Nothing says “pay your taxes” like a little animated government propaganda… This is a really interesting collaboration from the WW2 era between the US government and Disney to promote paying your taxes. My favorite part is the end where the announcer reminds us that “taxes will defeat the axis.” To put it in context, apparently…
New Jersey is one of the first states in the country to pass a fairly comprehensive Domestic Partnership Act that would allow couples who register as domestic partners to receive the same benefits as a married couple under state law (not federal law). This applies to taxation, too. Married couples are allowed to file tax…
Just hours after the news of Anna Nicole Smith’s suspicious death broke, there were already questions about the status of her deceased husband’s estate. The main query was whether the case could proceed. The short answer is yes, that absolutely it can proceed. In fact, the executor of her estate (who many people assume will…
It’s always interesting to receive information directly from the source when it comes to tax cases and tax policy in the news. With this in mind, I contacted Ed and Elaine Brown for a statement about their case. The Browns had this to say: Dear Kelly, As we have been asking for twelve years, “Show…
Taxpayer asks: I hope you can suggest a course of action for what I believe is a 1098-T form error. The college is a public college. The 1098 provided does include the following items: Tuition, Activity Fee, Technology Fee, and College Fee. I have read IRS Pub 970 several times and in particular pages 34…
The IRS is finding that there are already problems with returns involving the telephone excise tax refund. The most common mistakes seem to involve the form 1040EZ-T. Mistakes include not filling out the form completely or filing the form and your regular 1040 or 1040EZ (it’s one or the other, folks). It may also be…
For a service outage. Typepad had an outage this afternoon so that you couldn’t find me for a bit. But I’m baaa-ack. No worries. Sorry for the blip.
Have a horrible tax filing story? Car break down blocks from the post office? Ran out of paper? Dog ate your return?Tell me your worst tax filing story and win some great taxgirl.com merchandise! Here are the rules: Your story must be 500 words or less. It’s your story, but if you enter the contest,…
There are a number of programs that offer preparation and/or help, depending on your circumstances. If you earn less than $39,000, for example, you can use one of the more than 12,000 IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. To find the site nearest you, call 1.800.829.1040. If you are over the age of 60, you can…
My daughters received their forms 1099-INT for their “Little Savers” accounts at our local bank last week. Since they are under the age of 16, we must report their income on our personal income tax returns (the infamous “Kiddie Tax”). The tax policy rationale is that wealthy parents should not be able to shift income to their…
