From the category archives:

just for fun

Tax Trivia Giveaway #3: High Income Taxpayers

31 January 2012

Our next tax trivia question is: In 2000, Vice President Cheney and his wife owed federal taxes of $14,295,058 on adjusted gross income of $36,086,635. After taking into account withholding and other payments, how big a check did the Cheneys have to write when they mailed in their taxes? (I’ll take answers within $100,000) For [...]

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Tax Trivia Giveaway #2: Prostitution and Tax Evasion

30 January 2012

Our next tax trivia question is: Cristina Warthen (née Cristina Schultz), now married to Ask Jeeves founder David Warthen, is a Stanford Law School grad who grossed more than $300,000 working as a hooker in California under the name “Brazil.” She escaped prosecution for prostitution but admitted to hiding money from the taxing authorities by stashing funds [...]

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Tax Trivia Giveaway #1: Top Tax Rates

30 January 2012

Our first tax trivia question is: In 1913, Congress levied a one percent tax on net personal incomes above $3,000, with a six percent surtax on incomes above $500,000. As the nation sought greater revenue to finance the World War I effort, the top rate of the income tax rose considerably. What was the top income [...]

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Tax Trivia Giveaways

30 January 2012

Yep, it’s that time of year: free tax software! I have 20 access codes for free CompleteTax online tax prep software to give away to taxgirl readers, thanks to the good folks at CCH. Each code is good for online tax preparation and filing for one 2011 federal and one 2011 state tax return using [...]

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Tax Horror Stories Giveaway

24 January 2012

Everyone has a story about a tax return gone bad. And this is your chance to turn your bad tax move into a good one… Have a horrible tax filing story? Car break down blocks from the post office? Ran out of paper in the printer? Dog ate your return? Tell me your worst tax [...]

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Taxpayers Suggest Resolutions for Congress in 2012

1 January 2012

It’s the New Year and sadly, the same old Congress. With that in mind, I thought that Congress could use a little help with their New Year’s resolutions for 2012, so a couple of days ago, I posed this question on my blog: What’s on your tax and financial #wishlist for Congress in 2012? Here’s [...]

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The Year That Was: Top Tax Stories of 2011

1 January 2012

It’s officially 2012 today and it’s my obligatory wrap up post. Okay, sort of obligatory. As a math geek, I find the whole stats thing pretty fascinating and it’s fun for me to figure out which posts I thought were most significant as compared to the views. Follows are the top viewed stories, my personal [...]

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Congress Needs Some Advice in 2012

30 December 2011

The New Year is almost here! And Congress is still, well, Congress. Clearly, they need a little direction for 2012 so I thought I’d ask you, my readers, what you hope to see happen next year and we’ll make a contest out of it. So since Congress is so fond of pork… the prize is [...]

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What You Can Buy With Your Payroll Tax Cut From Congress

25 December 2011

After all of the drama, Congress managed to push through a payroll tax cut extension just before the holidays. The payroll tax cut was extended for two months, saving the average taxpayer a grand total of $166. These days, that won’t get you very far. Depending on where you live, it works out to: 43 [...]

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Richard Hatch Released from Prison (Again)

12 December 2011

As much as I’ve blogged about reality TV star (and I use the term “star” lightly) Richard Hatch over the years, I feel I owe it to you to report that our favorite tax evader was released (again) from prison today. Hatch’s most recent stint was the result of failing to file and pay the [...]

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