- The Best Cities for Holiday Shopping
Shopping season is upon us. For some holiday shopping is a chore and a headache, synonymous with long lines and baffling return policies. Well good news for the Grinches: the rise of online retailers like Amazon and Jet.com means you can take care of your gift purchases from the comfort of your couch, with a credit… read more…
- What Is a Donor-Advised Fund?
Did you know that there’s a way to deduct up to half of your income at tax time? But there’s a catch: You have to make a cash donation to a qualified charity. If you donate shares or other non-cash… read more…
- What Do NFL Players Pay in Taxes?
Professional football players lead enviable lives. The pro athletes on an NFL roster make a minimum of $435,000 per year, approximately 10 times the U.S. median income. The top earners get paid over $20 million per year. While that income… read more…
- What to Know About State Taxes
Every year at tax time you’ll pay federal income taxes, state taxes and local taxes. Some states are known for being more tax-friendly than others. Maybe you don’t mind paying higher taxes if it means safer streets, better schools and more modern infrastructure. Still, if you’re planning to move or buy a home, consider the impact… read more…
- What Is a Tax Refund and Why Do We Get Returns?
Tax season can be stressful. But for many taxpayers, there is a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a tax refund. Indeed, many people even depend on their annual refund, using the windfall for everything… read more…
- What Are the Different Types of Taxes?
Every April we have to go through filing federal income taxes, on our own or with the help of a tax accountant. Unless you happen to be a tax policy wonk, you probably don’t dwell too much on the theory… read more…
- How to Fill Out Your Form 1040
Form 1040 is the tax form you will fill out every year when you do your federal income taxes. Prior to the 2018 tax year, there were multiple versions of the 1040 form, but for 2019 and beyond, the form… read more…
- All About IRS Form 1040A
Update for the Current Tax Laws: President Trump signed a new tax plan into law in December 2017. The new law consolidated forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ into one redesigned Form 1040 that all filers can use. For your 2019 taxes, which… read more…
- A Comprehensive Guide to LLC Taxes
With a limited liability company (LLC), a single person usually isn’t fully responsible for company debts. Like other business categorizations, you’ll have to pay taxes if you’re a member of this type of entity. However, LLCs are also taxed differently depending on… read more…
- Comprehensive Guide for How to File Your Taxes
Filing your taxes on an annual basis is a major part of everyone’s financial life. While the idea of filing might seem intimidating at first, there are many services and methods available to make doing so much easier. For instance,… read more…
- All About IRS Form 1040EZ
In late 2017, President Trump signed a new tax plan into law. This law consolidated the forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ into a single redesigned Form 1040 that all filers can use. For your 2022 taxes, which you file in 2023, and… read more…
- Small Business Taxes
Along with the independence of owning your own business comes a greater level of responsibility. One of those responsibilities is paying business taxes. The business taxes you file will depend on whether the business is a sole proprietorship or whether it… read more…
- How to Fill Out a W-2 Form
One of the most important tax forms is the W-2. Unlike many tax forms, most individuals taxpayers won’t need to fill this one out themselves. Rather, employers fill out W-2 forms for their employees. If you’re an employer who doesn’t… read more…
- How and When to File an Amended Tax Return
Given the complicated nature of income taxes and the popularity of convenient but not foolproof DIY tax filing software, it’s understandable that you may make a mistake on your taxes at some point. When this happens, you’ll need to file an… read more…
- Do You Need to File Taxes?
If your income is particularly low one year, you may not need to file federal income taxes at all. You can save yourself the time and hassle of filling out your tax returns. The income threshold for determining whether you need to file taxes varies based on several factors, such as whether someone claims you… read more…
- Negative Income Tax, Explained
These days, the government works to lift folks out of poverty by means of subsidized housing, grants, tax deductions, tax credits and hundreds of programs targeting different needs. Some economists and tax policy wonks have questioned the need – and the… read more…
- Understanding How 1099 Forms Work
The first thing you should know about the different types of 1099 forms is that if you’re a worker, you don’t need to fill them out yourself. Instead, the entity who is administering your investment account will send you a… read more…
- What Is a Tax Levy?
Failure to keep up with your tax liabilities can lead to what’s called a tax levy. With a tax levy, the IRS confiscates assets of yours such as the money in your savings account or a portion of your wages. Of course, an IRS levy doesn’t happen overnight. You’ll get notices of overdue taxes and have… read more…
- The Ultimate Guide to Tax Liability
The term “tax liability” describes the amount of money owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the end of each tax year. Many Americans make reducing their tax liability a goal by chasing deductions and tweaking their filing strategy. If… read more…
- What You Should Know About Estimated Tax Payments
If you are an independent contractor or business owner, you are responsible for making sure that you get the correct tax payments to the government — unlike people who work as employees of a company which withdraws payments from each… read more…
- What Are Medicare Taxes?
If you’ve ever looked at your earnings statement from a job, you have likely noticed some tax withholding. As part of your overall payroll taxes, the federal government requires employers to collect the FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) tax. The… read more…
- What Is a Tax Shelter?
A tax shelter is a place to put your money where it will be safe from the long arm of the Tax Man. Many people think of tax shelters negatively, but they are completely legal and legitimate ways to decrease… read more…
- 3 Tax Reasons to Contribute to a Health Savings Account
A health savings account (HSA) is a way to set aside some money, tax-free, to use for possible medical situations you can’t see coming. If you don’t end up needing the money, can also be used as a vehicle for… read more…
- What Are Income Taxes?
Paying a federal income tax now seems so routine that it’s hard to imagine a time when income taxes were controversial. The federal income tax as we know it is actually only a little over one hundred years old. That’s a… read more…
- Understanding Payroll Taxes and How They Get Paid
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, payroll taxes made up approximately 30.6% of federal tax revenue in fiscal year 2022. That’s $1.5 trillion out of $4.9 trillion. These taxes come from the wages, salaries, and tips that are… read more…