Full Retirement Age If you were born in 1942 or earlier, you are already eligible for full Social Security benefits.  The following chart will guide you in determining your full retirement age... Read More... Social Security & Medicare … [Read more...]

Social Security retirement benefits are based on the following: Lifetime earnings. Age at time of retirement. Lifetime Earnings Higher lifetime earning result in higher benefits.  The highest 35 years are used to calculate average monthly earnings.  Each year is indexed for inflation to approximate what earnings for that year would be in today's dollars.  Earnings for each year are also capped by the Social Security maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax for that year.  … [Read more...]

Rental income includes any payment received for the use or occupancy of property.  In addition to normal rent payments, the following items are reported as rental income... Read More... Rental Income & Expenses … [Read more...]

Which records should you keep?  You should keep information that you and the IRS need to determine your correct tax.  Everyone should keep the following records... Read More... Recordkeeping for Tax Purposes … [Read more...]

A Roth IRA is an individual retirement arrangement.  It is a personal savings plan that gives you tax advantages for setting aside money for retirement.  An account must be designated as a Roth IRA when opened. Read More... IRAs, Roth … [Read more...]

You can open different kinds of IRAs with a variety of organizations.  You can open an IRA at a bank or other financial institution or with a mutual fund or life insurance company.  You can also open an IRA through your stockbroker.  Any IRA must meet Internal Revenue Code requirements, which are listed below for various arrangements. Read More... IRAs - Types of … [Read more...]

Generally, you can only contribute to a Roth IRA if you have taxable compensation and income less than the top of the phaseout range for your filing status (see chart below).  If your income is greater than that threshold amount, you are prohibited from contributing directly to a Roth IRA. A "backdoor Roth IRA" allows a taxpayer to bypass income limitations by first making a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA and then converting it into a Roth IRA.  If the conversion happens soon … [Read more...]

Your identity an money can be stolen in a tax-related scam via email ("phishing"), fax, phone, or letters.  Some recent examples of identity theft scams are: Phone Scam... Email phishing scam... tax transcript... IRS refunds... Read More... Identity Theft and Your Taxes … [Read more...]

A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-exempt or custodial account set up with a qualified HSA trustee to pay or reimburse certain medical expenses incurred by an individual, his or her spouse, and qualified dependents.  The medical expenses must not be reimbursable by insurance or other sources, and distributions from HSA funds will not give rise to a medical expense deduction on the individual's tax return. Read More... HSA Client Handout … [Read more...]

If an individual, partnership, estate, trust, or an S corporation engages in an activity that is not conducted as a for-profit business, expenses (other than cost of goods sold) are not deductible.  This rule does not apply to corporations, other than S corporations. if an activity is considered a for-profit business, deductions can exceed income, allowing the resulting loss to offset other income. Read More... Hobby vs. Business … [Read more...]