Tip Category: Miscellaneous Each year the IRS publishes the top dozen tax scams it encounters over the prior year. One of them that makes an all too common appearance on their list is the phishing scam. Here is what you need to know. Phishing requires bait Phishing is the act of creating a fake e-mail or …
Plan Your 2025 Retirement Contributions
As part of your planning for next year, now is the time to review funding your retirement accounts in 2025. Recent cost of living calculations means much higher contribution limits for next year. Plus the higher income phaseouts for eligibility will make many more taxpayers eligible for fully-deductible contributions. So plan now to take full …
Tax Shifting Ideas to Reduce Your Bill to Uncle Sam
Is there a taxable income reduction idea you can use? Tip Category: Planning Many tax experts talk about shifting your tax burden from one year to the next. While in theory it may make sense, how can you make it work for you in practice? The concept Since the tax code is complex in its …
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Avoid Name Mismatch Audits
Tip Category: The Audit If you were married, divorced, or changed your name for any reason during the past year, do not forget to file to change your name prior to preparing next year's tax return. The IRS automatically conducts a name match on the first few letters of your last name. The problem If …
Taxable or Not Taxable?
Some of these items may surprise you. Tip Category: Your Income There are a number of areas in the tax code that cause confusion as to the taxability of money received. Here are some of the most common areas of confusion. Unemployment compensation. Unemployment compensation is typically required to be reported as taxable income. So you …
15 Year-End Tax Tips
Tip Category: Planning At the end of each year there are a number of things to consider that may have a positive impact on your tax obligation. Here is a list of fifteen ideas that may be worth a quick review. 1. Make last minute charitable donations. Pay attention to your itemized deduction limit to ensure your deduction …
Elections. Elections. Elections.
Tax savings can be found in the elections you make! Tip Category: Deductions Every year is an election year when it comes to making decisions on your annual income tax return. Here are four common examples that can create tax savings opportunities if you elect the correct option. 1. Tax filing status. Typically, filing a joint …
Hike in Social Security Benefits Announced for 2025
2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) changes Tip Category: Retirement The Social Security Administration announced a 2.5% boost to monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for 2025, another rate drop versus last year's increase of 3.2%. The increase is based on the rise in the Consumer Price Index over the past 12 months ending …
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Understanding Tax Terms: Contemporaneous Records
Everyone needs to know what this means! If you have problems getting to sleep at night and you turn to the IRS tax code for help, you might find some vocabulary that is very foreign to you. One of the more uncommon words used by the IRS is the term "contemporaneous." So what does it mean and …
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Those Pesky Records!
What do I need to keep? Each of us needs to keep records that substantiate our tax return or other important life events for as long as they are needed. So what does this mean? The basic retention period. Federal tax return substantiation is generally three years from the later of the tax return filing due …
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