What if there are issues with property tax exemptions for seniors? Senior homeowners are typically entitled to take an extra exemption. Q: When my mother died some years ago, her senior exemption was not removed from her property, which I inherited and now live in. How do I correct this tax problem? It has gone [...]
There are only a few guarantees in life, and two of them are death and taxes. We can talk about death in another article; for the time being we will discuss paying taxes. When planning for retirement, it is important to have a strategy for how you are going to pay your bills—especially if you are [...]
I’ve been sharing tax tips at TaxMama.com for over 10 years, and I love giving information about filing taxes. But if there’s one thing that drives me crazy, it’s when people write to me about things they did last year—buying a home or pulling money from a retirement account, for example—without getting guidance from a [...]
I’m always surprised at people who get 1099-MISCs each year yet don’t think of themselves as being in business. Some even refer to their clients as their bosses or employers. Let’s get something straight. The fact that you are getting a 1099-MISC to report your earnings to the IRS means you are in business for [...]
Adopting a child is a reward in and of itself. But if you’ve recently adopted a child, you may be eligible for other benefits—in the form of tax credits—when filing taxes. There are two primary types of adoption benefits in the U.S. Tax Code: a tax credit for qualified adoption expenses (Form 8839), and the [...]
Learning that you’re a victim of identity theft is devastating, and fighting the damage done to your credit report and financial life is incredibly time consuming. Clients tell me that they’ve spent anywhere from 20 to 100 hours trying to prove to the IRS that they’ve been victimized. According to the IRS, you may learn [...]
We were always told to be careful with my mother because she was frail and had a heart condition. My father died nearly 40 years ago. As for Mom? She’s still going strong at 91. My friend has a child with dyslexia and behavioral problems. There’s a lot of love in that home, and they’re [...]
Tax-free exchange on rental property, what taxes do I owe when selling? Did you purchase the home as an investment or as a primary residence? Q: We purchased our present home in 2005 for $225,000. It was a tax-free exchange on a rental property we owned previously. We rented the current home for two years right [...]
At an IRS tax workshop several years ago, someone asked the speaker if the IRS has a problem with taxpayers who get large refunds. We attendees were surprised to learn that the IRS does look upon large refunds with suspicion. Why? According to a discussion I had with an IRS professional, a refund of $3,000 [...]
When I started in the tax field, working with the IRS on installment agreements and Offers in Compromise was like standing in quicksand. The IRS made obscure rules and changed them arbitrarily. It acted as an utter tyrant. Then, in the 1980s, there were a series of Senate hearings about the problems, and what emerged [...]
