After tax craziness subsides, spring is an ideal time to take a look at your money management. Here are some post-tax season money tips to help you get your finances in check before summer: 1. Run Your Credit Report Your credit score can impact everything from your mortgage rate to your credit card approvals. In some cases it can even affect … Read More
10 Crazy Tax Facts for Tax Day
Taxes have been levied on people since the beginning of civilization. Since Tax Day is almost upon us, we thought it would be fun to share some of the most interesting tax facts from the long and fascinating history of taxes: The number of words in Atlas Shrugged is 645,000. The Bible has around 700,000 words. The number of words in the … Read More
Tips for Education Tax Benefits
Income tax season is here. College students and their families should learn about available education tax benefits that can help lower their education costs. On average, families spend $24,000 a year on college. However, just over a third take advantage of federal tax credits and deductions to help make college more affordable. The benefits have changing rules and limitations, and … Read More
Military Members Tax Tips
Joining the military means changing your life. Frequent moves, new skills, and overseas deployments all come with the job description. Even taxes change for members of the Armed Forces. That’s why we’re providing military members tax tips. Over the years, the government has created a number of provisions and perks intended to make life for military members less hard on … Read More
5 Freelance Tax Tips
Self-employed workers may have difficulty filing their taxes every year. These workers need to pay taxes on their income in addition to whatever self-employment taxes they might have. However, there are many self-employed tax tips that can help them reduce their tax burdens. Whether workers are fully self-employed or doing freelance work, there are costs in working without a boss … Read More
What To Do If You Owe the IRS
Do You Owe the IRS? Not everyone gets a refund. Many taxpayers owe money. It is important to make sure you file timely even though you may not have the money to pay to avoid late filing penalties. There are a number of ways to pay your tax: Check or money order IRS Direct Pay (New in 2014): You can now pay … Read More
Tax Scams: How to Protect Yourself
Scammers are preying on unsuspecting taxpayers. Most of these tax scams are obvious . None the less, taxpayers continue to fall victim to scammers every day. Here’s a few simple facts that will protect you from the vast majority of scams: 1) Phone calls, text messages, & emails claiming to be from the IRS are scams. The IRS sends official communications via written … Read More
10 Questions to Ask a Tax Preparer Before Hiring
The key, as with hiring any professional, is to ask lots of questions. And not just about how much it’s going to cost. Lots questions also apply when hiring a tax preparer. Here’s a list of 10 questions you should ask before hiring a tax preparer: Do you have a PTIN (preparer tax identification number)? Anyone who prepares federal tax … Read More
6 Self-Employed Tax Tips
Early in a new year is often the time when would-be entrepreneurs think about going into business for themselves. Self-employment can be a terrific opportunity to be your own boss and do something you love to do. Being your own business also brings with it a special set of tax advantages as well as tax pitfalls that you need to … Read More
Five Key Tax Tips for New Businesses
If you start a business, one key to success is to know about your federal tax obligations. You may need to know not only about income taxes but also about payroll taxes. Here are five key tax tips for new businesses that can help get off to a good start: Business Structure. As you start out, you’ll need to … Read More