Today's Tax Tip

Tax Gap holds steady: 17 percent of taxpayers don't pay all they owe

Which GOP candidate is generating the most buzz?

Tax season 2012 is here. To make fulfilling your tax duty as painless as possible, you'll find a Daily Tax Tip over there in the ol' blog's right column. Each day, including weekends and federal holidays, you'll find ways to cut your 2011 tax bill, ease your filing tasks and/or make key 2012 tax year planning moves. And if you miss a day, don't worry. You can visit the complete list of 2012 tips.

Posted on Monday, January 09, 2012 at 01:34 PM in Tax Tip | Permalink | Comments (18)

Tags: tax, tax tip, taxes

Comments

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I sure hope everyone has their taxes finished by now!

Posted by: Tax Relief | Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 12:08 PM

The tip was very helpful. Thank you

Posted by: Nancy at Scar Treatment | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 06:04 PM

Kay: the tips are great - from a personal level and as a student.

Thanks!
~Sarah

Posted by: Online Accounting Degrees | Thursday, April 05, 2012 at 11:54 AM

I check your blog daily for your amazing tax relief tips!

Posted by: Mark Randall | Monday, April 02, 2012 at 05:05 PM

These are really great tax tips. I'll make sure to spread the word around about your very informative blog.

Posted by: estate evaluation | Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 04:39 AM

Great tips. Thanks for sharing =)

Posted by: Julie @ Freedom 48 | Saturday, March 03, 2012 at 07:12 PM

Your tips are very useful. thank you for sharing!

Posted by: abercrombie | Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 09:45 PM

Great tax tips! The post about ways to be organized is great considering it makes tax time much easier.

Posted by: Mark Randall @IRS tax help | Thursday, February 09, 2012 at 12:07 PM

Great tax tip! Another tip for those filing bankruptcy and expected tax returns, is to spend them.

Posted by: Benjamin Skinner | Tuesday, February 07, 2012 at 12:42 PM

Thanks for sharing all this information. Your tips are very useful to me. Keep sharing such high quality posts.

Posted by: Money Tips | Friday, February 03, 2012 at 08:03 AM

Think I need to write that down so I wont forget. Really good tip though this one. The IRS calculater is great.

Posted by: 123dsr | Thursday, February 02, 2012 at 04:14 PM

Steven, thanks! Glad the tax tips are helpful.

Posted by: Kay | Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 03:38 PM

As a fellow tax attorney just wanted to let you know how great a job you are doing at your blog. The daily tax tips are a great service to readers.

Posted by: Steven J Fromm | Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 11:50 AM

Thanks for sharing this great post!

Posted by: Ron @ High School Life | Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 06:37 AM

Kenneth, thank you! Kay

Posted by: Kay Bell | Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:01 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

Weekly Tax Tip

Avoiding too-high taxes on damaged property — What's worse than losing your home to a disaster? Having to pay taxes on the destroyed property. That's why you need to let your local tax officials know as soon as possible after your taxable property was seriously damaged or destroyed, regardless of whether by Mother Nature or some other calamity. (Sept. 13, 2019)
Check out all the latest post-Tax Day tax advice in the 2019 edition of Weekly Tax Tips. Many of these once-a-week tips will focus on planning moves to cut your 2020 tax bill. If, however, you're working on a filing extension for your 2018 return, you can get a refresher of the 2019 Filing Season Tax Tips at their respective monthly pages: January, February, March and April.

All About Kay

OK, some about Kay

Kay Bell — Native Texan (the blog title totally makes sense now, right?). Professional journalist. Tax geek.

My Other Accounts

Tick ... Tick ... Tick

Tax Season 2019 continues!
Are you among the almost 15 million taxpayers the IRS estimates are now on extension to file their 2018 tax returns? That new Oct. 15 tax filing deadline will be here before you know it. The countdown clock below will help you track the days until that absolutely final filing due date arrives. Maybe in the next six months, we'll have a better handle on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changes!
Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.

Time for Tax Tasks

Sept. 1: Summer unofficially ends today. It's the Labor Day weekend, a three-day break before we all settle into the autumnal routines of back-to-school and full work days. If you took advantage of the long weekend to make one more out-of-town trip, then you might have noticed some states, 14 to be precise, hiked their gas taxes earlier this year.

Sept. 2: Happy Labor Day! This celebration of workers' contributions is a federal holiday and day off for many.

via GIPHY

In most employment situations, workers are employees. Some folks, however, are the boss. And in entrepreneurial instances that operate as passthrough companies, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's §199A deduction could be valuable at tax filing time.

But the new tax reform bill also took away a prior tax break, the ability to claim some business related expenses, such as union dues, as an itemized deduction. That miscellaneous claim is no longer on Schedule A.

Sept. 6: School is back in session. But it's not just students facing lessons. Parents of elementary, secondary and college kids need to do their homework to learn how Uncle Sam can help cover some educational costs at all levels.

Sept. 8: Happy Grandparents' Day!
If you're an older grandma or grandpa, pay attention to your overall earnings. Your added retirement income could result in some of your Social Security benefits being taxed.

If you're helping out an older parent, Mom or Dad could be qualify as a dependent and help you claim the new $500 tax credit for qualifying dependents.

Sept. 10: If your job compensation includes tips and you received $20 or more in gratuities in August, use Form 4070 to report them today to your employer by today.

Sept. 11: Today is Patriot Day, the annual observance to remember those who died or were injured during the terrorist attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001. On this annual National Day of Service and Remembrance, you can find charitable remembrance activities in your area through the National Corporation for Community Service, which grew out of the many commemorations of the 9/11 victims. You also can contribute to the nonprofit of your choice, either one that assists victims or in the name of someone you wish to honor.

Click image to visit the
Community Service Facebook page.
While the time you volunteer is not tax deductible, if you itemize you might be able to deduct your donation of cash or goods.

Sept. 13: This Friday the 13th was scary enough, but then you got that Internal Revenue Service notice notice. Don't panic. These 13 tax notice tips can help you deal with the IRS correspondence today or any day.

Sept. 16: It's estimated tax time again. Your third voucher for the 2019 tax year is due today, a day later than usual since the Sept. 15 deadline was on Sunday.

Sept. 23: Fall officially arrives today with the autumnal equinox at 3:50 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. It's a good time to think about home maintenance that will help you weather the coming colder weather. While making those 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: September is ending, but not the 2019 hurricane season.

September started on an ominous storm note, with the Category 5 Hurricane Dorian heading for the United States' eastern seaboard.

This month typically is the busiest of the storm season, which runs through Nov. 30, so be ready. The countdown clock below can help you keep count of how many more days you have to track the tropics.

You also can find tips on getting ready, physically and financially, for hurricanes, as well as tax help for recovery efforts and tax deductions for donations to those who are hit by natural disasters at the ol' blog's Storm Warnings pages.

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.

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.

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ...

Taxes are all about the numbers.
Check out these (mostly) weekly
By the Numbers figures.

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Kudos Et Cetera

National Association
for Women in Communications
Winner, Best Personal Blog
2012, 2014 & 2017
Plutus Financial Bloggers Awards
Celebrating the Best
in Personal Finance
Winner, Best Tax Blog
2011 & 2013

I gotta tell ya ...

AKA Disclaimer:
I am a professional journalist who has been covering tax issues since 1999.
I am not a professional tax preparer.
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 is provided for your private, noncommercial, educational and informational purposes only. It is not a recommendation of any specific tax action(s) you should or should not take. Similarly, mentions of products or services are not endorsements. In other words, my ramblings on the ol' blog are free advice and you know what they say about getting what you pay for. That's why when it comes to filing your taxes, I urge you to get additional, professional, paid-for guidance from an accountant, Enrolled Agent or other qualified tax preparer who is familiar with your individual tax circumstances.

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