Category: Taxes

The Biggest Tax Mistakes Are Usually The Easiest to Avoid

Jamie
Most of us send our tax forms off in mid-March, watch our refunds get deposited into our bank accounts and then breathe a sigh of relief that we don’t have to worry about the hot mess that is taxes until the following winter. Believe it or not, though, waiting until the eleventh hour, trying to claim everything that even remotely applies to you and hoping for the best really isn’t the best strategy. In fact it is one of the biggest tax mistakes you can make (and one that is really easy to fix). The simple fact is that a lot of...

5 Essential Questions to Ask Your Tax Preparer

Kody
If there’s one day that seems to come too fast each year, it would have to be April 15. Yet since tax day is one that none of us can afford to avoid, it’s important that we take all of the necessary steps that we can in order to be as prepared as possible. One of the best ways to do that is to hire a professional to prepare our taxes for us. If you’ve never used a tax preparer before and you’d like a few helpful tips that can connect you to a reputable one, we’ve got five essential...

5 Effective Tax Deduction Strategies for Startups

Kody
As if starting up a new business isn’t stressful enough, you also have to figure out how to file your corporate taxes. And you’ll quickly discover that unearthing every possible deduction is an essential part of ensuring that you don’t pay the IRS a cent more than you need to. If you want your business to succeed you can’t throw money away. So here are just a few effective tax deduction strategies that should help you to come out on top. Save every receipt! This is where many new business owners fall short. But you absolutely have to keep receipts...

5 Simple Ways to Get a Head Start on Tax Season

Kody
Nobody relishes the idea of preparing their annual income tax filing, but it’s something we all must do in order to avoid fines and jail time. We may end up giving a fair chunk of our earnings to the government each year, but we get to live in a country where we are granted unparalleled freedoms. And when you look at how much Canadians pay, 20-25% doesn’t seem so bad. In any case, you can at least lessen the burden of time you devote to your taxes come April by doing some prep work ahead of time. Here are just...

Top 5 Tax Planning Tips for Truck Drivers

Kody
Long-haul trucking is a tough industry, no doubt about it. Not only are the hours long and the deadlines tight, but you also have to deal with paperwork, weigh stations, protecting your cargo and getting it to its destination in one piece, and the dangers of inclement weather, bad roads, and other drivers, just for example. Then there are the psychological and physical hardships that come from sitting by yourself in a truck all day, eating at roadside diners, and leaving your family behind for days, weeks, or months at a time. On the upside, trucking companies often provide decent...

Choosing a Tax Preparer: 5 Things to Consider

Kody
It’s almost tax time again, which means that you have to find someone to prepare your taxes. As much as we’d like to think we can do our own taxes, it can help to have a professional organize our books and get the most out of our returns. Plus, who actually likes doing their own taxes? So, if you are like the rest of us and don’t like to prepare your own taxes, you need to know how to find the right tax preparer. Not only do you want to make sure to find someone who is truly qualified, but...

The Major Difference between Direct and Indirect Tax

Kody
People all over the world have been paying taxes since times immemorial, but many people have never fully understood the taxes that they pay. Millions of people simply accept taxes as a reality in their lives without questioning where the taxes come from, what they go toward, and most important–who pays them. In fact, there are two very distinct varieties of taxation in the world today. On one hand, there are direct taxes; on the other, indirect taxes. These two kinds of taxes are very similar in many ways, but they have an important difference which should be noted. Direct...

When You’re Married Is It Better to File Jointly or Separately?

Kody
The IRS and the federal government gives married couples the option of filing their taxes jointly or separately. Overall, one of the biggest incentives in getting legally married within the state in which you live is that it can give couples the opportunity to save big money on their taxes by combining their returns. For married couples trying to start a life and a family together, they are given many tax breaks by the IRS that are financially beneficial so that they can have an easier time buying a house and providing for their kids. However, there are also some...

What are your Tax Relief Options?

Kody
Truly payment of taxes is the core of concerns for all the people whether working somewhere or self employed. When you are forced to lose a heft amount of your hard earned money, it really hurts. Dodging different taxes altogether is simply impossible. Certainly it is not legal at all and you will be caught somewhere if you are able to abscond the taxes through some way. So the payment of taxes is like a ghost that haunts each and every individual around the year. But ever have you thought about some tax relief. Yes it is possible. Let us...

5 Tax Deductions That People Often Miss

Kody
Some citizens spend the whole year preparing for tax season, while others put off their financial matters until the last possible moment. These people are rewarded and punished respectively for their prudence and procrastination. Tax season doesn’t have to be a dreadful time of year. In fact, there are several common tax deductions that you may be overlooking in your annual filings. Be sure to prepare for an earlier and more rewarding filing by taking advantage of these frequently missed deductions. Charitable Donations Most people know that cash donations to charitable organizations can be deducted on their tax returns, but...

The New Rules on Taxes for Investment Income

Kody
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released a new set of rules for the taxes on investment income. These rules are geared towards capital gains as well as dividends that were earned by high-earners, or those individuals who have income that’s “higher than the average”. The rules were passed to the Congress and were also included on the Healthcare Reform Law of 2010. Read on to know the changes on the rules on taxes for investment income. Surtax will Be Applied on Healthcare The 3.8% investment income tax that will be applied on investment income is meant to pay for...

Understanding R&D Tax Credits

Kody
R&D Tax Credits refer to forms of Research and Development Relief, which is covered as part of Corporation Tax bills. Companies who are involved in forms of research and development with positive social outcomes can receive cuts in their Corporation Tax, or a tax credit paid in the form of cash. Qualifying for these credits involves both being a Corporation Tax payer, and being eligible as either a Small or Medium Sized Enterprise, or a Large Company. Differences between the two will affect the tax relief available, and how it can be declared and managed in relation to broader research...

How Do Tax Levy and Tax Lien Differ from Each Other?

Kody
Have you ever been a tax defaulter? Did you ever have to face Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because of tax debts? If you haven’t been in a situation like that, consider yourself lucky. However if you’ve not faced such situations earlier, there are few terms related to tax debts implied by the IRS that you should be aware of. This will help you protect your property from getting seized against the owed taxes. Tax Lien and Tax Levy are the two terms that you need to know about. Tax Lien Tax Lien is an IRS claim against the property and...

More Taxes for the Rich is Not the Right Answer

Kody
If four years of unfulfilled promises, inactive initiatives and the NDAA proposal weren’t enough, Mr. Barack Obama, our American Republic’s proudly chosen President/Orator has brought in more controversy this year. And yet he is confident enough of winning the coming elections and be re-elected as President. Well, if the American public hasn’t learned anything from the Bush Administration, he surely will. An estimated 45 million viewers in America were expected to tune into President Obama’s budget proposal for the year 2013. And this included the buzzing controversy that is around, he has proposed an inclusion of a new tax law,...

What to do Wednesday in Personal Finance? Is the Adjustable Rate Mortgage becoming extinct?

Jamie
I was reading an article last week that made the motion that adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) are dying.  For starters, adjustable rate mortgages are loans where the interest rate changes periodically.  Generally they are a good option when you are buying a house and the prevailing fixed rate mortgages rates are high. This notion did not surprise me because interest rates are at historic lows for fixed rate mortgages.  You would be silly not to lock in a mortgage at these rates now, the interest rates are likely not going to get any lower than they are in your life...

Part 1 of the Retirement Roundtable: What is a 401k, and why is it all over this material HR gave me?

Jamie
We just graduated college and just got our first real job.  Great! Congratulations! Now what?  As we make our way through our first few weeks on the new job we are bombarded with emails, packets of information on everything under the sun from employee discounts to the dreaded RETIREMENT word, eeek.  Well you stumbled across the right website to point you in the right direction.  I will have you sipping those dirty martinis out at the beach house enjoying the afternoon rays. You are set up at your desk and looking around at the mountain of paperwork that HR has...