saw this crossing signal in Guadalajara. I've always wondered why they didn't say "Walk" then "Run you fool!" This comes close. Click on photo to view the video.

Is it safe?

I got this link from my friend Kelina who has a very informative blog about Cabo Riviera. But if you want to buy property here, come see ME!!!!!!

The Little Bite Part 3

Cont.......


If you are stopped for a traffic crime in los Cabos but are innocent, you have rights. Drivers here have the legal right to go to the station immediately and resolve the problem. If you make it clear that you want to go to the station, normally the cop will back off, give you a verbal warning for the supposed infraction and say something like, “I will give you an opportunity today.” I’ve been given several opportunities. Each time, my little voice encourages me to say something like, “Gee sank you so vedi much. I gotta opportunity right hea’ fo’ ya mista." My inner voice has an accent. Too much TV maybe.


You know, when you roll it over in your mind a few times, the idea of dealing with a simple traffic ticket right there on the street almost makes sense. The poor idiot that let his tags expire pays the “fine” directly to the underpaid cop. Then both parties just drive away with no paperwork and no court date. The cop has no reports to file. The bureaucracy is smaller…… Hmmmmmm

Or maybe I’ve been here too long.