Tax News

When you sell stocks, bonds, and mutual fund shares, your gain or loss depends on your basis in the securities. Keep in mind that the higher the basis, the lower the gain or greater the loss. Tax rule...

The IRS is often painted as the bad guy taking advantage of taxpayers. For the most part, IRS personnel act professionally in dealing with taxpayers. However, from time to time there are some bad appl...

Under the Affordable Care Act, every individual must have minimum essential health coverage or face a tax penalty unless eligible for an exemption. Now is the time to get ready for 2016 by checking yo...

There are about $173 billion in U.S. savings bonds outstanding. This makes this type of investment one of the largest assets held by individuals. Savings bonds enjoy certain special tax treatment. Her...

About three million postgraduate students were expected to enroll this year. As a rule, the cost of graduate school is very pricey. Some students can obtain fellowships and grants to defray some or al...

The last quarter of the year is the time to think about charitable giving and the tax ramifications. Here are five tips to help you. 1.     Check the organization You can make tax-deductible...

Congress recently passed two measures—the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 and the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Choice Improvement Act of 2015—that include a number of tax law...

After years of stagnation due to poor economic times, companies are now starting to increase employees’ pay. If you get a raise, congratulations! Here are five actions to take so you can benefit—t...

Stories abound about innocent taxpayers being hounded by the IRS and forced to incur extensive legal fees to fight back. A dispute can drag on for years and taxpayers may have to litigate before the I...

When you receive a distribution from a qualified retirement plan or IRA, you have 60 days from receipt to deposit the funds into another qualified retirement plan or IRA. If you don’t, you will be t...

While the Bernie Madoff scam came to light in 2008, there continues to be a seemingly unlimited number of fraudulent investment schemes afoot. Those promoting these schemes can be very convincing, and...

The bad news: it’s all too easy to trigger tax penalties. The good news: A number of penalties can be waived if you have a good excuse. Here are three common penalties and the excuses that can resul...

With summer vacation approaching and mortgage rates low, some taxpayers may be thinking of buying a second home. Others who already own a vacation home may be renting it out for part of the year. How ...

With spring in the air, many homeowners are fixing up their homes. Some projects may be minor; others are major. Homeowners do these activities to improve their living conditions and raise the value o...

While about half the states have laws requiring adult children to provide financial support for indigent parents, most adult children feel a moral obligation to provide needed support with or without ...

Crowdfunding is the practice of raising small amounts of money from a large number of people to fund specific projects or ventures. These activities can be personal, charitable, or business-related. A...

Americans are the most generous people on earth, giving $335.17 billion to charity in 2013 (the most recent year for statistics). Uncle Sam, however, doesn’t give you tax breaks for every good actio...

While many tax limits and threshold amounts are fixed by the Tax Code, a great many others are adjusted annually for inflation by law or IRS discretion. Despite the fact that the rate of inflation has...

There are many current needs—health care premiums; mortgage payments—that use up our hard-earned dollars, making it challenging for many people to save money for future needs. Fortunately, Uncle S...

Whether you prepare your return yourself (on paper or electronically) or use a paid preparer, you need information to input. Hopefully, you’ve kept great records throughout the year to simplify your...