Distributions from health savings accounts (HSAs) to pay qualified medical expenses are not taxable. These accounts must be combined with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). The question has been: C...

A married couple filed a joint return for one year that did not include the wife’s Social Security benefits. These benefits resulted from her being formally classified as disabled. In the following ...

Pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act in 2018, the IRS has created a new tax form for those age 65 and older at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s--dft.pdf. The form, which can be used for the 201...

A taxpayer took a distribution from her IRA of $524,981.89 to pay for the purchase of a home while she waited for the sale of her former home to close. When it did, she overnighted a check to the fina...

On July 1, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Taxpayer First Act (P.L. 116-25), which is legislation focused on IRS practices and procedures. The IRS is supposed to enhance customer service to ...

Employees cannot deduct most business-related expenses because they are miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2%-of-adjusted gross income (AGI) floor and this write off has been suspended t...

Not every type of income you get is taxable on your Form 1040. The law allows you to receive various types of income without having to pay tax on them. For example, any type of income effectively beco...

We’ve all heard about the numerous tax changes created by enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Many are exciting and can help lower your tax bill. But that law did not make changes to many tried ...

Americans are very charitable. A report last year said (https://givingusa.org/giving-usa-2018-americans-gave-410-02-billion-to-charity-in-2017-crossing-the-400-billion-mark-for-the-first-time/) they g...

If you have filed your 2018 tax return, you can rest easy for a year. Or can you? Or should you? The period after filing your return is a great time to get a jump on your 2019 return and hopefully sim...

No. Depending on your income (including tax-exempt interest) and your filing status, as much as 85% of Social Security benefits may be includible in gross income. If your income is lower, you may only...

The deduction from gross income (no itemizing required) for tuition and fees expired at the end of 2017. However, there is still some hope that it may be extended retroactively for 2018. And there is ...

Cash contributions made to charity in 2018 and beyond are deductible up to 60% of adjusted gross income. If you have a carryover of a cash contribution because of the application of the 50% limit that...

Yes. If you have a health savings account (HSA), your contribution to a self-only plan is permissible up to set annual limits (in 2019 it’s $3,500, plus $1,000 if you’re age 55 or older by year en...

Fortunately, no. The amount of the benefits includible in gross income may be zero, somewhere between zero and 50%, or somewhere between 50% and 85%; 85% is the maximum taxable percentage. The exact a...