Tax news and guidance for individual taxpayers — filing tips, deductions, refunds, and everything else that hits your personal return.
As a parent, I spend a lot of time waiting. I have watched my son eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for an hour. Just this morning, my six year old took over ten minutes to change a pair of shoes (slip ons). And my eight year old, book in front of her face,…
But don’t get too excited. It’s totally lame – again. You see, when it comes to the AMT (alternative minimum tax), Congress has no answer. So every year – without fail – at the very, very end of the year, Congress gives us a band aid in the form of temporary relief. Don’t believe me?…
I have to say that I remain fascinated by the vote in Washington state that would have transferred a majority of the tax burden onto the upper wage earners (those earning more than $200,000 as individuals and $400,000 as married couples). Despite the fact that most Washington taxpayers would be financially better off under the…
This election is big for all parties. That’s both a good thing – and a not so good thing – depending on who you are. Of course, in the effort to get out the vote, we’re going to hear about allegations of voter fraud, vote tampering and bribery. Increasingly, these issues are associated with the…
In many parts of Mexico, today is the official celebration of Día de los Muertos – or Day of the Dead. That seems awfully fitting since, just this week, Sen.Tom Coburn (R-OK) published a report on his web site that alleges that well more than $1 billion of your tax dollars has been given to…
Taxpayer asks: Any site that you can provide related to the statute of limitations of unpaid individual income taxes? The tax periods in question are from 1982 – 1987. Taxgirl says: This is actually a tricky question because so many things need to be taken into account. Here are some general principles: Under IRC section…
The tech blog at the Financial Times (FT.com) is offering some further insight into the EFTPS scam that I reported earlier. According to FT.com, the scam is part of the Zeus family. The links in the email take you to what is a real web site but along the way, a version of Zeus may…
Brace yourself. From now until November, I promise you that you will hear about this next piece of news over and over again: There will likely be no increase in Social Security benefits (sometimes referred to as a “COLA” or “cost of living adjustment”) for 2011. That makes two years in a row since there…
Taxpayer asks: Hi, Just wondering if I have multiple jobs one year, can I not declare taxes if what I earn from each individual job is less than $600, or does what I make from all the jobs added together have to be under $600? And what if its at the $600 mark; does it…
This week, Congress has been sparring over the best way to fix the economy. It looks like, one way or the other, we’re going to have some tax cuts. The specifics have yet to be worked out. Many are pushing for individual tax rate cuts while others believe that cutting corporate tax rates (something Speaker…