Hurricane Lee in the Atlantic on Sept. 11, 2023, before heading north. Hurricane Lee was a strange, scary storm. It formed off the coast of Africa and rapidly intensified into a large category 5 hurricane. But instead of heading for the lower U.S. east coast as is typical this time of year, it turned northward. That track sent Lee toward New England, where rotated offshore before making official landfall Sept. 17 in Nova Scotia, Canada, as a strong extratropical cyclone. Don't be deceived by meteorologists' extratropical classification. Lee still did damage to the already water-logged region. That's why the Federal... Read more →
Deductions
Screenshot from Atlanta's 11Alive report via YouTube on Tropical Storm Idalia's impact on Southeast Georgia. It took a while longer than expected, but southeast Georgia residents who were in the path of Hurricane-turned-Tropical-Storm Idalia finally get the same relief as their neighbors. The Internal Revenue Service announced today that individuals and businesses in 28 of the Peach State's counties qualify for special tax consideration, including a new Feb. 15, 2024, deadline for filing and paying certain taxes. The delayed tax due date, which matches the one granted Florida and South Carolina taxpayers, applies to deadlines that occurred from Aug. 30,... Read more →
Source: AmeriCorps Tomorrow, Sept. 11, is Patriot Day. It's not an official, formal federal holiday. But it was declared, by a joint resolution of Congress in 2009, as the day each year for remembering those who died or were injured during the terrorist attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001. On the annual National Day of Service and Remembrance on Monday, Americans across the country will follow the urging of President Joe Biden's in his proclamation to participate in community service in honor of those our nation lost. You can find opportunities to volunteer... Read more →
National Weather Service satellite image of Hurricane Idalia moving across South Carolina. Tax and weather watchers knew this was coming. Today, the Internal Revenue Service made it official. The tax agency announced that all individual and business taxpayers in South Carolina are eligible for tax relief in connection with damages from Hurricane Idalia, which started its journey across the Palmetto State as a tropical storm on Aug. 29. The SC trek was after Idalia made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region two days earlier as a category 3 hurricane, prompting the IRS to grant most of the Sunshine State tax... Read more →
Spc. LeAnn White, 2nd Scout Battalion, 49th Brigade, Alaska State Defense Force, assists with recovery operations in Crooked Creek, Alaska, following May floods. Ice dams caused riverbanks to overflow, severely damaging many homes in the area. (Photo courtesy Alaska National Guard via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service) All weather eyes recently, and understandably, have been on Florida, where on Aug. 30 Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the state's Big Bend area as a category 3 storm. Idalia's winds damaged buildings and roads in Keaton Beach and other Gulf Coast enclaves near where the hurricane came ashore. Flooding was more widespread,... Read more →
Update, Sept. 6, 2023: As expected, South Carolina taxpayers get essentially the same tax relief, since Idalia marched through the Palmetto State as a tropical storm after she hit Florida. Update, Sept. 13, 2023: Finally! Even though Idalia moved through southeastern Georgia before hitting South Carolina, it took a little longer for the IRS to grant tax relief to affected Georgians. The agency made it official today, giving the same basic tax relief to individuals and businesses in 28 of the Peach State's counties. Storm surge along Bayshore Boulevard and the Tampa Convention Center on Aug. 30, 2023, morning as... Read more →
Swimming pool steps photo via Unsplash+ in collaboration with Jordan González We have new neighbors, and it's obvious why they bought the house. Family members and their friends have been in the swimming pool every day since they moved in. Good for them. I hope they enjoy the pool. I also hope they budgeted for the upkeep. Judging from the assortment of pool companies that also have been over there almost every day, the maintenance to keep it swimmable could be significant. The perpetual pool question: The added costs of being able to step out your back door and take... Read more →
Hawai'i Air National Guard loadmasters and maintenance specialists deliver supplies at Kahului Airport, Maui, to help with the recovery from the fires that devastated the island. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Internal Revenue Service also are offering affected residents and businesses relief. (Photo by U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. John Linzmeier via Wikimedia Commons) The Internal Revenue Service has made it official. Hawaii wildfire victims in Maui and Hawaii counties have been granted tax relief, including a Feb. 15, 2024, deadline to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. The... Read more →
Teachers and other eligible educators, stop before filing your tax returns and make sure you claim the tax break for your out-of-pocket classroom expenses. (Photo Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) Our neighborhood schools this week welcomed students back from summer break. Teachers and other school staff already had been in the classrooms, getting ready for the youngsters' return. Those educators also likely spent some of their own money on the 2023-24 school year preparations. There's a bit of good tax news for those school employees. They can claim a tax break for their out-of-pocket educational expenses. $300 is still... Read more →
County of Maui photo via Facebook Late summer is wildfire season across much of the United States, and this particularly hot 2023 season has helped feed ferocious fires. Our 50th state has been hit the hardest. A series of wildfires erupted on several of the Aloha State's islands in early August, fed by strong winds from Hurricane Dora as it passed south of Hawai'i. The worst fires were on Maui, where starting Aug. 8 they burned out of control. By the time the flames were out, they left tragic evidence. The Maui fire is the deadliest in the United States... Read more →
Photo by Shubham Sharan on Unsplash Public schools in my part of Austin will welcome students on Aug. 16. Yeah, that's next week. Many universities also will begin classes this month. That leaves a small window now for some school-related tax lessons. So here's a crash course on eight educational tax breaks. Some help cover kindergarten through high school graduation costs. Others apply only to higher education expenses. There's even some federal tax help for post-graduation folks looking to improve their work skills. Let's start with two popular tax credits, since they offer dollar-for-dollar tax savings. American Opportunity Tax Credit:... Read more →
Residents of four states this spring found themselves dealing with the aftermath of tornadoes that ravaged their neighborhoods. They were given more time to meet various tax deadlines. Their new Tax Day, July 31, is almost here. (Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash) Attention residents of areas of Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee that were declared major disaster areas this spring. Your deadline for filing your 2022 tax return, and completing other tax tasks, is Monday, July 31. All of the affected taxpayers in those states were in places hard hit by Mother Nature in late March and early April... Read more →
A Vermont waterway in a more bucolic time. (Photo by Brian Urso on Unsplash) Vermont was inundated earlier this week by what many are saying is the worst flooding since Tropical Storm Irene devastated the area 12 years ago. That's still to be determined, as state and federal officials continue to literally dig out of the waters' aftermath, as shown in the tweet below. Finally got to return to the house and get my stuff — here’s the aftermath of yesterday’s mudslide and flood in Ludlow, Vermont. Grateful I got out when I did! Don’t think I’ll be moving that... Read more →
U.S. Senators today grilled professional golf representatives in connection with the planned merger of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the upstart league backed by Saudi Arabia. Critics, including many in the sports world as well as Congress, of the deal say it's a thinly disguised effort by the Mideastern country to sportswash its stained human rights reputation. Others add that it's an attempt to bolster its economic influence in the United States. The Senate Homeland Security Committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing ran around three hours, but apparently didn't resolve much. (Insert your own Capitol Hill dog and pony... Read more →
When the Powerball numbers pop up on Monday, July 10, 2023, the jackpot will be at least $650 million since no one won the Saturday, July 8, drawing. Lottery officials say the cash option for a winner will be an estimated $328.2 million, before taxes. That payout would be the ninth largest Powerball jackpot on record, and the second largest Powerball jackpot of 2023. The other national lottery, Mega Millions, isn't too shabby either. A winner of that drawing for $480 million on Tuesday, July 11, could pocket a lump sum payout of $240.7 million. Picking lucky numbers from a... Read more →
Hello, July! Yeah, I know my welcome to the first full month of summer is a bit late. But admit it. You don't really focus on the month either until after you wrap up July 4th celebrations. Since Independence Day this year fell on Tuesday, that meant an extra-long holiday weekend for lots of us. But the fireworks are over and, sadly, we'll never be independent of taxes. So it's back to work this first week of July, and back to making tax moves that can at least keep a few more dollars out of Uncle Sam's clutches. Here are... Read more →
Washington, D.C, fireworks illuminate the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol dome. Happy Independence Day! My neighborhood kicked off today with our annual Fourth of July gathering. It included a parade around the flatter (our community is in a hilly area) of our two parks. Cars and golf carts and bicycles and baby strollers and individual walkers all decker out in red, white, and blue regalia made the nearly one-mile trek. There was a good turnout since my neighbors and I, like a lot of Americans, usually spend this holiday close to home. That's especially true in years when July 4... Read more →
Photo via Unsplash+ License The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) wrapped its latest term on Friday with a couple of education-related rulings — affirmative action in college admissions and student loan forgiveness; the high court said nope to both — that will be dissected for a while. But we're still talking about a year-old decision by the justices. On June 24, 2022, SCOTUS overturned 1973's Roe v. Wade, sending abortion decisions back to the 50 states. That's effectively limited the availability of the medical procedure in more than half of the country. Last year's Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s... Read more →
Welcome to the first full week of June. Have you finished making your vacation plans? I hope you left some time to also deal with summer tax tasks. That's right, taxes don't go on holiday. And while they aren't fun, there are some tax moves you need to make, or at least consider, this June. Since we're already on fifth day of the month, let's get right to them, focusing on some other relevant numbers. Don't miss Tax Day take two. June 15 is Tax Day for U.S. taxpayers who live and work outside the United States and Puerto Rico.... Read more →
Click on image for animation. Tropical Storm Arlene marked the official opening on Thursday, June 1, of the 2023 hurricane season. The good news is that she's now fizzled, as the above animated satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Hurricane Center, or NOAA NHC for all my fellow government acronym fans. Better news is that the NHC says it doesn't expect any tropical cyclone activity for the next 48 hours. The lull could be longer; that's just the time range that Uncle Sam's forecasters are using. A slow hurricane season start is not unusual. The Weather... Read more →