Congress has passed and President Obama has signed into law HR 3548, the Worker, Homeownership & Business Assistance Act of 2009. This law extends unemployment compensation benefits. "The extension provides for 14 weeks of extended benefit coverage for every state and an additional 6 weeks, for a total of 20 weeks, in high unemployment states where unemployment is over 8.5%," reports Alison Doyle, About.com's Guide to Job Searching.

The law provides a number of tax law changes as well. Some extend or enhance current tax breaks, while other changes are designed as revenue raisers. Here's highlights of the tax changes. Read more...

The maximum foreign earned income exclusion for 2010 is $91,500, an increase of $100 over the 2009 maximum.

For the year 2010, the personal exemption amount is $3,650 for yourself, your spouse and each dependent you are eligible to claim. This amount is unchanged from the 2009 amount. However there's one significant change for 2010. Unlike previous years, personal exemptions will not be reduced as a person's income increases.

For the year 2010, the maximum adoption tax credit will be $12,170. The IRS updated this figure as part of their annual update for several inflation-indexed figures as released in Revenue Procedure 2009-50.

The adoption credit is scheduled to sunset at the end of the year 2010, and revert back to its pre-2001 dollar limit of $5,000, or $6,000 if a special needs child is adopted.

The maximum dollar amounts that can be contributed to various types of retirement plans will remain the same for 2010, according to an announcement from the Internal Revenue Service.

The 2010 retirement plan limits will be as follows: Read more...

The IRS has released a new tax form, Schedule L, Standard Deduction for Certain Filers (2 pages including instructions, pdf) for use with 2009 tax returns. Taxpayers may need to use this form if they are claiming various additions to their standard deduction, such as the additional standard deduction for property taxes or the new car sales tax deduction. Schedule L can be attached either to the long Form 1040 or the shorter Form 1040A.

The IRS has released the income ranges for the marginal tax brackets for 2010. The income ranges are adjusted each year to take inflation into account. For 2010, the IRS notes that "recent inflation factors have been minimal" resulting in little or no change for the tax brackets. The LTCG/QD column below refers to the tax rate on long-term capital gains and qualifying dividends for each income range. The income figures below refer to taxable income, which is income after all adjustments to income, standard deduction or itemized deductions, and personal exemptions have been subtracted from total income. Read more...

If you missed the October 15th deadline to file your 2008 tax return, you can still file your return. Here's some tips to keep in mind.

If you're preparing your return yourself, you'll need to use a desktop-based tax preparation software as all the Web-based software is going offline. Here's links to the best tax software available to download to your computer:

• TaxACT 2008
• TaxCut 2008
• TurboTax 2008

You'll also need to mail in your return to the IRS, whether you prepare the return yourself or hire an accountant. Here's a list of mailing addresses for sending your return to the IRS. Be sure to obtain proof of delivery when mailing in your return by using certified mail with return receipt requested.

If you have a balance due with the return, the IRS will impose penalties for filing late. Currently the penalties are:

• 5% of the balance owed for each month or part of a month that the return is filed after the deadline;
• 0.5% of the balance owed for each month or part of a month that the balance is unpaid; and
• 4% annual interest charge on the unpaid balance.

Make sure you gather up all your tax-related documents. If you're missing any W-2, 1099, or other tax documents, you can ask the IRS to send you a copy of what they call the wage and income transcript. To request this you'll first need to fill out Form 4506-T. You can also get the printout from a local IRS office or through your tax professional.

The deadline to file your 2008 tax return without penalty is Thursday, October 15th. Here's eight things you should double-check before signing your 2008 return.

1. Check if you're eligible for the recovery rebate credit. This is a one-time-only tax credit available for people who did not receive their economic stimulus payment in mid-2008. Most tax software programs have a worksheet for you to fill out to see if you're eligible for the recovery rebate. To use these worksheets, you'll first need to know how much of the stimulus payment you received. The IRS mailed out reminder notices earlier this year. You can also check on the IRS Web site at How Much Was My 2008 Stimulus Payment?

2. Review your standard deduction or itemized deductions. For 2008 (and 2009) homeowners can take an extra standard deduction for property taxes. If your itemized deductions are only slightly more than your standard deduction, it might make sense to take the standard deduction with the additional amount for property tax, and this in turn can make your state tax refund into non-taxable income for 2009.

3. Review your estimated tax payments and extension payments. If you don't have canceled checks or payment confirmation receipts, you might want to call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to ask them to verify the payments that were posted towards your 2008 taxes.

4. Be sure you have all your tax documents, such as W-2s, 1099s, 1098 mortgage statements, and so forth. If you are missing copies of any documents, ask your employer, bank or broker to send you a copy. Or better yet, many financial institutions provide these documents through their Web sites. If you are still missing some documents, call or visit the IRS and ask them for a printout.

5. Self-employed persons should review whether funding a SEP-IRA retroactively for 2008 will yield any tax savings.

6. Investors should review their capital losses carried over from 2007 and make a note of capital losses to be carried over to 2009.

7. Homeowner who are paying mortgage insurance premiums may be able to deduct those premiums as an itemized deduction. These premiums are listed on Form 1098 from your lender.

8. People who have bought a house in 2009 should review whether it will be more beneficial to claim the first-time homebuyer tax credit on their 2008 return or wait to claim it on their 2009 return.

October 15th is the deadline to file late or corrected foreign bank account reports for the years 2003 through 2008 under the IRS's voluntary disclosure program. Some taxpayers are still wavering about whether to file disclosures with their steep penalty structures or hoping that their accounts will avoid scrutiny, according to a recent New York Times article, "Tax Evaders Face Choice: Pay or Pray." In my experience, the best disclosure strategy can be figured out only after a  detailed and painstaking review of bank accounts and their associated tax impacts. And remember, disclosures must be mailed both to the Treasury in Detroit and to the IRS in Philadelphia.