What to Do if You Owe Tax
Wednesday February 25, 2009
Owing taxes isn't the funnest part of the tax preparation process, but knowing the dollar amount in advance can help you plan ahead so you can pay off the IRS ... Read More
Free Tax Prep Video
Tuesday February 24, 2009
The tax blog WalletPop sent their video camera to visit the Actors' Equity Association, a non-profit providing free tax preparation through the VITA program. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program ... Read More
IRS Revises Payroll Withholding for New Tax Credit
Saturday February 21, 2009
Workers will be seeing extra money in their paychecks as a result of new income tax withholding tables being released by the IRS in response to the new Making Work ... Read More
More Tax Estimating Applets
Friday February 20, 2009
Yesterday I was playing around the the TaxCaster utility from Intuit, and today I searched around the Web for some more web applets that help estimate a tax refund. H&R ... Read More
Tax Estimating Applet from Intuit
Thursday February 19, 2009
Not ready to sit down and do your taxes, but still want to get an idea of what your tax situation looks like? Intuit has released a handy little web ... Read More
Tax Planning with the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
Wednesday February 18, 2009
The foreign earned income exclusion is terrific tax break for Americans who work and live abroad. With the foreign exclusion, Americans can earn up to $91,400 in foreign salaries completely ... Read More
Final Version of American Recovery Bill Passes Congress
Tuesday February 17, 2009
President Obama signed in law on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (HR 1), which passed Congress on Friday, February 13th. There are excellent summaries of the tax portion of ... Read More
SSI is Non-Taxable Income
Tuesday February 17, 2009
A common question I often get in my inbox is how to report Supplemental security income benefits received from the Social Security Administration. One reader asked,
"Hi, I am trying ... Read More
Reporting Investment Income
Monday February 16, 2009
Tax documents reporting dividends and capital gains are being mailed out this week, and this will give many people the opportunity to finish up their taxes. It's important for investors ... Read More
When Does it Make Sense for Married Couples to File Separately?
Friday February 13, 2009
Married couples generally have three choices when it comes to picking their filing status. They can file a joint tax return, reporting their combined income and deductions. Or they can ... Read More
When is Interest Tax Deductible?
Thursday February 12, 2009
Most of the times, interest is not tax-deductible. But there are a few notable exceptions.
Mortgage interest is a well-known tax break for homeowners. Even points (pre-paid mortgage interest) can be ... Read More
Tax Breaks of Homeowners
Monday February 9, 2009
Homeowners have a wide variety of tax breaks to consider for 2008 and 2009, and they are nicely summarized in a recent New York Times article, A Batch of New ... Read More
Reporting the Rebate Recovery Credit
Thursday February 5, 2009
One of the biggest differences on the 2008 tax form is the line for the rebate recovery credit. This is a one-time credit that's related to last year's economic stimulus ... Read More
Do You Have All Your Tax Documents?
Tuesday February 3, 2009
Usually by the first week in February, most of us have received those all-important documents we need to start preparing our tax returns.
This year some 1099s will arrive a bit ... Read More
Where to Find Free Tax Help
Monday February 2, 2009
Several nonprofit organizations provide free tax preparation. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) provides free tax preparation for people earning $42,000 or less. Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) provides ... Read More
Honest Mistakes and Reforming the Tax Code
Monday February 2, 2009
The New York Times is running an article where five prominent tax experts discuss whether or not Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner are tax cheats.
Most of the commentary is focused ... Read More