Do You Need to File a Tax Return? Getting this wrong can cost you One of the more common tax questions is whether you need to file a federal tax return this year. The answer is: it depends. But not filing a tax return when you should...
Tax filing season officially begins on Monday, Jan. 28. While the U.S. government remains shut down, the IRS will be bringing back 36,000 employees, without pay, to process returns and issue refunds. With the new rules and uncertainty around the shutdown, it's more important than...
If you've seen the film Jurassic Park, you may remember the dilemma chief engineer Ray Arnold is faced with after a fellow employee steals dinosaur embryos and cuts the power to one of the border fences. Not knowing if the power will come back on...
As our students prepare to head back to school, many families face the difficult decision to save for retirement or use those funds to pay for their children’s college education. If you are facing that dilemma, here are some thoughts: Prioritize retirement over education In most cases...
Here are five common retirement planning mistakes and steps you can take to avoid them. 1. Not having a plan Surprisingly, most do not know how much money is needed for retirement. A retirement plan should consider how long you expect to live, establish an estimate of...
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...
Tax reform was passed by Congress this week and is expected to be signed into law soon. Most of the new laws take place in the 2018 and 2019 tax years, but there are a couple items that you need to know about right away...
Mutual funds benefit from the long-standing belief that they allow investors to diversify their holdings without buying individual stocks. But to the unwary investor, tax surprises abound. From a tax planning viewpoint, here are some great mutual fund tips. Most of these tips assume your...
Now that college students are settling into their first weeks of school, it's important for parents and students to recall that the $4,000 tuition and fees deduction they may have relied on in past years is no longer available in 2017. The good news is...
The savings limits for the ever-popular Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are now set for 2018. The new limits are outlined here with current year amounts noted for comparison purposes. What is an HSA? An HSA is a tax-advantaged savings account to pay for qualified health care costs...
