Taxgirl’s own Taxes From A to Z® series — breaking down tax concepts and terms one letter at a time, in plain English.
B is for Barter. As an attorney, my office accepts cash, checks and credit cards. That hasn’t stopped clients (and potential clients) from offering all kinds of alternate payment ideas ranging from translation services to kids’ toys, office space to cell phone jammers. That idea – exchanging goods or services without actually exchanging cash –…
Today, I’m kicking off my annual “Taxes from A to Z” series. As part of the series, I plan to focus on tax terms that might not get much play on a day to day basis… If you’re wondering what the heck depreciation is or how to figure out when to claim insolvency, this is…
The last of the Taxes from A to Z series is Z for Code Z. Code Z is a relatively recent addition to the tax world. It made its debut on the 2005 federal form W-2 (and the related federal form 1099-MISC) as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The purpose of…
Here’s one that you can file under “what not to do”… You know your final paycheck of the year? The one with the check stub that reads “Year-to-Date”? It means nothing. When I used to prepare returns, I used to cringe whenever a client brought in a paycheck stub and explained to me that they…
We all make mistakes. And occasionally, those mistakes happen to involve a federal income tax return. For just those occasions, the IRS has created the federal form 1040-X (downloads as a pdf). The form 1040-X is surprisingly short: a mere two pages long. That’s because it’s not meant to be a new return, just an…
Here’s the first bit of information you need to know about the federal form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate: it only applies to employees. If you’re self-employed, you can move along, there’s nothing to see here for you (though you may want to check out other IRS info as outlined on Publication 4591, Small Business…
VITA is the acronym for the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program which provides free tax help for qualifying taxpayers across the country. The program began in 1969 and has since grown into a popular program: last year, there were over 12,000 VITA sites across the country. VITA volunteers receive training to prepare basic tax…
Sadly, a lot more taxpayers are trying to figure out the tax treatment of unemployment compensation these days… It’s helpful to understand a little bit of the history of unemployment compensation in order to understand how it functions (and how it’s taxed). The Social Security Act of 1935, also known as Public Law 74-271, created…
The Third Party Designee box is a relatively new feature on tax returns (I said “relatively” – clearly, I’m dating myself on this one). It’s also one of the most confusing because so many taxpayers don’t know exactly what they’re designating a third party for… In fact, many of my clients are in a mild…
If you’ve ever taken a good look at your form W-2, you’ve probably found yourself wondering about who qualifies as a “statutory employee.” It’s listed right there on your form, with a checkbox at box 13 next to the fairly well-known box for retirement plans. But it’s rare that you see it checked, so… what…