Tax Carnival #26: Stocking Stuffers

Christmas is just eight days away. That means it's time for our annual Stocking Stuffers edition of the Carnival of Taxes.

This year, we have 10 tips to fill the tax socks hung with care. It's a smaller than usual Carnival, but given the craziness of the season, that's understandable.

Also, because I was traveling last week, I didn't get a chance to nag remind folks to send in submissions. Muchas mea culpas. I'll be a better nagger reminder next time.

But, as many of us have learned over the years, sometimes it's those smaller packages that hold the best gifts.

So with Christmas (and tax) prep time at a premium, without further ado I present Tax Carnival #26: Stocking Stuffers.

Let's start with the reason for the season. No, not holiday candy and nuts, but tax nuts and bolts. Remember where you are! It's time to work on cutting your upcoming 2007 tax bill.

To help us out, Ryan of Millionaire Money Habits offers Reducing Your Taxes: Part 3 of 3. Some simple organization techniques and a few tax-friendly moves, says Ryan, can help you increase your wealth by lowering your realized income and therefore letting you keep more of your money.

More tax-saving assistance comes from Madison at My Dollar Plan, who gives us the scoop on 2007 Tax Information: tax limits, credits, exemptions, deductions, phase-out and exclusion numbers all in one place. As Madison notes, it's a good reference that should come in handy at tax time.

And since there's no such thing as too much tax info, we have Adfecto Abundantia - Aspire 2 Wealth's offering of Free Money with Tax Credits. AA-A2W notes that "This article covers My List of [Little Known] Tax Credits. Each credit is described in detail and the IRS publication is given if more research is needed. Uses these credits directly reduce your tax bill this year!"

You'll need all the tax breaks you can find if you got income in addition to your salary. Kristine at Financial Tips for Whams provides the scoop from the IRS on How to Report Miscellaneous Income.

Now a brief break for a bit of bad news, at least for lawmakers.

Creators of the U.S. tax code get lumps of coal in their stockings, according to the latest look at worldwide tax methodologies. Leon at SoxFirst reports in Low global grade for U.S. tax system that in a study of which countries have improved their tax systems, the American tax system is lacking.

Maybe the presidential candidates need to check out that survey. And we all need to stay up to date on what the White House wannabes have to say about our taxes. FMF of Free Money Finance has just the item to help us do that: Taxes and the Leading Presidential Candidates tells us what the major presidential candidates plan to do on various tax issues.

Is Anyone Else Confused and Annoyed by the Alternative Minimum Tax?! That's the questions (and Carnival submission) from The Baglady. I think I speak for all of us when I answer, "Yes!"

Here's a tax tidbit that'll keep conversation going at the Christmas dinner table: More Than 40% Pay Zero Federal Income Tax. That fact comes from Super Saver at My Wealth Builder. But you might be surprised about just who is among that non-paying group.

We don't want to overlook business people and their special tax concerns. Thank goodness Joe at Roth & Company Tax Update is on top of this for us. The title of his Tax Carnival item is pretty self-explanatory -- If it's not on the W-2, S Corp shareholders can't deduct health insurance -- but Joe elaborates: "The IRS says a 2% S corporation shareholder needs health insurance a W-2 from the corporation to take an above-the-line deduction."

Well, we're shaking out that last tax stocking and we found something down at the toe for all you folks about to hit the road to visit far off family and friends to consider.

In Pay By The Miles Driven Instead Of Paying Gas Taxes, David at My Two Dollars brings us the cautionary tale of a proposal to track our every move by GPS to collect more tax revenue. That's enough to make you park your car permanently!

And on that note, we wrap up Tax Carnival #26: Stocking Stuffers.

But we'll be back on Dec. 31 with #27, our year-end tax wrap-up. If you get a few minutes between now and then (actually between now and Saturday, Dec. 29), be sure to send along a tax item for that edition.

You can use our carnival submission form, as well as peruse past Tax Carnivals and find out about future editions at our official Blog Carnival page.

Stocking images courtesy of The Christmas Corner

Comments

[Millionaire Money Habits]

Thanks again for another great carnival! Happy Holidays!