Tax law changes mean March tax moves
We thought we wanted you March, but your "in like lion" approach this year is way too fierce. Severe weather roared through the south today, with a rash of tornadoes claiming lives and destroying property. Meanwhile, a serious winter storm is heading to the northeast, making March's appearance more like…
How to get tax help for your natural disaster losses
If you're claiming a vehicular loss or other personal property, the adjusted basis may be determined by the depreciation that reduces the auto's or property's value. An appraisal of your property's post-disaster value can help here. Compare that amount to your adjusted basis and the difference between the two amounts…
A QUICK GLANCE AT THE PROPOSED “POSTCARD TAX RETURN”
Now that you know what it looks like, let me point out some glaring issues that I see immediately: The most obvious is that lines 4-6 and 10-12 are deductions and credits that would still require additional worksheets/forms to be completed in order to calculate the totals – these calculations…
Tax Tip…
The key to cutting your taxes is to make the proper moves not just on April 15, but all year round. These tips will help ensure that you don't miss any tax-saving opportunities. You'll find an ongoing collection of Tax Tips (just click that phrase), which includes all the posts that are tagged…
IRS warns of email tax transcript scam containing malware
The billions of holiday shoppers who head for their electronic devices instead of malls are well aware of the precautions they need to take as they pick perfect gifts from websites. This year, everyone also needs to be on alert for tax crooks who've joined this annual online crime wave. Specifically,…
Tax Year 2018 Countdown
Tax Year 2018 Countdown It's over! The final 2017 tax year extended filing deadline has passed, unless you get more time because your filing was affected by a natural disasterlike Hurricanes Florence and Michael. For most of us, that means it's time to focus on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Actchanges and…
Texas fireworks tax
As a kid in West Texas, when the Fourth of July rolled around my friends and I would head out to the countryside to set off fireworks. When the weather was dry, which it usually was, the threat of a scrub fire ignited by a wayward bottle rocket was very real.…
Where to start with California taxes?
The state has given us such things as Proposition 13 that limits property tax increases and set off similar revolutions nationwide, state IOUs in lieu of tax refunds and, of course, the Governator who defeated an erroneous federal tax lien. Yeah, it's easy to poke fun at the Golden State and its taxes. But the Franchise…
2019 income tax rates and brackets adjusted for inflation
It's the most wonderful time of the year. And while, confession time, I have been watching a lot of Hallmark holiday movies, I'm talking today about the overlap of one tax year and the approaching one. As the annual count of days winds down, we taxpayers must pay attention to…
