Remember back in February when I first talked about the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit? Well… It seems that Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), the original sponsor of that bill, is back at it again.
In addition to increasing the maximum tax credit from $8,000 to $15,000 (with a max of 10% of the home’s purchase), Isakson’s proposal [...]

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Did you know that you can convert directly from mutual funds to exchange traded funds (ETFs) without incurring taxes? I didn’t. I’ve been operating under the impression that selling the mutual fund shares would be a taxable event.
What I didn’t realize is that, at least with Vanguard equity funds, the conversion of conventional shares [...]

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In what is rapidly becoming an annual rite of passage, I just appealed our property tax assessment. For those that aren’t aware, I did this a year ago in response to an unreasonable jump in the “value” of our house following a renovation, and we got a quick reduction in our assessment.
This time around, the [...]

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This is just a quick reminder to anyone out there that pays estimated taxes… The second quarterly payment is due this coming Monday (June 15th). So… If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to get things pulled together and write that check. If you pay late, you might end up facing an underpayment penalty [...]

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On Monday, I returned home from work to find a letter from the IRS in our mailbox. My heart sank. Fearing the worst, I opened the envelope and peered inside. What I saw wasn’t nearly as scary as I had feared. Yes, we’re technically being audited, but it’s just a “correspondence audit.” Moreover, it’s the [...]

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Are you feeling stimulated? Well, you should be. I was updating Quicken over the weekend when I noticed that the reduced federal income tax withholding schedules have kicked in. In case you haven’t heard, that’s how the “Making Work Pay” tax credit is being handed out.
According to an IRS press release:
“Available for tax years 2009 [...]

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Have you finished your taxes yet? We haven’t. I actually entered most of our information into TurboTax at least a month ago, but I never finished the job.
My lack of motivation was due in part to the fact that we owe a significant amount. This was by design, so we have the money on hand. [...]

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Tax Day is less than two weeks away, and taxpayers across the country are worried. According the results of a recent survey by CCH CompleteTax, nearly two-thirds of tax filers are concerned that they might overlook tax breaks or make mistakes that could result in penalties. And it looks like they’re right to be worried.
Check [...]

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A reader name Patrick just wrote in to point out a recent IRS press release about a special tax break for new car purchases in 2009. From the release:
“The Internal Revenue Service announced today that taxpayers who buy a new passenger vehicle this year may be entitled to deduct state and local sales and excise [...]

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A few weeks ago, I did a head-to-head comparison of TurboTax vs. TaxCut, and I also noted that TurboTax has been rated the best tax preparation software.
At the time, however, I wasn’t aware that you can use TurboTax for free if you make less than $30k. Note that I’m not talking about the free 1040EZ [...]

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