Category: Taxes

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Even though I can never quite figure out why people want to do it, many people are expecting and excited to get a federal tax refund every year. As I have written before, in almost all cases, the money you get back from Uncle Sam is your very own money that you have overpaid. It’s money you are literally lending to the government at no interest and they are very happy to just return it to you when you file your tax return. First though, this year there is an extra monkey wrench in the picture you need to know about!

New Withholding Amounts for Your Paycheck

The Trump administration is pushing American businesses to withhold less in taxes from paychecks by February, aiming to quickly deliver the boost in take-home pay that Republicans promised their new tax law would bring. Sounds like a really good thing, right?Continue reading“Your Tax Forms: Very Important Info and Dates for 2018”

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It’s that time again to examine the moves you need to make to increase your net income and save on your tax bill. For 2017, it’s even more important to look at this now because of the proposed major changes which are currently being debated in congress for 2018.

It’s more confusing to try to make any year-end adjustments to income and deductions this year because of the potential changes that the reform bill being debated in congress right now has created. Although it’s tempting to take action based on any expected changes to the law, use some caution. Until the tax laws actually change, it may be difficult to plan exactly what can benefit you the most right now.Continue reading“17 Year End Tax Moves & 1 More Thing to Save Money”

Just so you know, it requires a great deal of restraint on my part to keep from writing about my political opinions here on the blog, especially about our new president and the chaotic events that seem to occur almost every day down in Washington, DC. My wife has reminded me that my readers here at Super Saving Tips aren’t looking for that sort of thing, and that you the readers are more likely to peruse the New York Times or Washington Post if you want political fodder. But wonder of wonders, I finally do have a little something to say that actually involves your personal finances and politics. So hopefully you’ll be interested this time around. It’s about…tax reform!

Trump’s Proposed Tax Reform

Our new president has presented the first trickles of information about his plans to reform the tax code and fulfill his campaign promise to review and change the federal tax laws. He and his Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, say it will be the biggest tax cut ever (fact check: actually it will be the biggest cut since the 1980’s and Ronald Reagan). Now normally when you talk about cutting taxes, that’s a pretty popular idea out there among the constituents.Continue reading“Trump’s Tax Reform: Can It Really Become Law?”

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It’s now income tax season and (hopefully) you are gathering all of your tax information and planning to file your return over the next couple months, certainly by the April 18th, 2017 deadline. Yes, you have a couple of extra days this year because the 15th is a Saturday and the 17th is a Washington, DC holiday this year.

But once you’ve gathered your information, how are you planning to prepare your returns? Are you planning to do it yourself, or will you hire a tax professional to help?Continue reading“Income Tax Time – Do It Yourself or Tax Pro?”

If you’re anything like me, you sometimes think about the possibility of a tax audit and wonder what you can do to make sure that never happens. Truthfully, tax audits are pretty rare, only about 1% actually ever get audited. They mostly occur with wealthy people (audited at 2.5%) and questionable returns with itemized deductions that may net the IRS some substantial amount of money.  There also audit some small number of totally random returns as well. Those that earn less than $200,000 (audited at about 0.7%) and file as individuals or joint earners stand the very least chance of an audit even though the numbers are increasing ever so slightly since 2008.

Continue reading“Strategies to Avoid the Dreaded Tax Audit”