standard deduction

iPhones are often criticized as expensive and ostentatious. Why buy a smart phone when you can make calls from a $10 pay as you go phone? It may seem like a waste of money, but used properly an iPhone can be a powerful tool in your personal finance arsenal. Here is just a small sampling of [...]

Understanding the many tax deductions can be nothing short of a minefield, and many taxpayers are unaware of the many deductions that can be used to legally reduce your tax bill. This article highlights just a few of the tax deductions that you can claim if your circumstances lend themselves.

Standard Deductions
A standard deduction varies depending [...]

If you’re responsible for dealing with your own taxes, it can be beneficial to hire an accountant to make sure that you’re deducting everything that you’re entitled to. In most cases, whether you need to use a tax professional depends on your situation. If you are a regular employee who fills in W-2 forms and [...]

Up until about 10 years ago, there was one type of IRA, the traditional IRA which was deducted from your taxable income, grows tax deferred, and upon withdrawal, is taxed at whatever rate you find yourself. Its cousin, the Roth IRA is the mirror image, the money you put in is after tax money, but [...]

The following article contains information about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s officially released 2009 federal income tax brackets. You’ll need this information to prepare and file your 2009 tax return in early 2010. To the extent that the information in this article helps summarize the changes in Federal Income Tax, you should consult the official [...]

This is the 9th issue of the Ask The Expert column by Larry Swedroe. You can see Larry’s full biography and important disclaimer below. If you are interested in having your question answered by Larry, please send me an email via the contact page.
Now, let’s get to the questions and answers (please note that the [...]

There has been a lot of talk about the economic stimulus package and tax rebate among the personal finance bloggers last week. Today, I am going to shift gear a little and start talking about income tax return. Traditionally, I use TaxCut to prepare my tax, but this year I am going to try TaxCut [...]