It's hurricane season! Did you know many taxpayers affected by disaster situations qualify for tax relief? When the President declares a federal disaster, the IRS issues a disaster announcement. The a...
Personal
As the cost of education continues to rise, parents and students look for ways to decrease the financial burden placed on them today. One way to offset these costs is to find and apply for scholarship...
The Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in the summer of 2022, made favorable changes related to energy improvements to your home. The following applies to “energy improvement” property plac...
This year—2022—has been a tough time for profits in securities, realty, and other assets. Tax rules may allow for write-offs, but not in all situations. Here are 5 things to know. 1. Capital lo...
The housing market is hot in many locations across the country and sellers are seeing sizable gains. This is so even though mortgage rates are on the rise. Of course, some homeowners are not as fortun...
More than one in four (26%) of adults in the U.S. have some type of disability and this increases to two in five for adults age 65 and older. They may receive disability-related income from the govern...
Outstanding student loan debt is estimated to be $1.7 trillion. Many borrowers struggle to repay their debt. There are various repayment programs to help restructure loan in order to ease the burden. ...
As wages pick up and the Federal Reserve tapers down (it buys fewer Treasuries), the rate of inflation has climbed to levels not seen in many years. The consumer price index was up 5.4% for the 12 mon...
According to the Social Security Administration, as of June 2021, there were a total of nearly 70 million people receiving Social Security benefits. These include individuals receiving retirement bene...
The American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law on March 11, 2021, dramatically changed the child tax credit for 2021. The law made the credit fully refundable and extended it to dependents 17...
If you are an owner of an IRA or you inherited an IRA, you must take required minimum distributions (RMDs) according to tax rules. The failure to do so may result in a 50% penalty. Because of COVID-19...
With interest rates still very low, many homeowners have taken this opportunity to refinance their mortgages and obtain a lower interest rate. From a tax perspective, there are consequences to refinan...
In most cases, you have three years in which to submit an amended return to claim a refund of overpaid taxes. But there are situations in which you can recoup taxes paid without submitting an amended ...
Whether you prepare your return yourself (on paper or electronically) or use a paid preparer, you need information to input. Hopefully, you’ve kept great records throughout the year to simplify your...
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, made changes late in 2020 that mainly affect 2021 and later years. Some changes may impact your 2020 return; others apply for 2021 and later years. Taken as ...
The deadline for filing your 2020 federal income tax return is April 15, 2021, but it’s not too soon to recognize what payments you received in 2020 that have to be included in gross income. As a ge...
In 2019, Americans gave an estimated $449.64 billion to charities and this year likely will see similar or greater donations. This is the season to be generous, especially with the added need of many ...
It has long been solid general tax advice to defer income so that it becomes taxed in a future year. However, 2020 is a year like no other and standard tax advice does not apply to all individuals. If...
It may seem that 2021 is a long time from now, but decision-making on your health care coverage for the coming year must be done soon. Know the time frame for making choices and what those choices are...
As a result of COVID-19, required minimum distributions (RMDs) have been suspended for 2020. The IRS has provided guidance on how to deal with this suspension (Notice 2020-51). Here are some of the ra...
