Posts tagged as:

taxes from a to z

Taxes from A to Z: E Is For Educator Expenses

8 March 2012

E is for Educator Expenses. Every Friday, I volunteer in my son’s kindergarten class. I am constantly amazed at how much money his teacher spends – out of her own pocket – to buy treats, prizes, awards, snacks and crafts for her students. Last Friday, she bought Dr. Seuss paper hats, put together activity books [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: Z is for Code Z

3 April 2011

The last of the Taxes from A to Z series is Z for Code Z. Code Z is a relatively recent addition to the tax world. It made its debut on the 2005 federal form W-2 (and the related federal form 1099-MISC) as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The purpose of [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: Y is for Year-To-Date

30 March 2011

Here’s one that you can file under “what not to do”… You know your final paycheck of the year? The one with the check stub that reads “Year-to-Date”? It means nothing. When I used to prepare returns, I used to cringe whenever a client brought in a paycheck stub and explained to me that they [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: X is for 1040-X

29 March 2011

We all make mistakes. And occasionally, those mistakes happen to involve a federal income tax return. For just those occasions, the IRS has created the federal form 1040-X (downloads as a pdf). The form 1040-X is surprisingly short: a mere two pages long. That’s because it’s not meant to be a new return, just an [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: V is for VITA

25 March 2011

VITA is the acronym for the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program which provides free tax help for qualifying taxpayers across the country. The program began in 1969 and has since grown into a popular program: last year, there were over 12,000 VITA sites across the country. VITA volunteers receive training to prepare basic tax [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: U is for Unemployment Compensation

23 March 2011

Sadly, a lot more taxpayers are trying to figure out the tax treatment of unemployment compensation these days… It’s helpful to understand a little bit of the history of unemployment compensation in order to understand how it functions (and how it’s taxed). The Social Security Act of 1935, also known as Public Law 74-271, created [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: T is for Third Party Designee

22 March 2011

The Third Party Designee box is a relatively new feature on tax returns (I said “relatively” – clearly, I’m dating myself on this one). It’s also one of the most confusing because so many taxpayers don’t know exactly what they’re designating a third party for… In fact, many of my clients are in a mild [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: S is for Statutory Employees

21 March 2011

If you’ve ever taken a good look at your form W-2, you’ve probably found yourself wondering about who qualifies as a “statutory employee.” It’s listed right there on your form, with a checkbox at box 13 next to the fairly well known box for retirement plans. But it’s rare that you see it checked, so… [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: R is for Roth IRA

20 March 2011

Every now and again, I write a piece knowing that there will be a backlash of some sort. This is one of those pieces. You’d think something like a retirement plan would be easy, with little to no controversy. But since its inception under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, the Roth IRA has drawn [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: Q is for Questionable Refund Program

19 March 2011

Every year about this time, I get emails asking, more or less, what happens when you lie on your tax return to get a refund. There are the obvious answers… penalties, interest and depending on the severity, possible criminal prosecution. But there’s a lesser known potential consequence: having your return flagged as part of the [...]

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