Hello 🍂 September
After heat waves and droughts across the United States, we cheer the arrival of this ninth month of the year, which officially brings us Autumn.
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Fall's cooler (we hope!) temperatures offer us some respite from 2022's extraordinarily hot summer. But Fall doesn't mean we can fall down when it comes to tax tasks. So here are some September Tax Moves to make in the next 30 days. Sept. 1: Today is Meteorological Fall, the three months from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30 when days get shorter and cooler, but not cold. It's also the start of the Internal Revenue Service's National Preparedness Month. The 2022 Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico
hurricane season has been hurricane season has been unexpectedly quiet, but that's not likely to last.
So take advantage of this likely temporary tropical lull and
get ready for the rest of the official hurricane season, which runs through the end of Meteorological Fall on Nov. 30. The countdown clock below can help you keep track of how many more days you have to worry about tracking any size or type of tropical storms.
Even if Uncle Sam's official forecasters at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center are wrong and the season doesn't bring their
predicted 21 named storms, remember that it only takes one to wreak havoc. So if you haven't yet prepared — physically, financially, and tax wise — it's time to do so.
The ol' blog's special
Storm Warnings pages also can help, whether you're preparing for, recovering from, or helping those who sustain damages from the many ways that that weather goes wild. That includes
claiming uninsured losses from a major natural disaster as an itemized tax deduction.
Sept. 5: Happy Labor Day! This celebration of workers' contributions is a federal holiday and day off for many.
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After two years of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces have move back full in-person office work. job sites. But the lingering effects of hybrid — some days working from home, others at the office — could produce some tax complications for workers. One of them is the unwelcome realization that as employees, their home office is not tax deductible.
Sept. 12: If your job is as a server at a restaurant, or at any other establishment where gratuities from customers is part of your compensation, don't forget that those tips are taxable income.
Whether you're dining in or getting food delivered to your home, if a tip isn't included on your restaurant or delivery bill, click the image above to calculate how much to tip the person who brought it to you.
Today is a key day for workers who regularly get tips as part of their jobs. If you worked at least some of August and got at least $20 in gratuities, you need to account for them today by using
Form 4070 to report that month's tips total to your employer.
Sept. 22: Fall officially arrives today with the
Autumnal Equinox at 9:04 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Adjust for your time zone, since the equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide. It's also a godo day to think about home maintenance that will help you weather the coming colder weather. The recently enacted
Inflation Relief Act includes extension of and tax breaks for some energy saving home upgrades. While making any necessary repairs, also consider
home improvements that could increase your home's basis and guarantee you
won't owe any capital gains tax on your eventual residential sale profit.
Sept. 30: It's the last day of September. That means if you got an
extension back in April to file your tax return, that new
Oct. 17 deadline is just weeks away. Don't wait until the very last minute. Get to work on your tax paperwork now and be done with it.
The easiest way to do so is electronically. Check out ways to e-file at no cost, including via Free File, which is, as its name says, free. The official electronic filing webpage is
Free File on IRS.gov is available to qualifying taxpayers until midnight, Eastern Time, on Oct. 17.
Free File this year is available for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is $73,000 or less. That income level applies to all
filing statuses. This year,
8 software programs are available to eligible filers.
Small Business Tax Calendar: Important
filing, deposit and record keeping dates throughout the year that your company needs to know. You can get more tax calendar information at the IRS'
online calendar page and view the full year's important business and individual tax dates in
IRS Pub. 509.
Despite Texas coming in number one in this analysis, I'm happy to report that our school district tax rate
has dropped a bit from last year. So our combined 2007 property tax bill should
be a little smaller. 
I live 75 miles east of St. Louis in Southern Illinois, which is for the most part an economically depressed area. Med. Income around low $20's.
I live in a town of 16,000 people, and our property taxes here are atrocious. I have friends who have had their home on the market for 3 years, a lot of interested parties, until they see the property tax bill, no thanks. The homes aren't appreciating much in value either. My taxes for a 2900 sq. ft. home were over $8000. I could live for less in a City with a lot more to offer, than what I pay to live here. Our schools have failed to met the Average Yearly Progress for the last 2 years, yet the taxes increase every year, so I pay more and get less. As a point of reference, property taxes in the Chicago area, are on average less than in our fair city south. Less population = more taxes.
Posted by: MW - (Fed-Up with Taxes in Mousetown) | Monday, October 08, 2007 at 03:59 PM
Unfortunately this argument does not include state income taxes. Since state income taxes range from 1% to 4% of income (vs property value), it is difficult to compare apples to apples. What would truly be valuable would be a chart that compared the cost to live in each state for someone making $200,000 per year and living in a $500,000 home.
Posted by: Randy Walker | Monday, October 08, 2007 at 03:20 PM
The piece about taxes in Texas brought back not so fond memories of living in the Austin area. Currently, I'm in Key West and have a house roughly 3 times the value of my old house back in Austin. My current tax bill is still about $300 less per year than the TX house. I still maintain a lake house outside Austin and it's tax bill is about the same as mine here in FL. Like Texas, Florida has no state income tax and our sales tax is 6.5% so I'm not sure what makes up the difference or where the money goes, but it might be a good question to ask.
Posted by: Jeff R in Key West | Monday, October 08, 2007 at 02:48 PM
I live in TX (#1 on the list above), and my parents live in AL (#49 on the list). In fact I pay around double the property taxes they pay. That doesn't sound too crazy until you realize that I live in a 792 SF condo and they live in a 10,000SF house worth almost 10 times what my property is valued! But thank God I don't live in NY or NJ where people who inherit paid off homes are forced to sell because they can't afford the property taxes.
Posted by: Meg | Sunday, October 07, 2007 at 01:50 PM