The IRS recently unveiled its list of “Dirty Dozen” tax scams, with a warning to taxpayers not to fall prey to the claims of dishonest financial advisors, unscrupulous tax preparers, or other scammers.  Here are some of the more common tax scams from the IRS’ list. Tax Scam 1: Hiding Income Offshore Many dishonest promoters [...]

Think you’re broke? You may have money in places where you least expect it. Have you skipped filing a tax return because you didn’t owe anything? You may be passing up a sizable refund. The Internal Revenue Service recently announced that $1.1 billion in previously unclaimed tax refunds are waiting for nearly 1.1 million people [...]

Your tax return.  You’ve been avoiding it for months now, and you know you need to file it soon, but you just can’t face the dread of lots of rules and numbers and lines and crazy forms. While the tax laws don’t ever seem to get simpler, you can take away some of the pain [...]

One of the greatest advantages of being a homeowner is the ability to deduct your mortgage interest on your tax return using the mortgage interest tax deduction.  But just like anything else IRS-related, there are rules to follow.  Here’s a primer. What’s a Home? Your “home” for the home mortgage interest deduction is your primary [...]

Angry that every penny YOU make gets taxed, while your handyman, hairdresser, or plumber hides thousands of dollars every year from the tax man? Well, now there’s a way to get even. The IRS has beefed up its rewards program for ratting out tax cheats.  Now, you can rat out your neighbor, lawn guy, or [...]

Tax Breaks for Disabled Persons A recent report suggested that many of the millions of disabled Americans may be paying more taxes than necessary because they don’t understand how their benefits are taxed, and may be unaware of credits available to them.  If you or a family member are disabled, consider these steps to ensure [...]

Tax laws are complicated, and tax forms aren’t much better.  It’s easy to miss a deduction or credit that is rightfully yours.  Here’s a list to consider for this year’s Form 1040. Job Search Expenses.  If you were laid off and looking for another job in 2010, those costs are deductible.  Mileage driven for job [...]

The difference between marginal and average tax rates is a fairly important concept for all tax payers to better understand the way the government gets paid. You’ve probably heard both terms, but maybe never knew what they were. Well, let’s fix that.

I was working with a client a while back who brought up a question that a lot of people ask me and it’s one of the most common questions I get asked. This particular client was interested in paying off his home early and wanted to go over some of the ways that he could [...]