With a new year comes new tax rules. I’ve touched on some of these changes in previous posts, such as the new home office deduction and the effect of DOMA for same sex couples. Some of the more talked about changes have come from the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare or the ACA). While the ACA […]
For those of you that work from home there is some good news for the 2013 tax year. The IRS has rolled out a simplified process for claiming the home office deduction. In years past the deduction hinged on the office’s square footage as a percentage of the total dwelling. The new method allows for […]
As almost everyone has heard by now, the US government has shutdown a majority of it’s operations. While this affects many different agencies, one hit particularly hard was the Internal Revenue Service, who has less than 10% of its 94,000 plus employees working right now. Many are left wondering the ramifications of these developments from […]
Back in July I wrote about the tax effects of the DOMA decision, where I mentioned there are still some uncertainties out there such as how the IRS would respond. At the time of the decision, the IRS said it would “move swiftly to provide revised guidance in the near future.” Well today the IRS provided that […]
Stories involving celebrities and taxes pop up all the time. However, most of these stories deal with income tax evasion or tax fraud. A different type of celebrity tax story was released this week concerning the estate of James Gandolfini, the actor best known for playing the role of Tony Soprano. In what has been […]
As everyone knows by now, last week the US Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, holding that the Federal government cannot bar States from recognizing same sex marriage. While there were many implications stemming from this decision, one […]
With another April 15th in the books, taxpayers are generally in one of two camps: (1) a tax return has been filed or (2) an extension has been filed. While extensions are great for people looking to buy some extra time in filing (and possibly paying) their taxes, there are some things to keep in […]
With the high cost of tuition, students are always trying to find ways to save money. One way for students to cut corners is to prepare their own taxes. While it may seem like a great way to save a couple hundred dollars in tax preparation fees, it’s possible these same students are leaving thousands […]
It’s no secret that there are tax advantages to being married. I for one was excited when I got married because that meant I only had to file one joint return instead of two separate returns each year. While that’s just more of a time saver, there are many monetary advantages to being married. One […]
In the last post I discussed how some estate planning tools continue to be beneficial to certain individuals for the reason that they were not addressed, or more appropriately not restricted nor eliminated, in the American Taxpayer Relief Act. The first post of this series was about grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), which are a […]
