Our next tax trivia question is: Cristina Warthen (née Cristina Schultz), now married to Ask Jeeves founder David Warthen, is a Stanford Law School grad who grossed more than $300,000 working as a hooker in California under the name “Brazil.” She escaped prosecution for prostitution but admitted to hiding money from the taxing authorities by stashing funds…
Yep, it’s that time of year: free tax software! I have 20 access codes for free CompleteTax online tax prep software to give away to taxgirl readers, thanks to the good folks at CCH. Each code is good for online tax preparation and filing for one 2011 federal and one 2011 state tax return using…
Everyone has a story about a tax return gone bad. And this is your chance to turn your bad tax move into a good one… Have a horrible tax filing story? Car break down blocks from the post office? Ran out of paper in the printer? Dog ate your return? Tell me your worst tax…
With just a few days to go before the IRS starts to accept e-filed returns, my inbox is chock full of Ask The Taxgirl® emails. Here are some things to remember: I get a lot of emails and I read every single one. I’m not ignoring you but you’re also not the only email I’ll…
The New Year is almost here! And Congress is still, well, Congress. Clearly, they need a little direction for 2012 so I thought I’d ask you, my readers, what you hope to see happen next year and we’ll make a contest out of it. So since Congress is so fond of pork… the prize is…
Our seventh charitable organization is Shoes That Fit. Shoes that Fit began in Claremont, California in 1992. Today, Shoes That Fit is helping children in need in thousands of schools across America. Shoes That Fit gives kids much-needed new shoes so that they can go to school in comfort and with dignity and focus on…
After all of the drama, Congress managed to push through a payroll tax cut extension just before the holidays. The payroll tax cut was extended for two months, saving the average taxpayer a grand total of $166. These days, that won’t get you very far. Depending on where you live, it works out to: 43…
Congress may be on holiday but they still managed to get something done. And by something, I mean nothing. But they want to pretend that they did something so we’ll let them have their moment. The House and the Senate passed a bill that would extend the payroll tax cuts for a lousy two months….
It’s the fifth day of my annual 12 Days of Charitable Giving. Each of the 12 charities that I’ll be featuring in the series was suggested by a reader as a charity that could use a boost this holiday season. I’ll be posting one a day for – well, 12 days (I’m clever that way)….
As if we didn’t need further evidence that Congress is phoning it in these days … House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) backtracked Thursday afternoon and announced a “compromise” two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, two days after the House voted to reject it. Let me break this down for you. First, to the average taxpayer,…