Taxpayer asks: Last year, I moved in with my boyfriend at his condo. He lost his job so I paid most of the bills. I paid the mortgage direclty for most of the year. I also paid some of his credit card bills, the car payment and some of his child support paymnets so he…
Taxpayer asks: I must say I enjoy reading your blog! A somewhat tax professional myself (I deal in state taxes), I am constantly asked Federal Tax questions and use your blog as an aid! So here’s my question: Would purchasing a home, via taking over the payments, qualify for the New Home Buyer tax credit?…
Taxpayer asks: I have a 1099-c from a short sale on my house, I was hoping to be granted an exemption because of the Mortgage Forgiveness act of 2007, my amount in box 2 is 54809 and the amount in box 7 is 0.00 not sure what all this means. Taxgirl says: A form 1099-C…
When Forbes magazine President and CEO Steve Forbes called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “the worst treasury secretary we’ve had in modern times,” it made for some good chuckles on late night television, but not many people seemed to pay attention. I have a feeling that will be changing. Paulson keeps changing his mind, it seems,…
There’s a lot of good discussion on the Fix the Tax Code Friday comments thread about debt cancellation and mortgage debt cancellation relief. I started to reply to one of the comments and thought it was best to make it a separate post so that it doesn’t get buried. I wanted to clarify some misconceptions…
Taxpayer asks: My mother in law has lost about 7000 in the past year with her stocks and bonds. She is thinking about taking them all out and paying off her mortgage. What kind of penalty will she pay and is there any additional IRS penalties that she is not aware of? Is there any…
The House Ways and Means Committee has voted to permanently remove the income tax consequences for homeowners whose debt is partially forgiven by a lender after a foreclosure. The bill is likely to pass the House and Senate, and President Bush has already spoken publicly about his approval of the measure. Great. Now homeowners have…
Remember that Staples ad where the parent runs down the aisle tossing school supplies into the cart while “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” plays in the background. That’s how I feel about this time of year. As the parent of three children, I love back to school. I crave the sense of…
Last night, while at a reception for BlogHer, I was asked whether I thought that the mortgage interest deduction for homeowners would be eliminated. “Of course not,” I replied. “Even with all of this sub-prime mortgage stuff?” the person pressed. “It won’t be repealed,” I said, confidently. But back in my room, I started thinking…