UPDATED, Monday, April. 10, 2023: This year has gotten off to a terrible start as far as major natural disasters. Residents of several states have been impacted, with the Internal Revenue Service offering tax relief, including extended filing and payment deadlines. If you're ever in a disaster area, be sure to take full advantage of tax and other federal government relief offered. Here are some of Uncle Sam's resources beyond the IRS that can help you get your life back on track. The U.S. and British Virgin Islands took a whacking today from Hurricane Dorian, which struck the Caribbean islands... Read more →
Disaster
Photo courtesy COP28 web page Around 70,000 participants are expected in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), over the next couple of weeks to discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change. They're attending the 28th annual United Nations (UN) Conference of the Parties, known as COP28. The parties part of COP are the countries that signed the original UN climate agreement in 1992. And their current gathering comes at the end of a year of worldwide extreme weather events and a plethora of broken climate records. While climate change and human contributions to it are being acknowledged by... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images As we have become more globally interconnected, worldwide tragedies affect more of us. We have family and friends scattered across the globe. We want to support and help them, especially in troubled times. But those connections can have a dark side. Crooks take advantage of our goodwill. Fraudsters tout fake charities to worldwide victims, seeking to divert much needed help into their own malicious pockets. After disasters, the Internal Revenue Service regularly reminds taxpayers to be alert for such cons. Fake charity scams also are, sadly, a perennial on the IRS' annual Dirty Dozen... Read more →
Getting your tax ducks in a row takes on a different meaning, and bird, in November. But whatever fowl you choose for the metaphor, make some time this month to complete tasks that will prevent tax turkeys. (Photo by Mohan Nannapaneni) Hello, November! We welcome cooler (but not cold!) temperatures, holiday feasts (yes, I love pumpkin pie), and seeing family and friends for the first time in, well, months. This penultimate month of the year is also a good time to tackle some tax tasks. I know, you already have a lot on your November to-do list. But check out... Read more →
Things can get even more complicated if you're donating to international relief efforts and plan to claim your gift as a tax deduction. World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers are among the first in areas in need of relief, like here delivering meals with the help of nonprofit partners in Beit Shemesh, Israel. WCK staff also are already on their way to Acapulco, Mexico, where Hurricane Otis made landfall as a powerful Category 5 early today. (Photo credit: World Central Kitchen/WCK.org) Sometimes, like today, it seems as if the whole world is totally out of control. In the past few weeks,... Read more →
Updated Tuesday, October 17, 2023 The Internal Revenue Service's surprise announcement came on what was Tax Day for millions of Golden State taxpayers who earlier got additional federal filing time due to major disasters. State officials have followed suit, extending California's due date, too. In addition, the IRS last week gave U.S. taxpayers living in Israel almost a year to take care of a variety of current tax obligations. Storms across California earlier this year produced widespread flooding and other disastrous conditions. That prompted federal relief, including extended tax deadlines. Today, the IRS gave Golden State taxpayers another month to... Read more →
Check out some October sweet tax treats below that could help make this month less scary, at least as far as your taxes are concerned. (Photo by Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) October is a scary month, and not just because of Halloween. Millions of uber procrastinators face a final mid-month deadline to file their annual tax return. It's also the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year. So, in addition to picking out your All Hallows Eve costume and hiding the holiday treats so your family won't eat them all before trick-or-treaters come knocking in a few... Read more →
A few years ago, tugboats pushing barges down the Mississippi River, like this one going under the Vicksburg Bridge, was not a problem. Extreme drought, however, has lowered the river's levels, allowing salty water from the Gulf of Mexico to creep upstream below a layer of freshwater. (Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash) Salt water is creeping up the mouth of the Mississippi River and threatening the drinking supply of several parishes in Southeast Louisiana, including the city and suburbs of New Orleans. The prospects are so severe, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared major disasters in Jefferson, Orleans,... Read more →
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 →
The third estimated tax payment deadline is tomorrow, Sept. 15. But this year, some usual 1040-ES filers in 10 states get more time. Don't be jealous. Their apparent tax good fortune is due to unfortunate circumstances. These individuals and business owners live in parts of Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Vermont that have been declared major disaster areas. Because Mother Nature can be fickle, some states endured her wrath multiple times, meaning different disaster areas with different deadlines. I've listed the affected areas below where taxpayers have more time to make their third estimated... Read more →
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 →
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 →
Click image for animated loop view. Hurricane Season 2023 finally is looking normal. After an historic detour to California for Hurricane Hilary, weather watchers and east coast residents are settling in for the start of the usual, busiest part of the annual tropical system season. This week we have Tropical Storm Idalia whirling in the western Caribbean Sea, soon to head to the upper west coast of Florida. By the time it makes landfall on Sunshine State shores on Wednesday, forecasters say she could be a major hurricane. Of course, Floridians would just as soon have an abnormal hurricane season.... 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 →
NOAA NHC CPHC It's that time of the blog year when I become an ersatz meteorologist. A hurricane is heading toward the United States. This time, though, it's Hurricane Hilary's path to and across Southern California and into Nevada. A hurricane is never good news. That's particularly true in the Golden State, where most of the residents are still dealing with winter storm flooding. Now they are awaiting Hilary, forecast by weather officials to be the wettest tropical cyclone in state history. The storm also has prompted the first-ever Tropical Storm Watch issued for California. As California mobilizes to meet... 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 →
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 →
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 →