Last night, I was browsing through my email and a message caught my eye. A reader passed along a link to this piece written by Diem Brown, with a note that said, more or less, “Can you believe she didn’t know about the medical deduction?” By way of background, Brown, age 30, is a recurring…
My son starts summer camp tomorrow. And this is what I have learned as a parent about summer camp: it’s expensive. Super expensive. Last week, I took all three kids to Dick’s Sporting Goods to stock up on camp items: shin guards, mouth guards, cleats, shin guard covers (who knew?), new hockey stick… The list…
Taxpayer asks: I’m confused by part of the notice I got from the IRS about my 2010 taxes. The first part was clear – I apparently never got a tax form for some interest so didn’t declare it, and I have no quarrels about paying the tax plus penalty on that. However, the second part…
F is for FSA. Benefits stink at a lot of businesses these days. As a business owner, though, I understand why: the underlying costs of providing benefits to employees are, in some cases, enormous. At my firm, the cost of providing health insurance to my employees costs more than the rent and all utilities for…
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…
2011 is coming to a close which means that year end tax strategies are on the minds of many taxpayers. We all know the most common tips (pay mortgages in advance, make contributions to retirement accounts, donate to charities) but what about those outside of the box? It’s true that you can engage in life…
The snack lists have already come home from school (my first parent snack day is September 22 – someone remind me so that I don’t become that mom who forgets). Snack day is a lot more tricky these days than in the past. I’m sure you’re thinking of the obvious reason but as a mom,…
The death of Amy Winehouse made headlines everywhere. Winehouse’s career was short but brilliant; her life was similarly short but controversial. By all accounts, she drank too much, partied too hard and did too many drugs. And sadly, at the age of 27, her body simply couldn’t take it any more. Much has been written…
The Department of Labor released its jobs report for June this week and the results weren’t pretty. Only 18,000 new jobs were created in June, representing 7,000 fewer jobs than detailed in a disappointing May report. The unemployment rate continued to climb, hitting a whopping 9.2%, giving June the undesirable distinction of the month with…
When you ask most taxpayers about available tax deductions, the deduction for medical expenses immediately springs to mind. It’s probably one of the most talked about deductions (in fact, a fairly significant portion of the questions submitted to the blog by taxpayers focus on the medical expenses) but the reality is that very few taxpayers…