Working at a tender age is an American tradition. What isn’t so traditional is the notion of kids contributing to their own IRA, especially a Roth IRA. But it should be a tradition, because it’s a really good idea. Here’s what you need to know about IRAs for kids.
When you think of the reverse mortgage, you may not think of using it as a tax planning tool.
If you are house rich but cash poor, the reverse mortgage can give you the cash you desire, and save you a boatload of both income and estate taxes, when used in the right circumstances.
When you use a home for both rental and personal use, regardless of that home’s location at the beach or in the city, you run into the tax code’s vacation home rules that make that home either a residence or a rental property.
Tax-advantaged retirement accounts such as IRAs are a great way to save for retirement.
A self-directed IRA could be for you if you want to walk on the wild side and invest your retirement money in assets such as real estate or cryptocurrency.
After reaching age 50, you can make additional “catch-up” contributions to certain types of tax-advantaged retirement accounts. For the 2021 tax year, this opportunity is available if you’ll be age 50 or older on Friday, December 31, 2021.
If you are thinking of getting married or divorced, you need to consider December 31, 2021, in your tax planning.
Here are five strategies to consider as we come to the end of 2021.
When you take advantage of the tax code’s offset game, your stock market portfolio can represent a little gold mine of opportunities to reduce your 2021 income taxes.
The tax code contains the basic rules for this game, and once you know the rules, you can apply the correct strategies.
Here’s a look at how to apply the $250,000 ($500,000, if married) principal residence tax break when getting married or divorced, or when converting another property into your home.
The big advantage of 529 plans is that qualified withdrawals are always federal-income-tax-free—and usually state-income-tax-free too.
What you may not know is that not all 529 withdrawals are tax-free qualified withdrawals, even in years when you have heavy college costs.
Here are six important points to know about 529 withdrawals.
Here’s good news. IRS regulations allow you to claim a prorated (reduced) gain exclusion—a percentage of the $250,000 or $500,000 exclusion in select circumstances.
The prorated gain exclusion equals the full $250,000 or $500,000 figure (whichever would otherwise apply) multiplied by a fraction.
Unmarried homeowners can potentially exclude gains up to $250,000, and married homeowners can potentially exclude up to $500,000. You as the seller need not complete any special tax form to take advantage.
You can extend your tax return and file during the period of extension; that’s not a late-filed return.
The late-filed return is filed after the last extension expired.
No wash-sale rule worries. This favorable federal income tax treatment is consistent with the long-standing treatment of foreign currency losses.
That’s a good thing, because folks who actively trade cryptocurrencies know that prices are volatile.
If you are suffering or about to suffer an IRS audit, you should know how your tax positions stack up against the IRS examiners’ positions.
If you made an error on your tax return, don’t worry—there are two easy ways to fix it:
With the price of bitcoin having gone through the roof (before its recent decline), and with increasing acceptance of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as forms of payment, the tax implications of using cryptocurrencies are a hot-button issue for the IRS.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 increased the maximum Child Tax Credit to $3,000 per qualifying child, or $3,600 for a qualifying child who is age 5 or younger as of December 31, 2021.
If you are married, most likely you’ve always filed a joint tax return with your spouse. Most of the time, a joint return shows less overall tax than two separate tax returns do, because the married-filing-separately status has many tax disadvantages. Fast-forward to the 2020 tax filing season, however—and nothing is as it was.
We seem to be living in an age of natural disasters. Floods, fires, hurricanes, tornados, and other disasters often dominate the news.
If a disaster strikes you, the tax law may help. When defined as such by the tax code, a disaster loss may qualify for deduction from your taxable income. The rules for personal losses are complex and far more restrictive than for business losses.
The IRS can waive penalties it assessed against you or your business if there was “reasonable cause” for your actions.
