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Using Your Home Renovation to Maximize Tax Benefits
Recently, I saw my friend’s bills for installing solar power systems into her home. It cost her about $20,000. Wow! That’s a big chunk of change. I had to wonder if this was really a cost-effective...
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Money Management: Explaining Paystubs to Your Teen
As teenagers are taking part-time and summer jobs to earn some spending cash and help with saving for college, now is a great time to start instilling some money management skills. Here are some...
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Estate Planning Even If You Think You Don’t Have An Estate
In the course of life, we learn so much from our mistakes as well as those of people we encounter. Let me share some important estate planning and estate-related lessons I have learned over the years....
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Harvesting Capital Gains Now—or Later
A long time ago, when I was young and naïve, the tax system was able to shock me. Not anymore. When Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986, it eliminated all installment sales. Things immediately...
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Celebrity Tax Hit List: Celebrities in Tax Trouble
In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevya fantasizes about what life would be like if he were a wealthy man. How many times have you thought, “If I had a million bucks, I’d be so happy—and I’d never have financial...
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Tell the IRS and Your State When You Move
Moving can be fun—or stressful. Yeah, usually it’s stressful. In fact, during our first few years of marriage, my husband and I moved our residence three times and my office two or three more times. My...
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Paying Taxes: Estimated Taxes and You
This seems to be my week to work with people needing an offer in compromise (OIC). Why am I bringing up OICs when we plan to talk about estimated taxes? Because in order to cut any deal with the IRS,...
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Beware of Paying Increased Property Taxes
After paying taxes to the IRS and your state government, the last thing you want to think about is paying even more taxes. But homeowners across the country are facing increased property taxes as...
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Working Like an Employee While Being Paid Like a Freelancer
My friend announced that she and 300 co-workers found themselves facing unemployment, as their jobs were outsourced less expensively overseas. Companies tightening their belts often will eliminate...
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Tax Issues to Resolve During Your Divorce
A CPA recently wrote to TaxMama struggling with a problem. Her client got divorced and paid her ex-husband for half the value of his house. Now this lady is selling the house. Doesn’t seem like much of...
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Paying Taxes: Do You Have a Tax Home?
The Internet, satellite communications, and WiFi. Cozy laptops, iPads, and other portable devices. These things make it so easy to work or run your business from anywhere. One of TaxMama’s favorite...
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I Received an IRS Audit Notice! Now What?
One of the scariest letters you can get is an IRS audit notice. It may be tempting to just not deal with it—but what happens if you ignore it, praying it will go away? It won’t. If you ignore the...
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Tax Strategies for the Unemployed
At a recent dinner party, several people in attendance announced that they had just been laid off and were facing unemployment. Some were among the 300 folks laid off at Intuit. Others were from the...
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Paying Your Business Expenses with Someone Else’s Credit Cards
We are not all blessed with perfect credit. In fact, in today’s economy, people who used to pride themselves on their perfect credit are devastated when they witness the destruction of their finances...
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Moving Across the Country: What Deductions Are Available?
With unemployment rates still at all-time highs, many people simply aren’t able to find work near home. As a result, sometimes they have to face a dreaded move all the way across the country to start a...
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Turning in Tax Cheats for Fun and Profit
In a recent MarketWatch article, I wrote an overview of how to get a reward from the IRS by whistleblowing. The responses poured into the TaxMama site via email and the TaxQuips forum. People are...
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Tell the IRS and Your State When You Move
Moving can be fun—or stressful. Yeah, usually it’s stressful. In fact, during our first few years of marriage, my husband and I moved our residence three times and my office two or three more times. My...
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Tax Consequences of Dipping into Your Retirement Accounts
When you’re sitting there, unemployed (or underemployed), trying to hold on to your house and keep food on the table somehow, you probably don’t really care that the money in your 401(k) was intended...
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Online Shopping, Sales Tax, and You
There may be a new line on your tax return when you’re filing taxes next year. Have you paid sales taxes on any of your online purchases? Recently, there was a shopping frenzy in California as shoppers...
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Procrastinator’s Curse: Filing Taxes After Deadline
It’s the curse of the procrastinator. Sometimes it’s putting off filing taxes until it’s too late. Other times it’s neglecting to pay a bill until it’s past due—a mistake that can seriously affect your...
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