There are many families dealing with the financial impact of 2020 well into 2021. One of the ways the Biden administration is trying to help families across the country is to make early payments on available child tax credits. Is that really beneficial, or should you hold out for 2022 to get your tax […]
Reasons to Start on Your Taxes Now
In just a few days, we begin a new year. For many it’s a time of creating fresh New Year’s resolutions – or renewing old ones. Of course, popular goals like weight loss, debt payoff, and other life improvements are certainly worthy of consideration. But another goal you might think about is to get a […]
How to Pay Less to Have Your Taxes Done
To me, each January seems long and cold, and a bit of a letdown after the holidays are over. This year seems to be no different. I don’t think it helps that it’s also the month when the IRS starts accepting tax returns. In case you were wondering, this year the date they begin accepting […]
How You Can Make Tax Time Tolerable
Christmas and New Year’s Day are in our rear view mirrors now, and that means it’s time to think about the upcoming tax season. Of course, the deadline isn’t until April 17, 2018 but that doesn’t mean you should wait until April to get started. In fact, the first day the IRS will accept tax […]
5 Ways to Reduce Your Taxable Income This Year
It’s almost the end of the year, which means you might be a little curious about next year’s taxes. If you received a raise this year, had a change in marital or family status, or run your own side business, you may also be wondering how to reduce your taxable income to not owe as […]
3 Responsible Ways to Use Your Tax Refund
Happy Tax Day! Have you finished your taxes today? If you have (or even if you haven’t), make sure you take advantage of all those tax day freebies out there! At least you can get something free today which, depending on how tax season went this year, could be a nice way to end the […]
Organization Tips for Tax Season
This post is part of the TaxACT #BeatTheDeadline blog tour which shares tips on how to make tax time a smooth and easy process before the April 15 deadline. TaxACT provides the tools and guidance to help you confidently file taxes easy and fast. Do your own taxes today at TaxACT. You got this. If […]
Ways to Reduce Your Tax Burden
Now that most of my 1099’s have arrived, I’ll be sitting down to do my taxes soon! Today, PF Pro contributor, Melissa Hoffman takes a look at a few ways you can reduce your tax burden and keep more money in your pocket. As much as you may not want to hear it, we’re well […]
The Stepped-Up Basis & Donald Sterling
Editor’s Note: I grew up in LA so it’s been pretty interesting to follow the whole Donald Sterling/Clippers saga over the past few days in the media. We now know that he’s been banned from the NBA for life, will be fined $2.5 million and forced to sell the team. But there aren’t many people […]
Depreciation is My New Best Friend
I just submitted my taxes and it felt good. The sense of accomplishment this year was especially gratifying because I got a lot of money back. Normally if you get money back it’s because you didn’t do a very good job of calculating your estimated withholding. But 2013 was the first year I got to […]
Why the Average CPA Isn’t Worth the Money
Every year around tax time, I inevitably see lots of articles about maximizing deductions and figuring out ways to get more money back. There are lots of gray areas when it comes to taxes and that opens up lots of possibilities for aggressive filers. But even within the CPA community, there is a lot of […]
Diversify Everything
Whenever I hear someone get really excited about their latest investment, I tend to think the worst. It’s not that I don’t want that person to succeed but I usually worry they’re making a big mistake. Any time I see a friend buy a house, I wonder if they spent more than they can afford. […]
Are Credit Card Bonuses Taxable?
Now that my favorite time of the year(tax time!) is right around the corner, I’m starting to get a lot of 1099’s in the mail. I have many sources of income which usually means a lot of 1099’s showing up on my door step. It’s more work for me but it’s usually a good thing […]
TurboTax 2013 Review and Premier Edition Giveaway
I’m a big proponent of do it yourself financial solutions and when it comes to taxes my feelings are no different. CPA’s and tax professionals are expensive and they probably don’t make sense for about 90% of us. Even though our tax system is pretty insane and convoluted, as long as you understand the basics […]
FreeTaxUSA Review & Deluxe Giveaway
Tax time isn’t just around the corner, it’s right now. And it’s not just a stressful time of the year because it’s tax time, it’s stressful because so many tax services out there charge you to file your federal taxes. Sure, they say it’s free, but only if you’re doing an EZ form or have […]
Turbo Tax Review From Someone Who’s Actually Used It
This is going to sound a little crazy, but I’ve done my taxes myself and I’ve also gone to a service to have my taxes done for me… and it was easier to do them myself. As well as cheaper. The reason? I use Turbotax.com now. There are a few things I like about TurboTax. […]
I Finally Invested My HSA Money
It’s been a while since I wrote about my new HSA rollover strategy and lots of things have happened since then. I quit my old job, got free health insurance for a couple months, got my own insurance for a month and will have employer health insurance again next week! I’ll probably go with the […]
Why I Always Order Food and Drinks To Go
One of my favorite topics is taxes, or more specifically avoiding taxes. Every year I go to great lengths to delay or even avoid taxes to the fullest extent of the law. I max out my 401k, Roth IRA and HSA. I itemize and take huge deductions for property tax and mortgage interest but I […]
Special Tax Treatment of an Employee Stock Purchase Plan
If you do your taxes yourself and participate in an employee stock purchase plan(ESPP) you could be making a huge error in the IRS’ favor. Although the ESPP program was discontinued at my workplace this year, one of my co-worker’s recently made this mistake and he’ll have to amend his 2012 return. It all has […]
3 Expenses That Will Go Up As You Get Older
This is a guest post by Chris at StumbleForward. Head over to his blog and check out his other articles after you’re done with this one! We all understand that the cost of living is going up on an annual basis. But as we get older, there are going to be some huge cost increases […]