Tax Roundup
February 8, 2011
The tax deadline is getting closer! If you haven’t thought about your taxes yet, it’s time to start. You do have a few extra days this year because of the tax deadline delay, and you can always file a tax extension, but that just delays the inevitable. Time to call your accountant or break out the tax [...]
Turbo Tax Review 2010
February 2, 2011
Turbo Tax Review I’ve used Intuit’s TurboTax to file my income taxes for the last five years. During that time, I’ve used a few different versions including the desktop and online versions of the software. I like the online version the best, and currently use the TurboTax Home and Business to handle my business filing [...]
Best Tax Breaks 2011
January 27, 2011
A new year is underway and that means that the tax return deadlines are getting closer. Many of us are figuring up what we owe on our 2010 taxes, and trying to decide how to do things for 2011. Some of the common evergreen tax breaks include a mortgage interest deduction, deductions for charitable contributions, [...]
2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets
January 9, 2011
Income Tax Brackets 2011 The 2011 tax brackets have been released by the IRS with the official tax rates that you’ll use when you pay your federal income tax next year. As you start looking for tax credits and deductions to lower your income taxes for the year that just ended you’ll use the 2010 federal tax brackets. [...]
Payroll Tax Cut 2011
December 26, 2010
The payroll tax cut comes as part of the federal tax cut extensions that address the Bush tax cuts which were ending. To make up for the expiring Making Work Pay tax credit, the 2011 payroll tax cut reduces the amount you contribute to Social Security by 2% next year. It won’t impact your federal [...]
2011 IRA Contribution Limits
December 8, 2010
IRA Contribution Limits 2011 IRA contribution limits are updated every year so that your traditional IRA and Roth IRA contributions have a chance of keeping up with inflation and the resulting cost of living increases. Some years the contribution limits don’t change, the ones released by the IRS a few months ago don’t have a [...]
Federal Tax Cut Extensions
December 6, 2010
TurboTax VP of consumer advocacy, Bob Meighan, spoke with me not long ago about the tax cuts expiring this year. About a year ago Bob and I talked about the TurboTax online edition and tax software vs manual tax returns but this time the main focus was on tax legislation. Since we talked there’s actually [...]
1099-K Form & Small Business Tax Reporting
November 15, 2010
Small businesses that that accept credit card payments will be getting a new tax form next year, the 1099–K. There are many different 1099 forms, all of which are used to report income to the IRS. You’re probably used to getting at least one 1099–INT form every year from your bank to report interest income. Until this year, [...]
Section 105 HRA Plans
October 13, 2010
This article on Medical Reimbursement and Health Rearrangement Plans comes from Timothy Wolfe, a Chicago based tax and business specialist who shares his expertise online at Chicago Business Advice. A while back I looked at flexible spending accounts vs health savings accounts and Timothy left a comment about Section 105 HRA plans. Since I wasn’t [...]
Health Savings Account vs Flexible Spending Account
September 11, 2010
We recently covered the health savings account and have written about flexible spending accounts and in the past and thought it was time to take a look at health savings accounts vs flexible spending accounts. Both can be useful tools for medical expense income tax deductions but one thing many people are unhappy with are flexible spending account [...]
