Don't Mess With Taxes

It's that time of year again. Actually, that time was at 2 a.m. today (Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019). That's when most of us said goodbye to Daylight Saving Time and hello to the return of Standard Time. As we deal with the timepiece trickery, a lot of us (me!) suffer a sort of jet lag as our body clocks adjust to the new time and impending earlier arrival of sunsets. But the fall back to Standard Time also is a good reminder that standard is a good thing for millions of taxpayers. A couple of tax standards, the standard deduction... Read more →

You've now got one week, until next Tuesday, Oct. 15, to file your 2018 Form 1040 that you extended earlier this year. During these next seven days, you need to at least get a start on that return. The deadline will be here before you know it. And this time, there's no more time. Here are 9 tips and reminders to help you get that 1040 on its way to the IRS by next week. 1. Gather all your tax material. By now you should have every document you need to file your taxes. Double check. Now. There's no give... Read more →

Image courtesy U.S. Coast Guard via Twitter Today is the birthday of one of America's earliest tax collectors, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). That's right. The force that we know as the coastal defense and maritime law enforcement branch of the United States Armed Forces had its beginnings as Revenue Marine. It was created by Alexander Hamilton on this day 229 years ago. Its job was to collect taxes at U.S. seaports. Lin-Manuel Miranda did drop a few tax references into his smash Broadway musical, but unfortunately for us tax and seafaring geeks, he didn't elaborate on our first Treasury... Read more →

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Patrick Gordon A year ago, the Internal Revenue Service alerted combat-injured veterans that some of them might be due tax refunds. This is the case for eligible service members who received disability severance payments after 1991 and then claimed that money as income on their tax returns. That was a mistake. The Combat-Injured Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2016 says that most veterans who received a one-time, lump-sum disability severance payment when they left the military are entitled to a refund if that payment was claimed as income. To qualify for... Read more →

June 17 is the deadline this year for the second installment of 2019's estimated taxes. It's just one mid-June deadline that millions of U.S. taxpayers face. June 15 is a major tax deadline. Except for this year. For 2019, June 17 is the next red-letter Tax Day. That's because the 15th falls on Saturday, meaning that the usual due date moves to the next business day. A couple of extra days are nice, especially for folks who like to wait until the last minute. But don't get too comfortable. Here are three tax situations which require millions of taxpayers to... Read more →

April 15 came and went without you. You didn't file your annual Form 1040. You didn't send in an extension request to get six more months to file your return either. And you definitely didn't get around to sending the Internal Revenue Service the balance of the tax you owed on last year's income. Hey, I'm not judging. Things happen. But if you don't want to have to fork over even more cash to Uncle Sam, then you better get to work on your 2018 tax return and get it to the IRS soon. June 14 soon. After that date... Read more →

Pete DuPré, a 96-year-old WWII veteran, wowed the crowd at the U.S. Women's National Team soccer match on May 26 with his harmonica rendition of the National Anthem. Most of us will, in some form, remember and honor this Memorial Day all the sailors, soldiers and airmen and women who sacrificed all in service to our country. Whether it be at official parades or other ceremonies or simply at personal outings, music is likely to be a part of the event. I've compiled my own playlist. Note to link-clickers, most of the ones below go directly to sound clips, so... Read more →

Memorial Day, our annual remembrance of the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, is just a week away. Many members of Congress will be back home on May 27 taking part in Memorial Day ceremonies honoring military personnel for their ultimate sacrifice. But before then, Senators and Representatives are focusing how to correct a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that has caused some military heroes' families to face higher tax bills. TCJA advocates, who hurried the Republican-written tax reform through Congress in late 2017, say the revisions to the so-called... Read more →

Thanks to much larger standard deduction amounts under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), fewer filers are itemizing deductions. But that doesn't mean they aren't still writing off some tax-deductible expenses. During this first filing season after the many changes wrought by the latest tax reform law, taxpayers are still claiming what used to be called above-the-line deductions. Technically, they are and always have been adjustments to income. They got the above-the-line moniker because they previously appeared in the last section of the old long Form 1040, just above the last line of that form's first page where your... Read more →

March 29 is Vietnam Veterans Day. This day commemorates the sacrifices of the 9 million Americans who served in the Vietnam War. All veterans are eligible for a variety of benefits, from discounts that can facilitated by the Department of Veteran Affairs' veterans ID card program to critical VA healthcare, thanks to their service. There also are special considerations for U.S. military personnel who are still serving, particularly in the tax area. With the April tax deadline quickly approaching, today's Vietnam Veterans Day also is a good time to review the tax breaks and resources available to current duty service... Read more →

Reviewed and updated on Nov. 11, 2019 The poppy was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1922. One hundred and one years ago today, history's bloodiest war to date ended after more than four years of slaughter. The Veterans Day holiday was conceived as Armistice Day to honor the 4.7 million Americans who served — and the 116,500 who died — in World War I, or what was then called the Great War. The original specificity has a solemn meaning. It marks the armistice between World War I's Allied forces and Germany ending... Read more →

Donald J. Trump addresses troops at the Fort Drum, New York, army base prior to signing the 2019 fiscal year defense authorization bill. (White House photo; click image to watch Trump's address, as well as opening remarks by Vice President Mike Pence, on Twitter) Donald J. Trump today signed a defense spending bill that's received almost as much attention for the lawmaker it honors as for the billions in military funding it authorizes over the next fiscal year. Capitol Hill lawmakers dubbed H.R. 5515 the "John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019" in tribute to the... Read more →

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Patrick Gordon Some veterans who received disability severance payments after Jan. 17, 1991, and included that money as income when they filed their tax returns now are due refunds. The former military members have known since February that they were due money. Now the process of getting it has finally begun. But Uncle Sam isn't automatically sending former troops any cash due from the erroneously taxed payments. The veterans need to file an amended tax return using Form 1040X to claim a disability severance payment-related credit or tax refund. Why now?... Read more →

June's a busy month for me. Lots of family birthdays. Father's Day. Graduations. Taxes. Yep. Taxes. In June. Specifically, June 15. The midpoint of the first month of summer is a major tax deadline. Estimated taxes: The biggie for a lot of taxpayers (including me) is the second installment of 2018's estimated taxes that's due by June 15. You have several ways to make this payment — six, actually, according to the current Weekly Tax Tip. I'll let you check out the details in that other post at your leisure, but here are some of the more popular options: Credit... Read more →

Lots of my neighbors are looking to sell, even though for most of us there's no longer a tax break for moving. However, many homeowners still will pocket tax-free sales cash that should help cover relocation expenses. No, this is not my neighborhood, although where we live is, except on lawn service days, pretty quiet, too. Summer always kind of freaks me out, and not just because here in Central Texas it tends to get too damn hot too damn soon. I'm talking about all my neighbors who want to leave. Every summer there's a plethora of "For Sale" signs... Read more →

"On this day, take time to remember those who have fallen. But on every day after, do more; put the freedoms they died for to greater and nobler uses." — Richelle E. Goodrich, author During holidays, we're generally encouraged to remember the reason behind the special day. The two instances where this is most prevalent is Christmas and Memorial Day. Memorial Day's purpose often gets lost in the revelry of summer's arrival … except when your awash in a tropical storm's rain bands. But today is supposed to be more than time with family and friends at picnics, trips to... Read more →

@bublywater via Giphy.com If you missed this year's doubly extended tax filing deadline simply because you procrastinated, or actually over-procrastinated, then you're out of luck. If you owe tax for the 2017 tax year, interest and penalties already are piling up. If this is you — no judging here, just some advice — at least get a belated extension request into the Internal Revenue Service ASAP, along with the money you owe, to stop that costly process from getting worse. The first Weekly Tax Tip of 2018 offers some guidance on moves to make if your missed the Tax Day... Read more →

Kids all across the country, including those in my neighborhood, spent Saturday hunting for brightly colored eggs. Or, if they're in the Washington, D.C. area, perhaps they're getting ready to participate in tomorrow's (Monday, April 2) 140th annual White House Easter Egg Roll, like the youngsters in the photo above did last year. Their parents, however, are more likely this weekend to be hunting for tax breaks as the April 17 filing deadline nears. Every tax season, lots of taxpayers overlook some deductions, credits or other tax moves that can reduce their eventual Internal Revenue Service bill. Here are some... Read more →

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Patrick Gordon With identity theft and refund fraud being so ubiquitous, folks might understandably think an unexpected tax refund notice is a scam. This time though, it's real for more than 133,000 U.S. military veterans who may qualify for their portion of federal tax refunds totaling an estimated $78 million. These former service personnel are due the money because they wrongly paid taxes on disability severance pay. Some of the erroneous tax payments go back as far as Jan. 17, 1991. The amount due eligible veterans varies based on rank and... Read more →

Grandparents who are raising their grandchildren might benefit by claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The IRS has additional information for these taxpayers and other special groups and situations where the EITC could help. Friday, Jan. 26, was EITC Awareness Day, the 12th annual event during with the Internal Revenue Service makes a special effort to get the word out about this tax break that millions of filers ignore each year. Actually, the tax agency made special efforts, plural, yesterday. There were more than 250 total outreach events and activities around the country to promote the Earned Income Tax... Read more →