It’s 2013. Do you know where your refund is? No, not your 2012 refund (arguably, no one knows where many of those are) but your 2009 refund. Nearly $1 billion in outstanding refunds remain unclaimed by an estimated 984,400 taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2009. How much is a…
I is for IRA Rollover. An individual retirement account (IRA) is type of retirement plan that allows you to set aside money for later use. Depending on the kind of IRA you establish (traditional versus Roth), you can rely on tax-free withdrawals or tax-deferred growth in the future. (Quick caveat: since this topic can be…
As tax season heads towards the home stretch, hundreds of thousands of taxpayer refunds have been delayed. While taxpayers expected minor glitches associated with a late start to the tax season, the magnitude of the delays, especially those involving the form 8863 for education credits, took the tax world by storm. Angry taxpayers have been…
Pop star Justin Bieber raised eyebrows this week for his bizarre swipe at Lindsay Lohan. After being compared to the troubled Lohan in the press, Bieber took to the social media site Instagram to badmouth the Mean Girls star, saying, among other things: “to those comparing me to Lindsay Lohan look at her 2012 tax…
H is for Hardship Withdrawal. When resources are limited – especially in a tough economy – taxpayers look all over the place to pay bills, from the equity in their homes to under the sofa cushions. One of the options that taxpayers often consider is a hardship withdrawal from a retirement plan. Retirement plans, such…
And you thought you were having a tough tax season… Channing Gould, age 19, was arrested this week after he was shooed off of a corner at North Tarrant Parkway and Park Vista Boulevard in Fort Worth, Texas. Gould was accused of disrupting traffic, a charge he disputes. Gould says he was simply doing his…
Taxpayer asks: Most of what I read says that kindergarten tuition cannot be used in figuring the Child Care Tax Credit. However, that said, I thought that if a person resides in a state that does not have mandatory attendance in kindergarten, the tuition can be used to figure the Child Tax Credit. Kindergarten is…
(Note: Updated to reflect Department of Education comments.) As anger continues to grow over delays with processing the federal form 8863, Education Credits, I reached out to the Internal Revenue Service, H&R Block, and the Department of Education to answer your questions. IRS spokesperson Michelle Eldridge offered the following statement about the delays: The IRS…
Taxpayer asks: Hi Taxgirl, My health insurance doesn’t cover the cost of my birth control. I am trying to decide between pills and an IUD. Would either or both of them be tax deductible? taxgirl says: You can only deduct qualifying medical expenses for federal income tax purposes. Qualifying medical expenses include the costs of…
Taxpayer asks: I called the IRS they couldn’t help me and told me to call our local office since they do not know our state laws. I did. They couldn’t give me live help on the phone unless I was a business and to have my SS number ready.TurboTax gave me a “I think so”…