These gains don't cause pain. A capital gain is the amount of money you pocket by selling one of your investments for more than you paid for it. Technically, capital gains only count for what's called a capital asset, but that's really just anything you own for investment purposes. Stocks and bonds obviously qualify, but your house and household furnishings can also count.

For tax purposes, capital gains are classified as either long-term (held for more than one year) or short-term (held for less than one year) and there are different tax implications for how long you hold onto a capital asset. For most long-term capital gains, you're taxed no more than 15% of the value of the asset. Short-term gains get taxed as regular income, so you pay the rate for the tax bracket you're in.

Capital gains can also be realized or unrealized. When you physically sell an asset like a stock, you've realized the capital gain. When you're holding the stock, and it has a value over its purchase price, but you're not selling it, you've got an unrealized gain, and you won't realize it until you sell.

In a perfect world, we'd all have capital gains. But no one¿s that smart or lucky. When the value of an asset at sale is below what you've paid for it, it's called a capital loss. The good news is that the government lets you count that loss against any gains you've had, lowering the taxes you pay. In fact, many people who sell a stock that has risen far over their purchase price tend to sell some stinkers, too, at the same time for the tax benefit. This is known as a capital-loss offset.

Home / Markets / Industries / Retail

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

The Home Depot Donates $300,000 to American Red Cross for Hurricane Relief and Preparation Efforts

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ATLANTA, Sep. 2, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) ----The Home Depot(R), the world's largest home improvement retailer, today announced it has donated $300,000 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Gustav relief efforts along the Gulf Coast and for preparation efforts for impending storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine throughout the Southeastern U.S.

 << (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030502/HOMEDEPOTLOGO
   ) >>

"Our neighbors in the Gulf Coast need our help," said Jeff Towers, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. "The Home Depot responded to this call, enabling the Red Cross to provide care, comfort and compassion to the people affected by Hurricane Gustav and future storms. I want to thank The Home Depot Foundation for using the Red Cross as their conduit of compassion."

Separately, The Homer Fund, a charity for The Home Depot associates in need of emergency financial assistance, donated $500,000 to 650 associates and their families within the first 48 hours of Gustav's landfall. On Saturday, volunteers from the Company activated the Homer Fund call center to respond to and assist impacted associates with their immediate needs of safe housing and other daily essentials.

"I am extremely proud of The Home Depot and what our associates have done to help our communities, as well as each other," said Marvin Ellison, executive vice president of U.S. Stores. "We take great pride in being there for our communities during tough times, and we are committed to helping these recovery efforts."

The Home Depot closed 31 stores in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas in accordance with mandatory evacuations as a result of Hurricane Gustav. As of this afternoon, 19 stores have been reopened. In an effort to give affected associates the time they need following the storm, the Company has brought in relief workers to help staff the stores in the affected areas. Thus far, the Company has coordinated the transport and lodging for nearly 400 relief associates.

The Home Depot(R) is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,259 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. In fiscal 2007, The Home Depot had sales of $77.3 billion and earnings from continuing operations of $4.2 billion. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.

SOURCE: The Home Depot

Financial Community, Diane Dayhoff, Sr. Vice President
   of Investor Relations, +1-770-384-2666, diane_dayhoff@homedepot.com, or Media, Sarah Molinari, Manager of Corporate Communications,
   +1-770-384-5504, sarah_molinari@homedepot.com Web Site: http://www.homedepot.com

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