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Keep Uncle Sam cranky!

  • It's no wonder Uncle Sam is not very happy here. His vault is empty.
    Don't Mess With Taxes aims to keep him cranky by providing tax and personal finance tips and advice that will put more money in your bank account, not the government treasury.

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Time for Tax Tasks


  • monthly tax moves
  • May 1: Happy May Day! This international holiday celebrating workers is a perfect time for employers of household help to review their tax responsibilities. You don't want to end up with facing nanny tax trouble!

    May 5: ¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
    Take time on this fifth day of the fifth month to get your tax material in order. You need a tax record keeping system for your 2012 taxes, as well a filing system for your 2011 return material in case the Internal Revenue Service has questions.

    May 8: Those tax records you just organized will let you know whether you need to adjust your withholding. It's a good move, whether you owed the IRS a lot or got a big refund.

    May 10: Does your job include tips? If so and you received $20 in tips in April, use Form 4070 to report them today to your employer.

    May 13: Happy Mother's Day! Make sure today is a special one for your mom. And if you're a mother, or about to be, be sure to check out the tax joys of parenthood.

    May 16: With the arrival of warmer spring weather come home improvement projects, such as the planting of May flowers and bird-friendly plants.

    Such home work will help increase your basis in the property and that could help reduce any potential home sale tax bill.

    Advanced home energy home upgrades also could get you dollar-for-dollar tax credit savings this tax year. These include the more costly solar, wind energy and geothermal systems.

    May 21: Set up your bunching strategy. This method of collecting enough deductible expenses so that you can itemize works better when you get started as early as possible in the tax year.

    May 26: If you're hitting the road on the Memorial Day holiday to kick off summer, be on the lookout for bargain gasoline. State and local fuel excise taxes can really ramp up pump prices.

    Regardless of how you travel, if part of your trip is business related, Uncle Sam might be willing to pick up some of those costs when you file your tax return.

    May 31: Was this the last filing season you want to go it alone at tax time? Then start searching for a tax professional now. You have more time to thoroughly investigate and pick the perfect tax pro.

    If you filed for an extension, he or she could help you finish up this 2011 tax year task. And hiring a tax pro now will definitely help you get a head start on your 2012 return.

    Small Business Tax Calendar -- May: Important filing, deposit and record keeping dates your company needs to know.

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A few words from the IRS

I gotta tell ya ...

  • AKA Disclaimer:
    The content on Don't Mess With Taxes is my personal opinion based on my study and understanding of tax laws, policies and regulations. It’s provided for your private, noncommercial, educational and informational purposes only. It’s not a recommendation or endorsement of any company or product. I strongly suggest that when it comes to filing your taxes, you get additional, professional, paid-for guidance from your accountant and other financial advisers who are familiar with your individual circumstances. In other words, don't blame me!

©©©©© & ®®®®®

« Nevada decides against taxing one sin | Main | Some final tax-filing tips and warnings »

Friday, April 10, 2009

Tax advice from TV talking heads

And one of those tax-yammering heads was mine.

FoxBusiness.com Live, the cable TV network's noon online program, focused today on taxes. Four of us -- Fox's resident accountant Tracy Burns, H&R Block's Amy McAnarney, Chuck Jaffe from Marketwatch, and moi.

I was approached to talk about a story I did for Bankrate on housing tax laws. I did get to that, but the hosts Connell McShane and Jenna Lee also were captivated by my blog item on sin taxes.

A good portion of the 12 minutes I spent on air was spent on the potential for overhaul of the tax code (a dream that's still a long way off), the IRS change of heart on deducting e-payment charges and sin taxes.

Unfortunately, I fear we on the program and the viewers who were Twittering with the hosts during the broadcast, came up with more possible bad habit areas to tax! I just hope not too many lawmakers were on watching!

You can watch the program below or here if you don't see the video box. I debut around 33 minutes.

After a slow start -- doing a remote and not seeing the folks in the studio, I wasn't immediately sure Connell was talking to me -- I did OK. They let me ramble for 12 minutes, so I guess they thought so did, too.

And yes, that's the actual Texas capitol building behind me. Pretty cool, eh?

Anyway, that's my 15 (or 12) minutes of fame ... for now!

Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 at 04:04 PM in Taxes, Television |

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Justin

That is awesome!

Posted by: Justin | Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 07:44 PM

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Weekly Tax Tip

  • Appealing your property appraisal -- Real estate property tax assessments are hitting mailboxes nationwide. That means that many homeowners are readying their appeals of the valuations of their homes. A home's value is key to your ultimate tax bill. It's calculated by multiplying your your home's appraised value by your taxing jurisdiction's tax rate. An incorrectly high appraisal will mean an excessive property tax bill. So you need to gather the data to show the appeals board the correct value of your home. Make sure you don't miss the deadline for filing a protest of your appraisal. Since it will take some time to collect the data that you'll need to prove your case, you might find it worthwhile to hire a property tax appeal specialist. But pick your tax appeal rep carefully. And when it comes to the actual payment of your real estate taxes, also beware of firms offering to pay the overdue taxes in exchange for a note in the amount of taxes on the house, including loan fees and interest. In most cases, the interest rate is generally higher than market rate and if you miss a payment, a lien could be placed on your home. Instead, consider working with your original lender or tax office to settle your overdue tax bill.

  • Check out all of the 2012 post-filing season tips at Weekly Tax Tips.

    You also can get a refresher of the Daily Tax Tips posted earlier this year. You'll find the collections on special blog pages for the months of January, February, March and April.

State Tax Help

  • Don't forget your state taxes!
    Forty-three states and D.C. collect personal income taxes. But even if you live in of the seven states without an income levy, you still face other state (and local) taxes.

    State Tax Departments provides links to your state's Web page. The companion page, Tax Tidbits, is the compilation of blurbs about each state's tax laws. And for more state tax news, check out all our state tax bloggings.

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