Tax news and guidance for individual taxpayers — filing tips, deductions, refunds, and everything else that hits your personal return.
COVID-19 continues to impact the United States, the federal government is taking action to ease the burden on taxpayers. Most recently, Congress passed a massive stimulus package. A key feature of the stimulus is individual checks. You can read my rundown on the basics of the stimulus checks here – along with answers to popular questions. I’ve been updating…
Taxpayer asks: Just read your article on Forbes “Working From Home? Your Home Offices Expenses Are Probably Not Tax-Deductible.“ Now, it is as my understanding that an employee could still deduct home office if they are REQUIRED by their employer to work from home. My employer shut the doors early in March and required all…
As COVID-19 continues to impact the United States, the federal government is taking action to ease the burden on taxpayers. Most recently, the Senate passed a massive stimulus package (the House voted yes, too) and the CARES Act was signed into law. A key feature of the stimulus is individual checks. As with anything tax-related, there’s a little bit…
Chances are that you’re reading this from home. With social distancing encouraged due to the COVID-19 pandemic – and in states like mine, actually mandatory – many taxpayers are working from home. And it’s not just those of us with routine desk jobs: even celebrities like Jimmy Fallon and Savannah Guthrie have been staying home to work. But before you rush…
As the numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in the United States, the federal government is taking action to reduce the impact on taxpayers. Specifically, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that the tax filing season been pushed to July 15, 2020. Today, the IRS issued guidance, making official the announcement tweeted by…
Taxpayer asks: What if I already filed my 1040 and scheduled an EFTPS automatic payment on April 15? Is there a way to cancel that automatic payment and take advantage of the deferral to July 15? Taxgirl says: To be honest, I didn’t know the answer to this one, so I had to do a…
Taxpayer asks: Is the 1st 2020 quarterly still due on April 15? This means selling securities in a down market to cover that. What’s official? What’s your take? Taxgirl says: No, estimated payments are no longer due on April 15, 2020. As COVID-19 continues to impact the United States, the federal government is taking action to…
Yesterday wasn’t a pretty day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 3,000 points sending stocks tumbling to their worst single-day losses since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The markets were mainly reacting to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 is the official name for the infectious disease caused by the most…
With more than a month to go until Tax Day, this isn’t typically the time that taxpayers consider filing for an extension. But this isn’t an ordinary tax season. With new rules, new forms, extenders – and coronavirus – taxpayers aren’t scrambling to file. If you’ve been pushing off filing, you may want to consider filing for an extension….
Have a Tax Court matter? If you’ve clicked over to the Tax Court web site lately, you’ve likely seen this: It reads: The U.S. Tax Court would like to assure the public that the Court is following recommended guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with respect to the COVID-19 Virus. For…