May has arrived!That exclamation mark is sincere and deserved. You've got to love a month that starts with a celebration.
May Pole Dance via GIPHY
After the May Day dances are done, the commemorative days just keep coming. There are well-known ones, like Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day, as well as some more obscure ones, like Visit Your Relatives Day, National Smile Day, and my favorite, Eat What You Want Day.
But even with all these (and more!) celebrations, there's still time to make some money-saving May tax moves. Let's get to it!
May 1: While
May Day isn't a big holiday in the United States, globally the first day of May is a time for celebrating workers' contributions. But that can apply here, too, in connection with some employment-related tax tasks. If you got a big refund or owed more tax than you expected when you filed (or got an extension) last month, today's the perfect time to do
paycheck check-up to determine how you should
adjust your withholding.
May 5: ¡
Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
Fiestas are back this year, as more of us have been taken advantage of COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters. Still, be careful out there celebrating this Mexican holiday (and no, it's NOT Mexican Independence Day) that tends to spur more festivities here north of the border. Party responsibly, both when it come to the lingering pandemic and imbibing your favorite adult beverage, likely a margarita, which included the cost of state and federal alcohol taxes. Your state tax collector also will raise a glass to your fiscal contribution, since during the pandemic, sin taxes were a revenue bright spot for many states.
May 8: Happy Mother's Day!
If you're just this year making up for pandemic paused family visits, give your mom a longer hug on her special day. Love, flowers, and the best of health and happiness to every mother, from the new ones just discovering the joys, tax and otherwise, of new parenthood to those gracefully maneuvering their Golden Years while getting some tax-advantaged help from their families.
May 10: Eateries are still recovering from the challenges of operating during a national health crisis. Restaurants closed, then opened, then closed again. Others relied on and have stuck with take-out and deliveries. Whether you're dining in or still getting food brought to your house, remember to tip your server or delivery person.
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 March 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.
May 16: Before the seasonal shift into summer, take care of spring tax cleaning. Give away clothing and
household goods you no longer use. Your philanthropy could provide you a
charitable tax deduction.
May 23: Kick spring cleaning up a notch. Go beyond housekeeping and house clearing and make those home repairs you've been putting off. Many
home improvements, including
landscaping, could pay off in by increasing your home's basis, which means your profit for tax purposes will be smaller and stay under the amount that's tax-free when you eventually sell your home.
May 27: If you're heading out early for the long Memorial Day weekend that traditionally kicks off summer, be sure to plan for added costs, like the price of getting to your holiday destination. Most of us will hit the highways, so even though gasoline prices have come down a bit, they still will take a bite of our travel budgets. Sorry, it's not enough to get Congress to create a
federal gas tax holiday. And if you're renting your home to incoming tourists, be sure to pay the state and/or local
taxes added to short-term home rentals.
May 30: As you honor military personnel this Memorial Day who made the ultimate sacrifice, don't forget about their families. There are some
tax considerations offered survivors of lost soldiers, sailors, and air crew.
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.