Don't Mess With Taxes

Casino sportsbooks like this one in Las Vegas still take plenty of sports bets, but thanks to the Supreme Court's 2018 ruling allowing states to open up sports gambling within their borders, this year's Super Bowl wagering broke betting records. Happy Super Bowl Monday hangover! I'll try to type softly for all y'all skipping work today to recover from either celebrating your Kansas City Chiefs hoisting the Lombardi Trophy again or hunkering down because you drowned your Philadelphia Eagles' fan sorrows a bit too much. Regardless of the National Football League championship result, I hope at least some of your... Read more →

Drivers faced plenty of challenges in 2022, notably the dramatic jump this year in fuel prices. That prompted the Internal Revenue Service in June to hike 2022's optional standard mileage rates for the last six months of the year. Now the IRS has bumped up the business rate again as part of its annual adjustments to a variety of tax laws. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2023, the standard optional mileage rate for a car (or van, pickup or panel truck) used for business purposes will be 65.5 cents per mile. That's up 3 cents from the midyear increase that applies... Read more →

Before law changes, the now inflation-indexed Alternative Minimum Tax, known as the AMT, seemed to work like an ATM for the Internal Revenue Service, allowing it to collect this parallel tax from more than the wealthy for whom it was created. (Photo by Erik Mclean) Calculating one tax bill is bad enough, but some people have to deal with a second one at tax filing time. The Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, is a separate tax system created to ensure that the wealthiest pay at least some tax. The parallel AMT was added to the Internal Revenue Code in 1969... Read more →

Plus a look at how higher costs of living affect capital gains, youngsters' investment earnings, gifts, and more. Image via Giphy Them that got, are them that get. Not only is that a lyric (and theme) from a fabulous Ray Charles song, it's a good synopsis of the current estate tax law, especially with 2023 inflation adjustments. Many of the current wealth-related tax provisions help the richest among us stay that way. But some of them can help all of us, regardless of our income level, increase our relative wealth. And, as reviewed in this Part 6 of the ol'... Read more →

Looking up provides a lovely view of the Idaho statehouse dome. Gem State lawmakers, however, recently went the other direction, lowering the state's top personal income tax rate and making it the lone flat tax amount collected on individual earnings starting in 2023. (Photo by Kencf0618 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0) I've spent most of my earnings life in no-individual-income tax states. I was born, grew up, and got my first jobs in Texas. After a stint in Maryland, which collects state and local income taxes, the hubby and I moved to Florida, another no personal income tax state.... Read more →

Evening traffic on Pennybacker Bridge in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Manuel Garza via Flickr) The Internal Revenue Service today delivered a bit of good news to taxpayers who use their vehicles for medical and business purposes. The standard optional mileage rates used to calculate tax deductible amounts are going up on July 1. The increase of the rates, which last were adjusted in December as part of the IRS' annual review of transportation costs, comes as the nation's national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline nears $5. "The IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect... Read more →

I have a stock app on my phone. Yeah, that's it above, with all those ugly, jagged red lines. I'm smart enough not to get alerts, but now and then when I check other news, I see it. Like today, which got me thinking it's time to delete this piece of electronic info, at least for a while. But while I'm not enjoying the prospect of delaying the start of my golden years, the declining stock market is good news for some retirement account owners. If they have traditional IRAs, the current down market could be a good time for... Read more →

NOTE: You can find an updated version in my Oct. 13, 2023, post about tax myths and eclipse superstitions pegged to the Oct. 14. 2023, annular eclipse. Here are this weekend's full Flower Moon eclipse stages. The moon moves right to left, passing through the penumbra and umbra, leaving in its wake an eclipse diagram with the times (Eastern time zone) at various stages of the eclipse. Visualizations by Ernie Wright, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio. Click here for the video version. And if it's cloudy where you live, you can livestream the eclipse. It's Friday the 13th, the only one... Read more →

Does your tax bill seem too big? You are not alone in thinking that, according to a recent survey. Every filing season, a lot of taxpayers discover that, at least from their point of view, they are paying too much in taxes. That's still true, even though we've now had four full years of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changes. This major tax reform bill was supposed to simplify filings, and it did for millions by expanding the standard deduction amounts and shifting folks from itemizing. It also, according to the Republican lawmakers who crafted it, was supposed... Read more →

UPDATE, June 9, 2022: When retail gasoline prices skyrocketed this summer, the Internal Revenue Service acted to reflect the increased expense. On July 1, it hiked 2022's optional standard mileage rates by 4 cents per gallon through the end of the year. That means for the last six months of 2022, business travel may be claimed at 62.5 cents per mile, and travel for medical reasons is calculated for those final six months at 22 cents per mile. You can find more on the midyear revision and the double deductible driving record keeping it requires in my increased 2022 mileage... Read more →

AMT law changes plus annual inflation adjustments mean that this parallel tax aimed at the wealthy is no longer such a broadly-based ATM for the tax collector. The political and legislative battle over how to collect from the wealthiest taxes, which was mentioned in yesterday's Part 6 tax inflation post on (among other things) estate taxes, is not new. It's been going on for decades. The Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, is one way that Washington, D.C., came up with to ensure that the rich pay at least some taxes. This post, Part 7 of the ol' blog's 10-part inflation... Read more →

Current political talk (OK, fights) on Capitol Hill is full of discussions (OK, fights) over how and how much to tax the rich. The discussions (OK, fights) are driven by the fact that the tax code already is full of provisions that help the wealthiest among us stay that way. But some of the tax laws can help all of us, regardless of our income level, increase our relative wealth. And some of those Internal Tax Code components are adjusted each year for inflation. This Part 6 of the ol' blog's annual tax inflation series looks at how these annual... Read more →

Tax year-in and tax year-out, most filers claim the standard deduction instead of itemizing. The option has always been appealing because it's easy. There are no receipts to save, no added calculations. Even better, the Internal Revenue Service provides the standard amount you can claim, based on your filing status, right there on the first page of Form 1040. The standard deduction trend got even more participants after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 essentially doubled the standard amounts. And those now more valuable deduction amounts still usually get a boost at the end of every year... Read more →

Elected officials come into office with grand plans. Then the reality of governing hits. Although President Joe Biden has a nominally Democratic House and Senate, the margin in both chambers, especially when we're talking about the perpetually infighting Dems, is razor thin. That means Biden is not going to get everything he proposed on the campaign trail. That's become obvious in the wrangling still going on over his scaled-back Build Back Better (BBB) budget bill. Estate tax/other benefits tradeoff: The Biden Administration had hoped to help pay for new and increased family-focused tax breaks in the BBB by upping another... Read more →

As the fight continues on Capitol Hill over how to pay for President Joe Biden's economic and infrastructure plans, property taxes are getting a lot of attention. In one case, it's the real and continuing battle by some lawmakers to repeal or at least revise the itemized deduction limit on state and local taxes, including income and real estate levies collected at those governmental levels. In the other, it's a false claim about a new, nationwide real estate tax. SALT deduction change: First, a look at the real taxes, the state and local taxes, or SALT, collected by almost every... Read more →

Young boy feeding the chickens. (Photo by ArtHouse Studio from Pexels) As we wind down the first weekend in October, Democrats are continuing to fight amongst themselves and with Republicans over how big President Joe Biden's economic plan should be and how to pay for however much it ultimately is. But one group of taxpayers is happy about what isn't in the mix. Potential changes to the tax treatment of inherited property are off the table, at least for now. There had been talk that the stepped-up basis rule would be eliminated. This tax rule allows heirs to set the... Read more →

With companies reopening as the coronavirus has abated somewhat, rush-hour traffic has returned to highways across the United States. Austin area workers, like these on the Capital of Texas Highway, are among those resuming commuting. (Photo by Tony Webster via Flickr) Many workplaces across the United States are returning, at least in part, to pre-COVID-19 form. That means many employees are heading back to their offices. And that means commuting is returning, too. The good news for many workers is that they get tax-free help in going back to their jobs. Since it's been a while between bus, train, vanpool... Read more →

Even before 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) greatly increased the standard deduction amounts, most people chose to use the standard deduction amount. But one thing that the latest tax reform law didn't change is the ability for many to get some added deductions without itemizing. These used to be called, at least by the tax community, above-the-line deductions. They got that moniker because pre-TCJA they appeared in the last section of the old long Form 1040, just above the last line of that form's first page where your adjusted gross income (AGI) was entered. (A handful also were... Read more →

Archer Daniels Midland is one of the major corporations cited in a new report of companies that paid no taxes in 2020. The Biden Administration's infrastructure plan has ramped up the perennial tax debate between Democrats and Republicans. The White House wants to increase tax collections on companies to pay for the proposal, dubbed The American Jobs Plan. And that approach is getting some support from a recent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) report. The Washington, D.C. nonprofit found that 55 of the largest U.S. companies paid nothing in federal income taxes last year. The $0 tax payments... Read more →

We got our first tax statement yesterday. It's our mortgage lender's Form 1098 with details on potentially tax-deductible amounts like loan interest and property taxes. This is just one of the documents that millions of taxpayers are awaiting so they can file their returns. In addition to tax-related home transactions, the various documents that are or soon will be on their way include documents detailing income, be it from wages, contract work or retirement accounts; investments; winnings and/or gambling proceeds; and in some cases, health care information. A handful of these documents must be submitted with Form 1040. Most, however,... Read more →