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Don't Mess With Taxes

Translating taxes into money-saving English

Home Table of Contents Tax Tips Credits Deductions Refunds State Taxes Politics/Laws Tax Terms Archives

Table of Contents

 

Welcome to Don't Mess With Taxes®. I'm Kay Bell, a journalist by training and trade; a tax geek by choice. You can learn more about me at, well, About Me.

But here are some highlights, including links to some popular pages and features as well as, last but definitely not least, the ol' blog's privacy policy.

Table of contents clip art_via clkerI began this blog in 2005 (Nov. 14, 2005, to be precise if you'd like to mark your calendar so you can send a birthday and/or anniversary card) after moving back home to Texas and starting my own writing business.

Soon after I began blogging those many years ago, I trademarked the ol' blog's title. Yep, used a lawyer and registered it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Hence the ® after the name in the first paragraph above.

The registered trademark icon also is noted in the trademark and copyright notice near the bottom of the right column.

However, for visual clarity, I tend not to include the elevated ® in most copy and posts.

What's here 
OK, the reason you clicked here. All the stuff!

Over the years, I've covered a ton — OK, tons — of tax stuff.

Sometimes even I get lost trying to track down a past post.

So I've created this index/table of contents. It should help all of us find what we're looking for as quickly and easily as possible.

Take a look around. Peruse a few topics. And let me know if there's something not here you'd like to see.

Year-round Tax Tips and Money Moves, which includes Daily, Weekly, Specially Themed and General Tax Tips 

State Tax Information

Tax Deductions

Tax Credits

Tax Forms

Tax Filing

Tax Refunds

Tax Planning

Tax Rates
Tax Rates and Income Brackets Through the Years

Tax Terms aka Glossary, which like all language is continually evolving

Tax Help (general)
Tax Preparers
Natural Disasters Resources

Eye on the IRS, Congress and others making and administering tax laws

By the Numbers: Fun and quirky tax data
    By the Numbers 2020 (coming soon!)
    By the Numbers 2019
    By the Numbers 2018
    By the Numbers 2017
    
By the Numbers 2016
    By the Numbers 2015
    By the Numbers 2014
    By the Numbers 2013
    By the Numbers 2012
    By the Numbers 2011

Shout Out Saturday or Sunday: Hat tips to other tax sources
to free up at least part of my weekends!
    Shout Outs 2020 (coming soon!)
    Shout Outs 2019
    Shout Outs 2018
    Shout Outs 2017

Archive of posts, by month posted and categories

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: My first ever blog post!

Past features (which may or may not be revived)
    
Tax Carnivals
    
Tax Carnival Guidelines

    Following Follow-up Friday: Updates to previous posts

What I said at Bankrate Taxes Blog
    Last Week at My Other Tax Blog 2016
    Last Week at My Other Tax Blog 2015
   
Last Week at My Other Tax Blog 2014 
   
Last Week at My Other Tax Blog 2013 
   
Last Week at My Other Tax Blog 2012 & 2011

Beyond the Ol' Blog 
The following links are more tax and financial sites that I contribute (or contributed) to, as well as some things I do to occupy my non-blogging time.

      About Me (again, although I swear I am not usually this narcissistic),
        as well as more personal info at About.Me and Google, and a look
        at some kudos I've received (again, really not this usually self-absorbed!). 

      Kay on Social Media
      Welcome Twitterers | @taxtweet
      Facebook
      LinkedIn
      Google+
      Pinterest
      Tumbling Taxes at Tumblr

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.

I must note, however, that Don't Mess With Taxes is hosted on Typepad, a blogging service owned by Endurance International Group. As such, your visits to Don't Mess With Taxes, either via my Typepad subdomain or directly at Don't Mess With Taxes, also are covered by Endurance's privacy policy.

The Endurance International Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries and brands, including Typepad and by extension Don't Mess With Taxes, care about protecting the personal information of customers and visitors who use its websites, products or services. This privacy notice provides details about how your personal information is collected, shared and used by us.

Endurance's Privacy Notice was updated Dec. 12, 2019, to provide you with more information about the additional rights California residents have under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which takes effect Jan. 1, 2020. If you are a California resident, you can read about these additional rights here.

For the purposes of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, or GDPR, The Endurance International Group, Inc. and each of its brands local European representative is AppMachine B.V., located at Sophialaan 32, 8911 AE Leeuwarden, Nederland.

If Typepad/Endurance is involved in a merger, acquisition, a sale of all or a substantial portion of our assets, or other similar sale transaction, your information will be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you by email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any such transfer and any choices you may have regarding your information.

You can find highlights of Don't Mess With Taxes/Typepad/Endurance's privacy policy here.

 

Today's Tax Tip

  • Tax Day 2021 toss-up — April 15 is here and it's still sorta Tax Day 2021. Here's a look at what federal filings are due today, April 15; what must be filed (and paid) by May 17; and who gets to wait until June 15. And don't forget about your state taxes, which likely have shifted at least some state tax task deadlines, too. (April 15, 2021)

  • Tax Tip; click pencil for all tax tip links

  • The 2021 Tax Tips offer ways to file your annual return, along with post-filing advice, important tax news and, of course, ways to cut your current tax year bill. You'll find the monthly assemblages on their own respective pages: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. While we're waiting for the 2021 calendar pages to flip and fill up with timely tax tidbits, check out 2020 (and earlier) tax years' advice.

COVID-19 & Taxes

  • COVID-19
    Coronavirus has wreaked havoc
    on the 2020 tax season.
    These three Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes pages have details:
    March-July 2020,
    August-December 2020, and
    January-… 2021

All About Kay

  • OK, some about Kay
    Open sign
    Kay Bell — Native Texan (the blog title totally makes sense now, right?). Professional journalist. Tax geek.

My Other Accounts

Sponsored Content

Tick ... Tick ... Tick

  • Tax Season 2021 is here!
    Happy New Tax Year! Are you ready to file your 2020 tax return? Me neither. With all the delays last year due to COVID-19, it seems like that prior tax season just finished. But time and taxes wait for no taxpayer … unless we're still dealing with a global pandemic. Yep, COVID-19 is still hanging on, so the Internal Revenue Service, which started 2021 by delivering more coronavirus economic relief payments, says it's once again giving taxpayers (and the agency itself) more time to deal with 2020 returns. Tax Day 2021 has been moved from April 15 to May 17. The monthly tips and reminders a little further down this column should help us focus on our now-delayed filing and other tax moves and hopefully make things go a bit more smoothly. Also keep an eye on the countdown clock just below. It will help us keep track of how much more time we now have until Tax Day on May 17, just in case some of us want to put things off until the final hours. .
    Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.


Time for Tax Tasks


  • monthly tax moves

  • No April Fooling
    around this year, please.
    COVID-19 is hanging on and we definitely are not in the mood.

    No April Fool's Day 2020


    I know, some folks like the 4/1 jokes, especially since April usually is a serious tax month. But with the persistent pandemic, even with more of us getting vaccines, things still are truly life and death. The U.S. tax world, like the rest of the literal planet, continues to deal with the changes this virus has wrought.

    When it comes to taxes, one of the major COVID-19 changes is, once again, a delay of Tax Day. It's not April 15 this year. The IRS moved it to May 17.
    But other tax tasks remain, including an important April one, so let's get to this month's tax moves.

    April 1: Another April change is a holdover from last year, when required minimum distributions (RMDs) were waived. No 2020 RMDs meant none were pushed back to this April 1.
    But get ready, these mandated withdrawals from tax-deferred retirement accounts are back for 2021. Note, though, that the RMD trigger age now is 72 instead of 70½.

    April 6: Looking for tax help? During a normal April, it would be way too deep into the filing season to find a tax preparer. That's likely still true, even with more than a month left in this filing season. But some tax preparers have finished up with early filers, so you might be able to find a tax pro willing to take on new clients.

    If you're looking for free help and are older or don't make a ton of money, check into Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs in your area. These IRS-trained volunteers are working around COVID-19 limitations to help eligible taxpayers fill out and file returns, all at no- or low-cost.

    And, of course, there's Free File, the online no-cost tax preparation and e-filing partnership between the IRS and Free File Alliance.

    IRS Free File; click image for details

    The official Free File site at IRS.gov this season offers nine participating tax software options if your adjusted gross income is $72,000 or less, regardless of filing status.

    April 12: Coronavirus vaccines are rolling out, albeit slowly in some places (yes, looking at you Texas), and some pandemic precautions are being lifted. That means some restaurants are opening for a limited number of diners. Other eateries are continuing with curbside pickup meals and deliveries. Whether you're able to enjoy table service or still relying on food brought to your house, remember to tip your server or delivery person.

    restaurant check tip iStock
    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 are still on the job, remember that your tips are taxable income. If you at least $20 in job-related gratuities in March, you need to account for them today by using Form 4070 to report your tips today to your employer.

    April 15: Your 2020 tax year return and any payment if you owe tax aren't due today, but 4/15 is still the deadline for the first quarter of 2021 estimated taxes.

    April 20: You filed your 2020 return early, in part to get the tax refund you're due, as well as to get all your COVID economic impact payments, including the amount you claimed on your Form 1040 as the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit. So where's your money? You can use the IRS' online Where's My Refund? tracker for that amount or the agency's Get My Payment search tool to find out the status of that money.

    April 25: The 93rd Academy Awards will be presented tonight. I'll be watching because I love movies and also because there's a tax connection. Many of this year's nominees, like always, were made using state tax credits, exemptions, rebates and/or grants.

    April 30: In filling out your return, you realized you could get a tax break by making a 2020 tax year contribution to your traditional IRA. Good news. The May 17 deadline also applies to this retirement saving and tax cutting opportunity. The new May Tax Day also is the new deadline to put that prior-tax-year money into a Roth IRA, health savings account (HSA), Archer Medical Savings Accounts (Archer MSAs), and Coverdell education savings accounts (Coverdell ESAs). Start looking now at where to get the cash to put into any of these accounts that affect your tax situation (and savings!).

    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

  • 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 Forms Fiesta! page.

What are you looking for?

  • Looking for something in particular? Start with the Table of Contents.
    Or check out the Archives, where you can review posts by month and category. Or enter specific keywords in the box below to search
    Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Sponsored Books

  • The Truth
    About Paying Fewer Taxes
  • Are you a tax geek? Got tax geek friends? Do you or they just want to make sure you don't overpay the IRS? Then my book, "The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes," is for all y'all.

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  • TruthAboutTaxes
  • Find out more about my book and excerpted chapters at the FT Press
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  • You can read more
    of Kay's tax insights in ...


  • Kay Bell helps you build
    a solid tax foundation in
    "Personal Finance: An Encyclopedia
    of Modern Money Management"




    Kay Bell breaks down taxes and
    estate planning for millennials in
    "Future Millionaires' Guidebook"



    A collection of Kay Bell stories
    is included in
    "The Gambler's Guide to Taxes:
    How to Keep More
    of What You Win"




  • Tax Reading Room

    You also might enjoy these other tax tips from some of my tax-writing colleagues:




  • Don't Mess With Taxes
    is an Amazon Affiliate.
    If you click on the product links above and/or buy the items,
    I will be compensated.

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

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

Kudos Et Cetera

  • Association for Women Clarion Award Winner
    National Association
    for Women in Communications

    Winner, Best Personal Blog
    2012, 2014 & 2017

  • Plutus Award Winner
    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.

©©©©© & ®®®®®

  • Don't Mess With Taxes®
    is a registered trademark
    of S. Kay Bell.

    All content on this site is
    © 2005-2021 S. Kay Bell
    dba Write Here, a division of
    SKB Editorial Services, LLC

  • And a bit of housekeeping.
  • Note 1: Some of the links on this site
    are affiliate links. That means that
    if you click through from
    a Don't Mess With Taxes link
    and then buy the product,
    I receive a commission.

    Note 2: Links to outside content
    might become inactive due to changes
    at the copy's originating website.
    If you discover dead links, please e-mail me the details. Thanks.

    Note 3: The banner art for the ol' blog
    is courtesy Pictures of Money
    via Flickr Creative Commons.

Privacy Policy

  • Wondering what happens to your information once you subscribe? Don't worry. Don't Mess With Taxes respects your wish not to be a mere data source. Check the ol' blog's privacy policy at the Table of Contents page, as well as on the separate Privacy Policy page.
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Tell it to the Hill


  • While it's easy to rail at the IRS, for the most part we can thank — or blame — our tax laws on Congress and the White House. So if you have an issue with tax legislation or want a tax bill passed, use the federal legislator locator above to find just who on Capitol Hill should hear your concerns. And for matters tax or otherwise closer to home, you can find info on your state and local elected officials at USA Gov.

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