Don't Mess With Taxes
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Texas journalist Kay Bell helps make your tax tasks less, well, taxing. Kay Bell translates taxes into money-saving English at her Don't Mess With Taxes blog.
Don't Mess With Taxes
26m ago
Are you having second thoughts about an ERC claim your company made? It so, it's time to review your records, and if you find you received an incorrect tax credit amount, let the IRS know by this Friday, March 22. (Photo by Henri Mathieu-Saint-Laurent)
With the deadline to let the Internal Revenue Service know you got an improper Employee Retention Credit (ERC) fast approaching — it's this Friday, March 22 — business owners who are concerned need to act fast.
Recipients of wrong payments can apply for the IRS' ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program by that deadline. If accepted, the businesses can ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
1d ago
Expensive homes are subject to higher mansion taxes in 17 locales across the United States. (Photo by Daniel Barnes on Unsplash)
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about growing opposition to higher taxes on expensive real estate in Los Angeles and Chicago. So naturally, a recent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) piece on these so-called mansion taxes caught my eye.
Local mansion taxes have been around since 1982, notes ITEP local policy analyst Andrew Boardman in his article for the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. However, the momentum for them has built in recent years ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
2d ago
Photo: President Joe Biden/White House Facebook page
In his State of the Union address on March 7, President Joe Biden touched on how he wants to spend our money in the coming 2025 fiscal year.
The Biden Administration followed up the next week with its formal budget proposal in the Treasury Department's General Explanations of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2025 Revenue Proposals. The Green Book, as it's popularly known, describes the tax proposals in the budget, along with associated revenue estimates.
While a president is required by law to present a budget, what it includes — both in ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
3d ago
The Internal Revenue Service's law enforcement arm is getting a new chief next month.
Guy Ficco, current Deputy Chief of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), will take the reins from current IRS CI Chief James Lee on April 1. Lee, who took over as the tax agency's top law enforcement officer in October 2020, is retiring.
As head of IRS CI, Ficco will oversee a worldwide staff of more than 3,200 employees, including 2,200 special agents who investigate crimes involving tax, money laundering, public corruption, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and terrorism ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
4d ago
Did you discover you got an improper Employee Retention Credit (ERC) payment? You still have time to get out of the tax jam by applying for the ERC voluntary disclosure program. (Photo by Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images)
ERC voluntary disclosure deadline is March 22
Last December, the Internal Revenue Service announced that businesses that received improper Employee Retention Credit (ERC) amounts could let the agency know about the error.
In these cases, many of which were created when companies got bad tax advice from aggressive ERC promoters, the companies would have to repay ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
5d ago
President Joe Biden has targeted capital gains tax laws in his fiscal year 2025 budget.
But don't freak out if you have some money in the markets.
For the most part, Biden's looking to get more from really wealthy market mavens who typically pay lower capital gains tax rates on the long-term assets they sell.
Collecting billionaires' unrealized capital gains: When you sell an asset for more than your paid for it, that profit is a capital gain. The tax rate for these gains typically is less than ordinary tax rates that apply to earnings like wages.
In most cases, capital gains and qualified di ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
1w ago
Two more IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) Saturday openings are scheduled for April 13 and May 18.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
The Internal Revenue Service's second special Saturday openings this year of Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) will be this Saturday, March 16.
As with the February event, and the two openings in April and May, there's no need for taxpayers to make appointments. They can just walk into the TACs, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, for help.
The following 70 TACs in 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico wil ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
1w ago
Photo by Caleb Cook on Unsplash
Back in February in posting about tax relief for Maine residents who endured flooding, I predicted that some Californians would be joining the growing group of storm-struck areas granted more time to file 2023 returns.
That wasn't a bold prediction. I've been weather and tax watching for decades, so I was confident in my tax forecast, which was correct.
But some southern Californians who were hit by the recent historic rains aren't the only ones for whom the IRS has granted tax relief and a new June 17 tax filing and payment deadline. Some western Washington S ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
1w ago
(Photo by Kindel Media)
Spring break is here. In the Austin, Texas, area that means South By Southwest. And the Austin Rodeo.
Plus, in less than a month, millions will experience the last major solar eclipse for 20 years to cross North America, including some prime viewing here in parts of Texas. Yes, the Lone Star State's capital city is in the path.
And all this means, in addition to worse traffic, that a lot of property owners will be making some big, and tax-free, bucks. They are or soon will be making their homes available as short-term rentals.
Tax benefit of very short-term home rent ..read more
Don't Mess With Taxes
1w ago
Herbal supplements might make you feel better, but such products typically don't qualify as medical treatments that are eligible for tax-favored treatment. (Photo by Photo by Priscilla Du Preez ?? on Unsplash)
Health savings accounts, or HSAs, can offer some taxpayers triple tax savings. Holders of HSAs also have a longer window to contribute to these tax-advantaged plans.
As noted in my March tax moves post, you can contribute to your HSA by Tax Day (that's April 15 this year), and have it count as money put into the account for the prior tax year.
In addition to being a good tax strategy ..read more