• Home
  • Table of Contents
  • Tax Tips
  • Credits
  • Deductions
  • Refunds
  • State Taxes
  • Politics/Laws
  • Tax Terms
  • Archives

Don't Mess With Taxes

Translating taxes into money-saving English

Home Table of Contents Tax Tips Credits Deductions Refunds State Taxes Politics/Laws Tax Terms Archives

February 2017 Daily Tax Tips
Welcome to the heart of tax-filing season.

Tax_tip_icon_pencil_point

The heart of the tax-filing season is February. And no, that was not an intended Valentine's Day pun.

While it's the shortest month of the year, it's full of tax activity as people get the myriad documents necessary to fill out 1040s.

And those who were able to file earlier are anxiously awaiting their tax refunds.

Just like with January's tips, this page will collect all the advice highlighted in the upper right corner of the ol' blog during February.

That way, regardless of whether you're a filer who puts off your Form 1040 task until the ultimate deadline -- which is again April 18 this year -- or someone who is already thinking about your 2017 taxes, you can come back to this and the other monthly tax tips (links at the end of this, and the other, pages) collections at your leisure -- or panic if you're on filing deadline -- for all the tax information you need.

Since February's short time frame is already ticking away, let's get to it!

  1. 10% medical deduction threshold for all — Are you claiming medical and dental costs on your 2016 taxes? If so and you're age 65 or older, this is the last year you'll be able to use itemized medical expenses that are more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Beginning with the 2017 tax year, the 10% of AGI limit applies to everyone. (Feb. 1, 2017)
  2. 5 ways to protect your tax identity — Ben Franklin famously said death and taxes are the only constants. If Ben lived today, he'd add tax scams to his list. This filing season take extra care to make sure your tax return and personal data is safe and secure from cyber criminals. These 5 security steps can help protect your tax identity and safeguard your refund. (Feb. 2, 2017)
  3. Claiming dependents, kids and other relatives — When someone depends on you, it could pay off at tax time. For most taxpayers, dependents are their children. These young family members provide exemptions and other tax breaks. But other relatives also can be claimed as your dependent, even in some cases where they aren't actually related to you. (Feb. 3, 2017)
  4. Reporting your gambling winnings — When a bet pays off, like your wagers on the New England Patriots again winning the Super Bowl, that money is taxable. It doesn't matter if the bet was legally placed at a Nevada sportsbook or made illicitly with a bookie or at a U.S.-banned online gambling website. Don't press your luck by hiding the money from the Internal Revenue Service. Here's how to report it. (Feb. 6, 2017)
  5. Avoid nanny tax pitfalls — Balancing work and child rearing is challenging enough. But if you get outside help for childcare and/or other household chores, you'll also have to decipher the complexities of tax and labor law. (Feb. 7, 2017)
  6. DIY taxes or hire a tax pro? — Tax software has made do-it-yourself (DIY) tax prep the norm for millions of taxpayers each year. But sometimes, we need a tax professional to help us get the best tax result. Here are four questions that could help you decide which tax preparation way to go. (Feb. 8, 2017)
  7. Where's your refund? — The 2017 tax filing season is off to a slow start, thanks in large part to a new law requiring the Internal Revenue Service to hold some refunds for additional weeks. If you've filed and are awaiting a refund, check out the IRS' FAQs on the refund process this year, including the agency's Where's My Refund? online tracking tool. (Feb. 9, 2017)
  8. Business tax law changes — Expensing and depreciation. Return and other filing deadlines and help hiring employees. These are just some of the new tax laws that affect business taxpayers in 2017. (Feb. 10, 2017)
  9. Calculating your marriage tax or bonus — After they say "I do," many couples find that tying the knot has tax consequences. Depending on your income, it could be a marriage tax or a marriage bonus. The Tax Policy Center's calculator can give you an idea of which applies to your marriage. (Feb. 13, 2017)
  10. Joint filing requires 2 spousal signatures — Marriage means doing things together, even things you hate, like visiting the in-laws, cleaning out the garage and filing taxes. And when you file a joint tax return, make sure both spouses sign that single Form 1040 or prepare to pay tax penalties. (Feb. 14, 2017)
  11. 4 ways to get your tax refund ASAP — Expecting a tax refund? The IRS aims to send you your money within three weeks of receiving your tax return. That happens, says Uncle Sam's tax collector, in 9 out of 10 cases. To make sure you're on the right side of that delivery statistic, check out these 4 tax filing tips that can help you get your tax refund as soon as possible. (Feb. 15, 2017)
  12. Watch out for refund loan fees — Internal Revenue Service efforts to stop tax identity theft and refund fraud have slowed the issuance of refunds to legitimate taxpayers. That's driving some cash-strapped filers to refund loan options. If you go that route, CreditCards.com cautions you to carefully check out possible tax-related loan fees. (Feb. 16, 2017)
  13. Alimony and taxes — When the end of matrimony leads to the start of alimony, each parting partner can feel the tax effects. (Feb. 17, 2017)
  14. Deducting state and local sales taxes — Are you a big shopper? The state and local sales tax you pay on those purchases might help reduce your federal tax bill. The amounts can be claimed as an itemized deduction. (Feb. 20, 2017)
  15. Don't fall for fake tax facts — Tax misinformation abounds during filing season, but there are no alternative tax facts here. Just the truth about paying your taxes. (Feb. 21, 2017)
  16. Deducting business entertainment expenses — For business owners, entertaining clients, current and potential, is a time-honored tradition. It also offers business tax deductions. Here's how to maximize the tax benefits of such business get-togethers. (Feb. 22, 2017)
  17. Check your filing status — Do you know your filing status? For most folks, it's probably the same as last year. But a change in your personal situation could mean you need to revisit your filing status. The Internal Revenue Service gives us 5 choices. It could make a big difference in your tax bill. (Feb. 23, 2017)
  18. Tax to-do list for young professionals — Welcome to the work world and its associated tax responsibilities. This list of 6 tax tips, courtesy NerdWallet via Levo, can help. And to all you new 1040 filers, we taxpaying veterans heartily welcome you to the taxpaying club! (Feb. 24, 2017)
  19. When married couples should file separate returns — As a married couple, you probably do most things together, including filing your taxes. Sometimes, though, spouses should consider filling out separate 1040 forms. Here are six such instances. (Feb. 27, 2017)
  20. Homeowner tax breaks — Owning, and eventually selling, your home provides many generous tax breaks. Just make sure you follow the tax rules. (Feb. 28, 2017)

Want more tax tip goodness? You got it!

Below are links to all the 2017 monthly daily tax tips pages. So far, it's just January. But when March and April arrive, the text below will be linked.

January 2017 Daily Tax Tips

March 2017 Daily Tax Tips

April 2017 Daily Tax Tips

Can't get enough tax tips? Check out Don't Mess With Taxes' continually expanding collection of year-round tax tips and money moves.

Today's Tax Tip

  • Shopping tips for August's 16 back-to-school tax holidays — Is your state one of the 16 holding a sales tax holiday this month? Before you head out to make tax-saving purchases, check out these 6 shopping tips. They could help you make the most of your state's no-tax August event. (Aug. 5, 2022)
  • Tax Tip; click pencil for all tax tip links

  • The 2022 Tax Tips offer ways to file your annual return, along with post-filing advice, important tax news and, of course, ways to cut your current tax year bill. You'll find the monthly assemblages on their own respective pages: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. Remember, tax tasks and tips don't stop after you file your annual return!

COVID-19 & Taxes

  • COVID-19
    Coronavirus has wreaked havoc
    on the 2020 and 2021 tax seasons.
    These three Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes pages have details:
    March-July 2020,
    August-December 2020,
    January-December 2021, and
    January-… 2022
    You can find medical coronavirus resource links further down this column.

All About Kay

  • OK, some about Kay
    Open sign
    Kay Bell — Native Texan (the blog title totally makes sense now, right?). Professional journalist. Tax geek.

My Other Accounts

Advertisements

  • *************

Tick ... Tick ... Tick

  • Tax Season 2022 continues!

    Tax Day 2022 is finally over … unless you're one of the millions who have more time to file — looking at you taxpayers abroad and those in major disaster areas — or you got an extension to file your 2021 tax year return. That's fine. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service appreciates some of us spreading out our filings, especially when we and the agency still are dealing with all the complications of COVID-19 and taxes.

    That's why the ol' blog's focus now is on all y'all still working on returns. But I haven't forgotten my organized taxpayer readers, who are already looking for ways to reduce their 2022 tax year bills. Yep, that amount is adding up, but there are moves you can make. The monthly tips and reminders a little further down this column can help everyone, regardless of which tax year you're working on.

    Those on extension should keep a keen eye on the countdown clock below. It will help you track the days tick, tick, ticking off toward that absolutely final fall filing due date of Oct. 17. Yep, it's a few days later this year.
    Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.


Time for Tax Tasks


  • monthly tax moves


  • The Dog Days of Summer
    are here!

    For many of us, that means taking it easy like the pup below during these hot, sultry August days as summer winds down.

    via GIPHY


    But we can't dog it too much.
    Making some potentially money-saving tax moves this August can really pay off. So let's get to it!


    Aug. 1: School soon will be back in session. That means students need supplies. Good news for them and their parents: this month 15 states are holding back-to-school sales tax holidays. These no- or reduced-tax events are in Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

    Aug. 5: The tax holidays will help ease the high cost of school supplies and other qualifying purchases a bit, especially in these inflationary times. But some taxpayers are agetting more help. Sixteen states are issuing inflation relief payments. If you're in one of them, make sure your state tax department has your correct information, since that's how most of the inflation aid money will delivered.

    Aug. 10: Restaurants are still recovering from the challenges of operating during a national health crisis, especially now that new COVID-19 variants are spreading. If your favorite eatery is now seating diners indoors, still take precautions, aka mask on until that meal arrives, please! If you're still doing take-out and deliveries, those business owners appreciate that support, too. And regardless of whether you're eating out or still getting food brought to your house, remember to tip your server or delivery person.

    restaurant check tip iStock
    If a tip isn't included in your food delivery charge, click the image above to calculate how much to tip the person who brought it to you.

    As for servers who now are back on the job, remember that your tips are taxable income. If you worked at least some of July at a job where you got gratuities, you need to account for them today if they came to at least $20 last month. Use Form 4070 to report your tips today to your employer.

    Aug. 17: Did you get an extension back in April to file your tax return this fall? Well, that new due date — Oct. 17 — is now just two months away. But you don't have to wait until that day is, well, just days away. You can get to work on your tax paperwork now and be done with it any time before then.

    Whenever you do get around to finishing your tax return, the IRS recommends you do so electronically. Check out ways to e-file at no cost, including via Free File, which is, as its name says, free. The official electronic filing webpage is Free File on IRS.gov is available to qualifying taxpayers until midnight, Eastern Time, on Oct. 17.

    IRS Free File; click image for details

    Free File this year is available for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is $73,000 or less. That income level applies to all filing statuses. This year, 8 software programs are available to eligible filers. Spoiler: The two biggies, Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block, are not among the choices. The two leading tax prep programs decided to end their participation in the program.

    Aug. 22: The early part of the 2022 Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico hurricane season was, thankfully, not that bad. But August is when things tend to literally start heating up. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Hurricane Center says that most tropical storm activity occurs between mid-August and mid-October. If you haven't yet prepared — physically, financially, and tax wise — it's time to do so

    Hurricane satellite image

    Uncle Sam's official forecasters at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center expect 2022 to bring as many as 21 named storms, with six to 10 possibly becoming hurricanes. Three to six of those could reach major status, which is category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher. Regardless of the count, it only takes one to wreak havoc. The countdown clock below can help you keep track of how many more days you have to worry about tracking any size or type of tropical storms.



    You also might want to check out the ol' blog's special Storm Warnings.
    These multi-page collections of posts offer tax advice on preparing for, recovering from and helping those who sustain damages from the many ways that that weather goes wild. That includes claiming uninsured losses from a major natural disaster as an itemized tax deduction.

    Aug. 26: The stock market has been up and down, then up and down, then … You get the idea. All the gyrations mean it's time to review your portfolio. Periodic rebalancing to meet your financial goals also could provide a tax break. If some of your taxable holdings have dropped in value, you can sell them and use the loss to offset other assets' gains. Remember, though that this tax loss harvesting strategy should be used only is you really want to sell the asset, not just use it to cut taxes. As the old (and apropos this month) saying goes, never let the tax tail wag the financial dog.

    Aug. 31: If you've already filed your 2020 taxes, were you surprised by either the size of your refund or how much you owed? If so, now's the time to make sure that doesn't happen next year. The IRS' online estimator can help you more accurately adjust your payroll withholding.

    Small Business Tax Calendar: Important filing, deposit and record keeping dates throughout the year that your company needs to know. You can get more tax calendar information at the IRS' online calendar page and view the full year's important business and individual tax dates in IRS Pub. 509.

State Tax Help

  • Don't forget your state taxes!
    Forty-three states and D.C. collect personal income taxes. But even if you live in of the seven states without an income levy, you still face other state (and local) taxes.

    State Tax Departments provides links to your state's Web page. The companion page, Tax Tidbits, is the compilation of blurbs about each state's tax laws. And for more state tax news, check out all our state tax bloggings.

Tax Forms

  • Tax Forms
    Thanks to our increased use of tax preparers and computer software, many of us don't see our tax forms until we sign and file them. But knowing what's on these documents, either in paper or digital form, and why the IRS wants it is key to understanding our tax system. And knowledge definitely is power, especially when it comes to tax savings. Find this valuable information in the ol' blog's special Talking Tax Forms page.

What are you looking for?

  • Looking for something in particular? Start with the Table of Contents.
    Or check out the Archives, where you can review posts by month and category. Or enter specific keywords in the box below to search
    Don't Mess With Taxes.

Search

Subscribe:
E-mail, RSS or both!

  • Enter your Email


    Powered by FeedBlitz
  • RSS

Privacy Policy

  • Wondering what happens to your information once you subscribe? Don't worry. Don't Mess With Taxes respects your wish not to be a mere data source. Check the ol' blog's privacy policy at the Table of Contents page, as well as on the separate Privacy Policy page.

Sponsored Products

Affiliate Books

  • The Truth
    About Paying Fewer Taxes
  • Are you a tax geek? Got tax geek friends? Do you or they just want to make sure you don't overpay the IRS? Then my book, "The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes," is for all y'all.

    Look for it on bookstore shelves
    or order a copy (or two!) from
    Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

  • TruthAboutTaxes
  • Find out more about my book and excerpted chapters at the FT Press
    Truth About Paying
    Fewer Taxes
    Web page
    .

  • You can read more
    of Kay's tax insights in ...


  • Kay Bell helps you build
    a solid tax foundation in
    "Personal Finance: An Encyclopedia
    of Modern Money Management"




    Kay Bell breaks down taxes and
    estate planning for millennials in
    "Future Millionaires' Guidebook"



    A collection of Kay Bell stories
    is included in
    "The Gambler's Guide to Taxes:
    How to Keep More
    of What You Win"




  • Tax Reading Room

    You also might enjoy these other tax tips from some of my tax-writing colleagues:




  • Don't Mess With Taxes
    is an Amazon Affiliate.
    If you click on the product links above and/or buy the items,
    I will be compensated.

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ...

  • Numbers
    Taxes are all about the numbers.
    Check out these (mostly) weekly
    By the Numbers figures.

Kudos Et Cetera

  • Association for Women Clarion Award Winner
    National Association
    for Women in Communications

    Winner, Best Personal Blog
    2012, 2014 & 2017

  • Plutus Award Winner
    Plutus Financial Bloggers Awards
    Celebrating the Best
    in Personal Finance

    Winner, Best Tax Blog
    2011 and 2013
    Lifetime Achievement Nominee 2020


I gotta tell ya ...

  • AKA Disclaimer:
    I am a professional journalist who has been covering tax issues since 1999.
    I am not a professional tax preparer.
    The content on Don't Mess With Taxes is my personal opinion based on my study and understanding of tax laws, policies and regulations. It is provided for your private, noncommercial, educational and informational purposes only. It is not a recommendation of any specific tax action(s) you should or should not take. Similarly, mentions of products or services are not endorsements. In other words, my ramblings on the ol' blog are free advice and you know what they say about getting what you pay for. That's why when it comes to filing your taxes, I urge you to get additional, professional, paid-for guidance from an accountant, Enrolled Agent or other qualified tax preparer who is familiar with your individual tax circumstances.

©©©©© & ®®®®®

  • Don't Mess With Taxes®
    is a registered trademark
    of S. Kay Bell.

    All content on this site is
    © 2005-2022 S. Kay Bell
    dba Write Here, a division of
    SKB Editorial Services, LLC

  • And a bit of housekeeping.
  • Note 1: Some of the links on this site
    are affiliate links. That means that
    if you click through from
    a Don't Mess With Taxes link
    and then buy the product,
    I receive a commission.

    Note 2: Links to outside content
    might become inactive due to changes
    at the copy's originating website.
    If you discover dead links, please e-mail me the details. Thanks.

    Note 3: The banner art for the ol' blog
    is courtesy Pictures of Money
    via Flickr Creative Commons.
Blog powered by Typepad
Member since 11/2005

COVID-19 Resources

  • COVID-19
    Need help finding a coronavirus vaccine in the United States?
    Call 1-800-232-0233
    or TTY 1-888-720-7489.
    More information and resources at:
    CDC Vaccines
    CDC Booster Shots
    HHS Combat COVID
    USA.Gov COVID Info

August 2022

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31      

Tell it to the Hill

  • DMWT Politics Posts
  • While it's easy to rail at the IRS, for the most part we can thank — or blame — our tax laws on Congress and the White House. So if you have an issue with tax legislation or want a tax bill passed, you need to let your federal legislators and the White House occupant know of your concerns. You can find out who in Washington, D.C., to contact (and how), as well as get information on your local lawmakers for matters, tax or otherwise, closer to home, at USA Gov.

..................................................



  • .................................................................
  • Don't Mess With Taxes •
  • Powered by Typepad
Top