Taxpayer asks: Hi TaxGirl. I’ve searched all over the Internet and the IRS.gov website and I can’t find an answer to my question, so I’m hoping you can answer it: My sisters don’t currently have healthcare insurance, so my mom is helping them with some of their healthcare bills and expenses. My understanding is that…
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that the so-called economic stimulus plan – largely consisting of tax rebates – will not boost the economy. According to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., a whopping 82% of Americans believe the stimulus package won’t work. This is up sharply from 70% of Americans who said the…
Have you ever heard of the “gas face”? Tisa, over at Talk Stock Trading, refers to a gas face as “a somewhat stressed look of displeasure induced by the pumping of expensive gas.” Yeah, we’ve all seen it. Since there’s been some interesting discussion on taxgirl.com about the gas tax (or gas tax holiday), I…
Years ago, the partner at the law firm where I worked at the time approached me about working on a presentation for a major client. The client had significant business and personal holdings and was looking to do both income and estate tax planning. We prepared for this meeting for about two weeks and came…
I saw on CNN today that Salary.com had released its most recent numbers valuing the unpaid services of being a mother. This whole line of thought interests me a lot from a financial and tax policy perspective. I tried a few times to draft a post about this subject but kept coming back to the…
It’s the return of Fix the Tax Code Friday! Since there’s been some discussion on the blog lately about whether or not parents should receive tax “benefits” in the form of exemptions and credits, I thought I would make it the Fix the Tax Code Friday question: Should parents be entitled to exemptions and credits…
There are absolutely NO plans in Congress to distribute monthly stimulus payments or rebates to any taxpayers. If you see any emails or ads that say otherwise, be advised that these are from private companies selling products or services. This information is NOT from the IRS, the Department of the Treasury or any related government…
Taxpayer asks: Hi Kelly! I just received my tax rebate, but it was for $600 and I am a single mom so I though it would be $900. I was just wondering how I go about figuring out which amount is correct. Will I receive the $300 later for my son? You are the only…
The IRS has updated its website to address questions about rebates. Mostly, it’s the same old story – no real news on why payments may not be on time. But there are some concrete answers about Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), Refund Anticipated Checks (RACs) and tax preparer issued debit cards. I’ve posted about Refund Anticipation…
Check out this commercial about enforcing the car tax: I wonder whether commercials such as this are at all effective – or whether it’s just like those “Just Say No To Drugs” commercials that simply made folks feel better.