Tax news and guidance for individual taxpayers — filing tips, deductions, refunds, and everything else that hits your personal return.
It’s done. The Senate and the House both voted today to extend the payroll tax cuts for the rest of 2012. Also in the bill? An extension of those unemployment benefits and the so-called “doc fix” for Medicare. In the Senate, the bill needed at least 50% support to pass; it got 60%. H.R. 3630,…
I’m back in North Carolina for the second time in two weeks, this time with Nurse Kate (my daughter) in tow. My mom had heart valve replacement surgery last week and it wasn’t without her complications: her lung collapsed the day after the surgery and the resulting 24 hours was quite stressful. Mom is back…
Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket, or a holding pattern over Philadelphia. – Judith Viorst, children’s author and believe it or not, tax activist I love Valentine’s Day. I’m a sucker for flowers and candy and goofy cards – anything for an excuse…
Taxpayer asks: Hello – I work as a 1099 contractor and one of the folks I work for insists on: 1. Including reimbursable expenses in my 1099-Misc total 2. Including payment processed 1/3/2012 & paid 1/5/2012 for hours worked 12/16-12/31/2011 in my 2011 1099-Misc total Is the above the correct way to report? This is…
One of the frustrating things from a tax professional’s point of view about the magically shifting world of tax credits and deductions on the whims of Congress is that it confuses taxpayers. For 2011, tops on the list of things taxpayers can’t understand is the disappearance of the Making Work Pay Credit. But second? Repayment…
Taxpayer asks: I made 599 from one employer and 150 from another employer. Do I have to claim these amounts as income since they are below the $600 threshold? taxgirl says: Yes. Income is income, no matter the amount. The reason that this gets confusing for individual taxpayers is that the threshold for required reporting…
It was the charitable shot heard round the world. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, or Komen as it is known to most donors is the largest, best-known breast cancer organization in the United States (if not the world). In early 2012, the charitable organization walked into a firestorm of criticism when it announced that…
Twenty-one days. That’s all the time that Congress has to fix the payroll tax before the cuts expire – and that’s only because it’s a leap year. Remember that crazy two-month long extension that Congress passed a couple of months ago? The one that Rep. Pelosi (D-CA) promised they’d fix in January? Well note to…
By the time that you read this, I will be at home in NC with my family as my mom gears up for some major surgery. It’s a big deal. I know surgery is always a big deal but this is serious and it’s my mom. If you follow the blog, you know that I…
Even this Eagles girl had to admit that Super Bowl XLVI lived up to its hype… No wonder a record 166.7 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Eli Manning and his New York Giants stun defeat Tom Brady and his New England Patriots – and at halftime, they watched Madonna strut awkwardly around a…