Tax Rules for Selling Your Home
Until recently, if you purchased a home, you were required to keep track of the original cost and the cost of improvements to the home for tax purposes. Then, when you sold the home, if you made a profit [more…]
Paying Taxes on Time to Avoid Penalties
April 15 is the deadline for filing state and federal individual income tax returns. An extension to file your tax return is not an extension to pay your taxes. Taxes are due on April 15, and the IRS begins [more…]
How to Annualize Your Income to Pay Estimated Taxes
With the annualization method, taxpayers can pay more tax at the times when they are earning more money, and less tax when their receipts are down or their expenses are up. To annualize your income to [more…]
Getting a Tax Perspective by Finding Your Effective Tax Rate
Your AGI is your adjusted gross income — a number you need to know if you’re planning on pursuing deductions. The quickest way for you to determine your AGI is to refer back to your last tax return. You [more…]
Deciding whether to Itemize Your Tax Deductions
What can you safely deduct on your taxes? You’re entitled to the larger of the standard deduction or your itemized deduction. If you don’t own a home or aren’t making large charitable contributions, you [more…]
Figuring the Fair Market Value of Charitable Contributions
If you itemize your tax deductions, you can claim charitable contributions you make. Knowing how to claim charitable contributions can get a bit sticky, but don’t worry. The process is easier than you [more…]
Should You Itemize or Take the Standard Deduction?
The rule for itemizing deductions on your income tax return is simple: You should itemize your deductions if your total deductions are more than the standard deduction. For each dollar that exceeds the [more…]
Creating Files to Organize Tax Records
Throughout the year, you likely receive a significant amount of paperwork, some of which needs to be retained to prepare your tax return. Other documents may need to be retained to substantiate prior-year [more…]
How to Organize Your Financial Records
Do you have financial records that you don’t know what to do with? Do you have stacks of unopened bills? Do you stress out at tax time trying to find all your required documents? And are you lacking a [more…]
