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All about me, AKA shameless plug time

Friday, April 03, 2009

My dear hubby and book PR people keep telling me I need to share more. No, not all the icky personal stuff, but tax- and book-related items that pop up here there, now and then.

They're probably right, but don't tell my husband I said that!

What with tax season hitting high gear, such reviews, interviews, mentions and stories I've written for places other than my regular Bankrate gig have been piling up. So rather than piecemeal them out, here they are in one comprehensive post for you to enjoy (or ignore! but I hope not!) as you please.

Truth_About_Paying_Fewer_Taxes_SKB-book First the book: My tax blogging colleague William Perez took time out of his busy schedule, which includes writing About.com: Tax Planning: U.S., to review The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes. I'm pleased to report that he had some nice things to say. For instance:

"Bell's explanation of the progressive tax rates is superb. She discusses how to use the tax rates to figure out what will be the tax impact of getting a raise or earning extra investment income. Bell also provides smart tips for retirement savings, explaining the essential features of IRAs, 401(k) plans, and rollovers."

Check out William's full review, and while you're there, be sure to poke around the rest of his fine blog for some tax-filing tips.

Source samples: In recent weeks, I also put on my tax expert source hat a couple of times.

I spoke with Geoff Williams back in March for a piece he wrote about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for WalletPop. One of the tax breaks in that stimulus package that we discussed was the new first-home buyers credit:

"That's a pretty good one," says Kay Bell, author of The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes and who writes a blog, Don't Mess with Taxes. "It's vastly improved on the other version. Before, there was a $7,500 first-time home buyers credit, but you had to eventually pay it back. That was a bait and switch. Basically," she chuckles, "if you're going to call it a credit, make it a credit, and they've done that, and that's a vast improvement."

More insights are offered in the full article, Stimulate US: New tax credits that will help you in April 2010.

Then in the April issue of Smart Money magazine (both online and the dead tree issue on your local newsstand), you'll find me quoted in 10 Things the IRS Won't Tell You. I'm in #3, "Fear is often our best weapon," and #8, "April 15 isn't necessarily a hard deadline," but be sure to read all 10.

Credit card rewards and taxes: I also managed to squeeze in some extra writing -- sleep is terribly overrated! -- about potential taxation of your credit card rewards.

Since the IRS is so diligent about collecting taxes on as much as it can, are those reward program proceeds considered taxable income? I don't want to spoil the surprise, so head on over to CreditCards.com for the answer.

That's it, for now. Thanks for your indulgence and support. We will be returning to our regular blogging about taxes instead of me shortly.

Posted on Friday, April 03, 2009 at 12:31 PM in Books, Credits, IRS, Stimulus plan, Taxes | | Comments (0)

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