July 1: In a normal year, most of us would be celebrating the end of school years, planning summer vacations and generally loving life. As has been long noted, both here on the ol' blog and elsewhere, this is not a normal year and especially not when it comes to taxes.
In fact, this July is the new April. Due to
COVID-19 disruptions and precautions, Tax Day 2020 was moved to
July 15. With that due date on the fast-approaching horizon, let's get cracking!
July 3 & 4: Happy 244th Birthday, America!
This is one of the problems with moving Tax Day to July. It immediately gets interrupted by celebrating the United States' creation. That birth was
spurred in part by taxes, so take a break and celebrate. Since July 4 this year falls on Saturday,
Friday, July 3 also is an official federal holiday. So we get two days of partying, safely, of course, both when it comes to fireworks and coronavirus social distancing.
July 6: Welcome back to the real and tax world. With the sparklers and bottle rockets done, it's time to focus on July 15. Not only is the due date for your 2019 tax return, there are other
tax tasks to take care of by this mid-July deadline. These added tax moves include filing an old tax return, making 2020 estimated tax payments, contributing to retirement and medical saving accounts, dealing with tax notices and taking care of your state taxes.
July 8: As you finish up (or start) your 2019 tax return, this
checklist can help you ensure you have all the documents you need to file your
Form 1040 and its now just three (instead of six) schedules.
July 10: Most restaurants across the country closed earlier this year due to COVID-19. Some opened, then reclosed as the virus resurged. And many eateries simply stuck with take-out meals and deliveries. Whether you're able to dine in or still getting food brought to your house, remember to tip your server or delivery person.
If a tip isn't included in your food delivery charge, click the image above to calculate how much to tip the person who brought it to you.
As for servers who now are back on the job, remember that your
tips are taxable income. If you worked at least some of June at a job where you got gratuities, you need to account for them today if they came to at least $20 last month. Use
Form 4070 to report your tips today to your employer.
July 13: Still working on or finishing up your 2019 tax return? Check out the filing pieces of advice in the ol blog's monthly tax tips pages, one each for
January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June and, finally,
July.
July 15: Finally, Tax Day 2020 is here.
.
You've got until midnight tonight (your local time) to electronically file your 1040. The IRS can help you do that
and save money with
Free File, the IRS/tax software industry partnership that offers eligible taxpayers access to online tax preparation programs and federal return e-filing at no cost.
This year 10 software companies are participating at IRS.gov's
Free File webpage. It's available for taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $69,000 or less regardless of filing status. If you make too much to use the online software, look into using Free File's fillable forms.
And if you just can't finish your 1040, send the IRS instead
Form 4868 to get until Oct. 15 to file your return. Remember, though your must pay any due tax with your extension request.
July 20: Whew! Now that filing is done (except for us procrastinators on extension) and you've had a few days to get settled, it's time to take care of your tax records. You need to hang onto some
filing paperwork just in case the IRS has follow-up questions.
July 24: When you filed your taxes, either this month or earlier in the year, did you get or are you now expecting a big refund? Or did the other tax possibility happen and you ended up owing Uncle Sam a lot more than you expected? Then it's time for a
paycheck checkup and possibly
adjust your payroll withholding.
July 28: An immediate review of your 2020 filing experience might have made it clear that you need personal help you’re your taxes. Start your search for a
tax professional who will work with you year round to make your tax obligations less, well, taxing.
July 31: The 2020 Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico
hurricane season got off to a
quick start, but we made it through June without a major 'cane making U.S. landfall. Still, there's no reason to get complacent.
Uncle Sam's official
forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expect 2020 to bring as many as 19 named storms, with six to eight possibly becoming hurricanes. Three to six could reach major status, which is category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher. Regardless of the count, it only takes one to wreak havoc. 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.
You also might want to check out the ol' blog's special
Storm Warnings.
These multi-page collections of posts offer tax advice on preparing for, recovering from and helping those who sustain damages from the many ways that that weather goes wild.
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