Last week at my other tax blog (2013)

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Last week at my other tax blog (2013)

Happy New Tax Year!

If the way we started this year is any indication -- let's all say it together: fiscal cliff nonsense -- 2013 is shaping up to be an exciting tax year.

That's why I'm glad I have two tax blogs to on which to hash out tax matters.

As has been my practice, I'll be recapping what happened last week at my Bankrate Taxes Blog here at Don't Mess With Taxes each weekend (mostly Saturdays ... I hope!).

But if you happen to miss those posts, this page will serve as an index with links to the previous week's synopsis.

Here's how my 2013 Bankrate tax blogging is shaping up.

Dec. 28, 2013: Mortgage forgiveness tax relief ends on Dec. 31
Dec. 21, 2013: Tax timing and travel-related taxes
Dec. 14, 2013: Attention senior citizens: IRA distribution date is Dec. 31
Dec. 10, 2013: Standard tax deduction amounts bumped up for 2014
Dec. 3, 2013: Where do your residential property taxes rank nationally?
Nov. 24, 2013: Senate Finance chair wants to hear your tax reform thoughts
Nov. 16, 2013: NY man pleads guilty to $9 million in fraudulent tax refunds
Nov. 10, 2013: 2014 individual income tax brackets
Nov. 4, 2013: Some in Congress want FSA use-or-lose rule eliminated
Oct. 27, 2013: Almost 700 IRS contractors owe $5.4 million in back taxes
Oct. 20, 2013: Budget conference committee members named
Oct. 14, 2013: Wyoming, 5 other western states have best business taxes
Oct. 5, 2013: Audit target? You're getting a bit of a shutdown break
Sept. 30, 2013: IRS lays out plan to deal with federal government shutdown
Sept. 21, 2013: Beanie Babies billionaire caught in offshore tax evasion net
Sept. 14, 2013: Estimated taxes and other September financial deadlines
Sept. 7, 2013: Renouncing U.S. citizenship, for tax and other reasons
Sept. 1, 2013: New York state of tax mind
Aug. 25, 2013: Gerard Depardieu now an honorary, and less taxed, Belgian
Aug. 18, 2013: Employers in 17 states could face higher unemployment taxes
Aug. 11, 2013: New York cop pleads guilty to identity theft, tax refund fraud
Aug. 4, 2013: Tax-related identity theft: Its growth and IRS efforts to stop it
July 27, 2013: Scholarships and grants get better grades than borrowing and tax breaks as ways to pay college costs
July 20, 2013: IRS emails, hearings and budgets, oh my!
July 13, 2013: Fear you might be a tax ID theft victim? Here's what to do
July 8, 2013: Congressional tax reform tour across America is underway
June 30, 2013: DOMA, taxes and where you live
June 23, 2013: Amazon heading to Florida, leaving Minnesota
June 15, 2013: June 15 deadlines bumped this year to June 17
June 9, 2013: States are collecting more tax money ... for now
June 1, 2013: Richer taxpayers get the bulk of tax break benefits and charitable donation rules
May 26, 2013: Continuing IRS questions and first sales tax holidays of 2013
May 19, 2013: All IRS all the time, at least last week at my other tax blog
May 12, 2013: IRS warrants for taxpayer emails and online sales taxes
May 6, 2013: Debt ceiling, home mortgage interest deduction and tax reform are in a twisted financial and political knot
April 27, 2013: South Florida tax scheme highlights ID theft, EITC concerns
April 21, 2013: Tax Freedom Day, cities with the most tax cheaters and Tax Day 2013 freebies
April 13, 2013: Spying on taxpayer social media accounts, Obama's rehashed tax provisions in FY2014 budget and other April 15 tax deadlines
April 7, 2013: How we'll spend tax refunds and Coping with sequestration pain
March 30, 2013: The wide reach of taxes: U.S. Supreme Court same-sex marriage case and March Madness basketball games
March 23, 2013: Added costs of not filing and Lawsuits prompted by refund delays
March 16, 2013 (posted March 23, 2013): Gun, ammo taxes and Tax processing delays create FAFSA problems
March 9, 2013: Tax refund loan product problems and Still anticipating sequester effects
March 3, 2013: Sequester, sequestration and Talk of tax code change
Feb. 24, 2013: Congressional pay cuts (yeah, right) and The role taxes play in state relocations
Feb. 17, 2013: Old-style savings bonds refund option and Talk of a possible gas tax hike
Feb. 9, 2013: Feds settle $15 million tax scam and Adding up sales tax deduction amount
Feb. 3, 2013: E-filing fraud fears and Employing plastic to trim property taxes
Jan. 27, 2013: Tentative tax reform talk and Court ruling poses a possible filing season snag
Jan. 19, 2013: Tax rates, tax refunds last week at my other tax blog
Jan. 12, 2013: Tax filing hassles: delayed start, complicated code
Jan. 6, 2013: What is and isn't in the fiscal cliff tax bill

You also can find links to the most recent Bankrate posts (and the RSS feed) over there in the right column of the ol' blog.

If you are really hankering for more tax bloggings, you can peruse the archive of 2011, 2012 and 2014 posts at my other tax blog.

And there's a link to my original Bankrate tax blog, Eye on the IRS, as well as a link to Don't Mess With Taxes posts in which I reference my other tax blog(s).

Thanks again for reading, here and there!

Weekly Tax Tip

Tax differences of home repair vs. home improvement — Keeping up a house takes a lot of work. In some cases, generally where you improve the property, the effort could help lower or eliminate a possible tax bill. In others, where you simply take care of necessary repairs, you'll make the place better, but without any tax benefit. (Aug. 16, 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

Aug. 1: It's August, the month we experience some of the year's hottest temperatures and the
Dog Days of Summer. This pooch definitely knows how to deal with the warm weather.
via GIPHY

Check out these tips to help keep your pet, yourself and possibly your taxes cool as thermometer readings rise.

You also can chill this month after you make some tax moves over the next 31 days to lower your potential 2019 tax bill.

Aug. 2, 3 & 4: School will be starting soon across much of the United States. That's why the bulk of the annual back-to-school state sales tax holidays are or start this first weekend of August.
This year, that's 9 of 16 tax-free events.

Savvy shoppers who take advantage of these six tax holiday shopping tips can save this weekend at sale-tax-free events in Arkansas (Aug. 3-4), Florida (Aug. 2-6), Iowa (Aug. 2-3) and from Aug. 2-4 in Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.

Aug. 7: School supplies shopping notwithstanding, until classes actually start you'll need to keep the kiddos occupied for these final few weeks of summer. Day camp is a great option. Even better, the costs for these camp costs can count toward claiming the child and dependent care tax credit, so hang onto those day camp receipts.

Aug. 9, 10 & 11: Two more states keep the sales tax holiday ball rolling starting this weekend. Certain items are tax free in Texas from Aug. 9-11. Maryland's sales tax holiday also starts on Aug. 9 and runs through Aug. 17.

Aug. 12: Does your job include tips?
If so and you received $20 in tips in July, use Form 4070 to report your tips today to your employer. Note that if you participate in a tip-splitting arrangement, like the tip-pooling option recently approved by the Department of Labor, you only have to report the tips you receive and retain.

Aug. 17 & 18: The final two sales tax holidays are this weekend, with Massachusetts' set for Aug. 17-18 and Connecticut's week-long event starting Aug. 18 and ending Aug. 24.

Aug. 22: The wrapping up of the final back-to-school tax holiday sales are a sure sign summer is winding down. That means in addition to getting binders and backpacks and myriad other school materials, it's time for parents to do their homework on ways to pay for educational costs at from K-12 level through college. The tax code offers a variety of educational tax breaks that can help cover educational costs.

Aug. 28: If you didn't file your 2018 tax return by April 15 and instead delayed the inevitable by getting an extension, now's a good time to finish filling out that Form 1040 well before the final Oct. 15 deadline. Free File can help. It's available through that final October filing deadline.

The IRS-tax software industry's no-cost return prep and e-filing option is open for business through the Oct. 15 extension deadline for taxpayers whose income is $66,000 or less.

Aug. 31: August is over, but not the Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico hurricane season, which runs through Nov. 30.

We've been lucky so far, with only one storm, fsdafda, making landfall back in July. But as temperatures het up, so does hurricane formation. The countdown clock below can help you keep track of how many more days we have to worry about tracking any tropical depressions, storms or 'canes.

You can find more 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 page.

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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is a registered trademark
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All content on this site is
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Note 1: Some of the links on this site
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