5 Ways to Pay the IRS Less Next April
If you're still in shock from the amount of taxes you just paid, start working now to reduce what you send the IRS next year. Here are five ways you can shave your tax bill.
tax tips
5 Simple Rules for Keeping Your Tax Bill in Check
It's getting a lot harder to stay current with all the tax-law changes and to keep your tax bill under control. Follow these five rules and you can minimize the pain.
Free Tax Help: 4 Ways to Get It
You have to do your tax return, but with the tax laws as complicated as they are, that job's tougher than ever. If you need help but don't want to pay through the nose, here are some resources that can get you tax filing assistance for free.
Could Itemizing Save You on Taxes? Find Out
Though we all groan about having to pay taxes, the government is nice enough not to tax us on everything we earn. There are two big buckets of deductions the government gives us: The first are called "above the line," and the second are called "below the line," and those are what we'll cover here.
Doing Your Taxes: How to Decide Your Filing Status
If there is one thing to make sure you get right on your taxes, it’s your filing status. It can determine how much you pay in taxes, and it’s one of the things that will definitely land you in an audit if you get it wrong. Take a look at this handy flowchart.
The Finances of Freelancing: Tax Tips for Confused Contractors
The vast majority of freelancers like being independent workers -- right up until they have to deal with the added complexity it puts on their taxes. If you freelanced in 2012, here's what you should know, before those 1099 forms start arriving.
E-Filing Tips: How to Get Your Federal Tax Refund Faster and Safer
The best way to get your tax refund fast is to e-file your return. However, if you don't do it right, electronic tax filing can cause some big problems -- problems we want to help you avoid. Here's how e-filing works, and how to get it done right.
Tax Help: 2013 May Be the Year You'll Need to Hire a Professional
It's hard enough doing your taxes in normal years. But with the major tax code changes the fiscal cliff deal created, this might be the time for even stalwart do-it-yourselfers to hire a professional tax return preparer.
5 Ways to Avoid an IRS Audit
Getting audited isn't the end of the world, but we'd all prefer not to be. To minimize your chances of getting a surprise letter from the IRS, here are five things to do when you file your tax return this year.
Tax Tips for Procrastinators: The Top 8 Last-Minute Filing Blunders
In their mad dash toward the Form 1040 finish line, late taxpayers often make costly errors. If you're among those last-minute tax filers, first, take a breath. Then take note of these common filing mistakes to avoid.
Last-Minute Tax Tips: How to Chose the Right Form to File
With just a week to go before April 17, it's crunch time for getting your taxes filed. If you're just now getting started, the first question you have to answer is which form you should use to file. Here's how to figure it out.
Tax Audit Red Flags: 11 Things That May Get the IRS to Pick You
Audits are avoidable: From outlandish charitable giving to claiming a home office, there are a host of specific thing that can set of warning bells with the IRS. Here are the things the IRS looks for, and tips to help you avoid its scrutiny.
Tax Tips: How to Make the Most of a Bad Investment
It happens to even the best investors: Sometimes, what seems like a smart investment turns out to be a big loser. But even if you suffer a complete loss, you can still salvage something from your experience when you file your tax return.
Singing Tax Lady Brings Soul to Your Form 1040 Blues
When you're dealing with the soulless bureaucracy that is the Internal Revenue Service, it helps to have a little extra "soul" on your side. And Anita Majors, the Singing Tax Lady, can provide it.
3 Simple Tax Terms That Have Been Redefined to Confuse Us
Is the U.S. tax code designed to be confusing? At more than 70,000 pages, its complexity is hard to overstate. But forget its size: Even in its most basic terms, the IRS seems determined to muddy the waters. To help you out, we've unpacked a few of the most weaselly weasel words.