5 minutes read
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Social Security program with the 1935 Social Security Act he revolutionized the way Americans would live for decades to come. While social security has served the American populace well, the system can no longer sustain itself long enough to provide the same benefits for the future generations of retirees without a major overhaul.
4 minutes read
The Church of Scientology is getting a lot of attention these days thanks to “Going Clear”, HBO’s recent documentary on Scientology and a number of its practices. One aspect of Scientology which is receiving even more attention than before is the church’s tax-exempt status. Part of the controversy extends to how the Church of Scientology actually received its tax-exempt status—and to just what ends it uses it. After being hit with over 2,400...
6 minutes read
Filing taxes is a painstaking process for almost everyone and every year, without fail, many returns full of mistakes are sent in to the IRS. In fact, mistakes are extremely common on tax returns, with an error rate of 50 percent; on self-prepared returns, according to the Government Accountability Office. There is a near-infinite number of things that can be done wrong on tax returns, from simple computational errors to missing out on deductions. Knowing...
7 minutes read
As the the clock approaches midnight on the 2015 tax season, many taxpayers still haven’t filed their tax return yet. While procrastination is common for many when it come to filing taxes, this year we are seeing a higher number of last minute filers. The winter was brutal on the east coast; extreme cold & snow produced more tax hibernators than in years past. Wage documents like W2s & 1099s were issued extremely late (And when they were finally issued, many were...
5 minutes read
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires all employers to provide employees with a W-2 form, which lists the employee’s income information for the previous year. It doesn’t matter how long you worked for the company; if you earn more than $600, your employer must issue you a W-2. If any of your wages were withheld for Social Security or Medicare, the employer must issue a W-2 no matter how much you earned. Employers are required to provide you with this...
4 minutes read
Imagine, as an American, choosing to become a teacher in Russia, or a tour guide in Italy. According to U.S. tax law, you would have to pay taxes on your earnings, just as you would if you worked domestically. Now, imagine you’re an American corporation which has just purchased a foreign company. You shift over ownership and operations to your new foreign holdings and become subject to a different set of tax laws, allowing your business to...
4 minutes read
The end of 2014 is just days away, and if you’re like many Americans, you are planning to give to one or more charitable organizations before the new year dawns. Around 34 percent of all charitable giving is done in the last three months of the year and slightly more than half of that is during the month of December. Giving is up substantially this year over 2013, thanks in large part to the continued national economic recovery.
5 minutes read
The only certainties in life are death and taxes, as the saying goes. Taxes are an annual event that, however unpleasant, we all have to deal with. It may interest you to know that according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an estimated 239.3 million tax returns were filed in 2012 by individuals and businesses in the United States. That amount exceeded by a little more than 1% the number of returns that were filed in 2011, and by 2018 that...
4 minutes read
There are tax breaks that come along with owning your home. These breaks may serve as an incentive for the purchase of homes within certain targeted areas of the country or may make up for any losses a homeowner might face when selling his or her home. As a homeowner it is important to understand what tax breaks are available to you in order for you to take advantage of them and help your tax situation.
4 minutes read
Divorce can be a sensitive topic and a difficult period of time for all the parties involved. Whether you live in a common law or community property state, the process of filing taxes once the divorce has been finalized can be both emotional and complicated. Deciding how assets are split, the cost basis of these assets, new filing status and even which former spouse will claim children as dependents are all important considerations that go into the tax...