RSS FeedsTax Basics
Understanding the essentials.
BASIC TAX ISSUES
One of the most difficult decisions taxpayers must make each year is not whether to itemize or file electronically. It's deciding who will prepare their returns in the first place.
TAXES
OK. So you've decided to skip the sharp pencil routine this year and let someone else prepare your taxes. Who should it be? Aunt Millie? A CPA? Or do you need a lawyer to do it?
TAXES
They should be filed neatly in your filing cabinet under "Taxes" but they're not. They're in your check file, your investment file, your loan files. Some are in a shoebox. You're like most people, and filing taxes is a once-a-year thing.
TAXES
So you've decided to prepare your own return. Good for you! Many bright and talented people don't have the stomach for it. Stomach is all it takes. If you go step by step, it really isn't that hard. And the IRS actually gives pretty good instructions with its forms.
TAXES
Most of the talk at tax time centers on what you have to report. Here are 25 types of income you don't have to report. Use it as a checklist to help save taxes. Many of these items don't just happen passively. You have to take steps to make them happen. (Figures are for 2000; Some may change for 2001.)
TAXES
Certain deductions, credits and tax "elections" are frequently overlooked, costing you many dollars in extra taxes. Here are 20 common ones. (A tax election is a choice you make on your return that affects the amount of taxes you will have to pay. Your choice of filing status is one example.)
The size and timing of deductions for property expenses can depend on an investor's earnings and occupation.