Blog Profile / Don't Mess With Taxes
| URL : | http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Business & Finance / Taxes | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1386 | |
| Posts / Week: | 5.7 | |
| Archived Since: | September 28, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Forget raising tax money to pay for roads. Washington State lawmaker says bicycles are bad for the environment.
A Washington State representative has some news for all you bicyclists who are feeling so smug about saving the environment. You're actually causing problems, says Rep. Ed Orcutt, a Republican from Kalama, Wash. Riding nonmotorized two-wheelers causes cyclists to have "an increased heart rate and respiration," according to Orcutt. Show More Summary
IRS now accepting all 2012 tax return forms
Tax filing season 2013 is finally fully under way. As promised, the Internal Revenue Service completed its updating and computer testing of the last batch of forms (29 of them) over the weekend and now is accepting all 2012 tax filings for individuals and businesses. Have fun! As every forced-to-wait taxpayer already knows, the IRS had to accept 2012 returns...
Tax Carnival #114: March tax lions and lambs
March is a month of change. Its typically chilly, blustery early days as winter winds down give way at the end of the month to gentler days as spring begins to settle in. That transition is what gave us the "in like lion, out like a lamb" description of March. It fits for taxes, too. We have the brutal tax...
Taxing environmentally conscious drivers
Virginia lawmakers last month passed a massive transportation bill. It's the first overhaul of the state's transportation funding since 1986 and is expected to bring in $880 million a year to help maintain 58,000 miles of roads. The plan includes a mix of taxes. The Old Dominion's 17½ cents-per-gallon retail gasoline tax will be replaced by a 3.5 percent wholesale...
'Obama' explains sequester effects on Saturday Night Live
We're starting our first full week of sequestration 2013. Before the $85 billion in spending cuts kicked in on March 1, the White House issued fact sheets detailing what sequester might mean to each state. For folks who haven't read those predictions yet, Saturday Night Live's Obama, portrayed by Jay Pharoah, boils down what areas might suffer in this weekend's...
Sequester, sequestration and talk of tax code change
Sequester is here. Has your life changed materially yet? In the run-up to the March 1 sequestration deadline, the possible effects of the $85 billion in spending cuts were a big topic last week at my other tax blog. There was a lot of initial concern that the loss of funding for the Internal Revenue Service could could delay tax...
Don't forget about your traditional or Roth 401(k)
In tough economic times, most of us focus on our day-to-day expenses. But if you can swing it, you also need to save money for your eventual retirement. Today's Daily Tax Tip looks at one of the easiest retirement savings options out there, the 401(k). On the job savings: A 401(k) is a workplace retirement plan offered by many companies....
Happy 177th Birthday, Texas!
On this day in 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Four days later, the new Texians at the Alamo didn't survive the siege by the unimpressed Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna and is troops. We remembered, but didn't fare any better at Goliad. More than 350 Texas Republic soldiers who had surrendered there were massacred. That really...
Homeowner hazard insurance is crucial, but not tax deductible
A friend is having to deal with a cracked foundation, the result of years of Texas drought drying out and shifting the clay underneath her house. As a homeowner, I feel for my friend and the hassle and expense she's going through. Here's hoping that her home insurance can help cover at least some of the repair costs. As every...
Tax moves to make in March 2013
March madness has arrived and I'm not talking college hoops. It's March tax madness, that that crazed time of the year when millions have filed their tax returns and are anxiously awaiting refunds and millions are still working on their 1040s. The Internal Revenue Service also has been doing extra work this year, revising forms to match up with law...
Despite sequestration, IRS plans to continue filing season as planned, start accepting more updated forms next week
Sequestration 2013 arrives today, but if things go as the Internal Revenue Service plans, most taxpayers shouldn't notice. This filing season already has been crazy, delayed for weeks because of late passage of fiscal cliff tax laws that required the updating of IRS forms and its computer system. Then came sequester, $85 million in broad automatic spending cuts scheduled to...
Can't telecommute? Check with your employer about possible commuting tax breaks
Has the decision by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to eliminate telecommuting prompted your boss to issue a similar "get your butt into the office" edict? Sorry. I share your pain at having to now hit the road instead of commuting down the hall to your home office. But maybe the hassle of getting to work can be eased by some...
Tax cheating is unacceptable, say most Americans
We may hate our tax code and paying taxes, and we definitely are not very happy with the lawmakers who devise and constantly change our tax system, but U.S. taxpayers are committed to following it. That's the finding of the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board in its latest annual look at what taxpayers are thinking. In fact, the 2012 Taxpayer...
Tax reform is job 1
Actually, tax reform will be H.R. 1. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has reserved that numerical designation for rewriting the tax code, according to The Hill newspaper's On the Money blog. Boehner has dibs on the first 10 bill numbers for the 113th Congress, but H.R. 1 generally is reserved for a signature legislative issue by the party that controls the...
How would your state fare under sequestration?
Sequester, the implementation of automatic federal spending cuts to both domestic and defense programs, is set to take effect Friday, March 1, unless Congress acts. We've been here many times before, in a political game of fiscal chicken that usually ends with some sort of uneasy compromise before the worst-case scenario fully kicks in. Will that happen this time? My...
5 productive ways to spend your tax refund
Despite the delayed start of the 2013 tax filing season, millions of taxpayers have been able to file their 2012 tax returns. It's no secret that the folks who tend to file as soon as they can are those who are getting refunds. If you're one of them and still don't have any plans for your tax cash, today's Daily...
And the film tax credit goes to ...
As you watch tonight's Academy Awards ceremony, listen for the winners to thank lawmakers for tax breaks. OK, it's not likely to happen, although 30 Rock's Tina Fey did just that a few years ago in accepting her NBC show's best comedy Emmy win. Fey was being more than polite. She knew that her ratings-challenged sitcom needed every bit of...
Congressional pay cuts (yeah, right) and the role taxes play in state relocations discussed last week at my other tax blog
This is starting to be the least surprising news ever, but we really, really don't think very much of Congress. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that Americans' views of Republican leaders in Congress remain at near-historic lows. Democratic leaders are viewed somewhat more positively, though more of us still disapprove than approve of their job performance. So what...
Oscars swag bags in 2013 worth $47,802 each, plus taxes
The Internal Revenue Service is once again singing "Hurray for Hollywood." It's Academy Award weekend, meaning stars will descend on Los Angeles. They'll receive swag bags for their participation in the Oscars ceremony. And the IRS will once again get a cut of the loot. The issue of whether the goody bags were gifts or remuneration for being part of...
Bartering? Don't forget the tax implications
Bartering is a great way to get something when you don't have the cash. Take your toothache. In exchange for painting your dentist's office, she took a look at your pearly whites. Your dentist got a new workplace look. You got that painful tooth filled. Everyone's happy. Even better, since there was no money involved, neither of you has to...