Books Kay wrote as sole author or as a contributor
The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes: I wrote this book in 2009 as part of the popular FT Press "truth about" series. It covers just what the title says.

Personal Finance: An Encyclopedia of Modern Money Management: This reference book, published by ABC-CLIO in 2015, is designed for high school and college students and the educators who teach those subjects. I contributed chapters on an overview of the federal tax system, tax returns, tax deferral, online personal finance options, and flexible spending accounts.

Future Millionaires' Guidebook: I joined several of my Bankrate colleagues to produce this Book Baby ebook in 2012. My chapters? Taxes of course! I provided a comprehensive (but succinct) look at everything from payroll withholding to deduction options to saving for retirement. In addition, I wrote the estate planning chapter, which included, you guessed it, the tax component of this important financial step and cited the wise words of the great Canadian rock bank Rush.

The Gambler's Guide To Taxes: How to Keep More of What You Win: Several of my Bankrate.com tax articles are included in this handbook, published by Lyle Stuart in 2003, for bettors looking to protect more of their winnings from the IRS.

Other writings by Kay
Bankrate Taxes as former contributing tax editor
Last Week at My Other Tax Blog for some of my tax bloggy thoughts at Bankrate

Worth: A look at personal finance from the pages of Austin Woman magazine

Crazy Woman Driver: Kay's auto racing rants and raves from the pages of Randall-Reilly truckers' magazines

As time goes on, I'll be tweaking this index, adding new features, refining what's here.

If you're looking for something not listed here, try the search feature over in the right column under the "What are you looking for?" header.

Don't forget the Archives page, which compiles all my posts chronologically by month, as well as alphabetically lists the categories for my blog posts.

Finally, you can always contact me — via email or send a 140-character Twitter message (I'm @taxtweet) or jot a wall note at the ol' blog's Facebook page — if you have questions about a tax topic you think/know I blogged about but can't find.

If you want to get the ol' blog's tax news and information on a regular basis, you can subscribe via RSS, email or social media.

Privacy Policy
As for those subscriptions and other interactions on the ol' blog, a few words about your privacy.

I take your privacy seriously. Long-time readers know I don't even identify my better half; he's simply known on the intrawebz as the hubby. I want to give all readers of the ol' blog the same consideration.

So I assure you that I won't use your contact and/or subscription info for any purposes — not humorous, not illustrative and definitely not anything nefarious.

I also want all y'all to feel comfortable coming here and sharing what you choose to share in posts' comments sections. Even then, if I see something that has a bit TMI and makes me a bit uncomfortable (since I must OK all comments), I'll edit it so that I, and therefore you, are confident that your privacy is respected and protected.

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Weekly Tax Tip

When Social Security is taxable — Good news if you're getting Social Security benefits. Your monthly payments will be a bit bigger in 2021. But if you still need to supplement your federal retirement benefits, be careful. In some cases, those added earnings could make part of your Social Security payments taxable. Check out when that happens and a couple of the tax forms that are involved. (Oct. 16, 2020)
Check out all the latest post-Tax Day tax advice in the 2020 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 got an extension and are still working on your 2019 return, you can get a refresher of the 2020 Filing Season Tax Tips at their respective monthly pages:
January, February, March, April, May, June and July.

COVID-19 & Taxes

Coronavirus has wreaked havoc
on the 2020 tax season.
This Coronavirus (COVID-19) & Taxes page has details.

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 Year 2020 Countdown
It's over! We cleared the final 2019 tax year extended filing deadline, unless you get more time because your filing was affected by a major natural disaster; you can find those delayed due dates in #7 of this final filing tips post. For most of us, though, the passage of Oct. 15 means it's time to focus on the Form 1040 that we'll file next year. In most cases, that means we have until Dec. 31 to make moves that will reduce our already accruing 2020 tax bill. The countdown clock below will make sure you don't miss out making important tax-saving moves the rest of this year. And the Tax Tasks below the counter will list tax actions to take in each of these final 2½ months of the year.
Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.

Time for Tax Tasks

Boo! The scariest month of the year is here and ramped up in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read about the history of jack o'lanterns

Oct. 1: In addition to medically masked adults and costumed child-size Halloween goblins and ghouls descending on your neighborhood at the end of this month, one of the scariest October items is that countdown clock a little higher up in this column. It's a stark reminder for millions of ultimate procrastinators that their deadline to file extended 2019 tax returns is nearly over. Don't worry. I'll remind you again as Oct. 15 nears.

But why push the deadline? Gather all the documents you need to file your Form 1040, like your W-2 and any 1099s and receipts associated with your self-employment income, be it full-time or side hustle earnings. This tax preparation checklist can help.

Oct. 5: OK. You're ready to finally file that Form 1040 before the 15th. Great! Now make sure you don't overspend to do so. Check out 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.

Oct. 12: So another week slipped by without you filing your taxes. No judging. I've been there. The good news is that today is the federal Columbus Day holiday or, in many states and cities, now designated Indigenous People's Day. If you don't have to head into the office or check in on some work from home Zoom calls, this is a great day to deal with your extended taxes. The IRS has some final filing tips.

Oct. 13: Some restaurants that closed earlier this year as part of pandemic precautions across the country have reopened. Other eateries 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 September 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.

Oct. 15: It's here! The absolutely, positively final filing deadline for your 2019 return. Get your Form 1040 and any of the now just three schedules you need en route to the IRS today or you'll face penalty and interest charges.

E-filers, whether using the previously mentioned Free File or a paid-for tax software package, technically have until midnight their time to hit "enter" on their computer keyboard. But I suggest you don't push that deadline. A late technical problem by either the IRS or your software provider could turn into a costly late-filing issue.

If you're sending in an old-fashioned paper return, check with your Post Office to make sure you get your tax envelope there in time to be postmarked today. That's your paper filing proof of timely tax filing.

Today's also the deadline to touch base with the IRS if you didn't get a COVID-19 economic impact payment and want the money this year. This is the case if you didn't have to file a return for 2018 or 2019. The only way the IRS will know where to send your coronavirus stimulus money is for you to provide your info using the online Non-Filers Tool. If you don't do so by today, you'll have to wait until 2021 for your money.

Oct. 21: Now that your 2019 return is finally done, it's time to work on reducing your 2020 tax bill. One easy step to take now is to review your payroll withholding. If you find, whether you filed this month or back in July, that you owed a lot or got a big refund, you should use the IRS' online withholding tool to make sure a more appropriate amount of income tax comes out of each of 2020 remaining paychecks. If your withholding tweak gets you more money each payday, consider putting some of it into your retirement savings.

Oct. 25: Many folks' retirement money is in a workplace account, typically a 401(k). That's just one of the employer-provided benefits that companies offer their workers. And October is open enrollment season at many companies. Take time to carefully review what's offered before enrollment ends.

Oct. 31: Sure, it's Halloween. But even scarier than the ghosts and monsters wandering your neighborhood tonight is the knowledge that we still have another month of hurricane season ahead of us. If your area hasn't been hit by any tropical system so far, good for you. But your luck might not hold, as the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico hurricane season runs through the end of November. So that you're ready for another Hurricane Laura or, hopefully, a less severe storm, prepare now.

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.

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.

Tax Forms

Thanks to our increased use of tax preparers and computer software, many of us don't see our tax forms until we sign and file them. But knowing what's on these documents, either in paper or digital form, and why the IRS wants it is key to understanding our tax system. And knowledge definitely is power, especially when it comes to tax savings. Find this valuable information in the ol' blog's special Tax Form Tuesday page.

Mapping Your Tax Route

Do you get lost doing your taxes? Check out the Taxpayer Advocate Service's Taxpayer Roadmap.

This publication, designed along the lines of a subway map, shows the many routes and detours of a taxpayer's journey through our elaborate Internal Revenue Code and the Internal Revenue Service's enforcement of our tax collection system.

What are you looking for?

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Taxes are all about the numbers.
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By the Numbers figures.

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 and 2013
Lifetime Achievement Nominee 2020

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
of S. Kay Bell.

All content on this site is
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If you discover dead links, please e-mail me the details. Thanks.

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October 2020

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