Tax Strategies

TAXES

Get a Start on Lowering Next Year's Tax Bill

There may not be much you can do about your current tax bill, but there's plenty of time to make the kind of changes that will reduce your taxes in the future.

October 29, 2001

TAXES

Entering the Tax Maze? Watch Your Step

The threat of being audited has waned dramatically in recent years, as a newly chastened IRS attempts to rehabilitate its image.

TAX STRATEGIES

For Homeowners, the Home Office Deduction Can Cost a Bundle

Once a week, I drag my daughter into my office and force her to e-mail her friends, visit a Web site, play in my chair. I won't allow my husband to transfer his favorite computer game onto the machinery in the other room. That game stays in my office. Period. I may even set aside a corner of my desk for crafts, just to make it clear that this isn't just an office, it's a place for recreation.

TAX STRATEGIES

Know Rules Before Donating Car

If you give a car to charity, you'd better make sure you don't overstate its value for the lucrative tax deduction. If you do--or you did in the past--Marcus Owens might come looking for you.

TAX STRATEGIES

Business Owners Can Reap Tax Rewards by Hiring Their Own Kids

Forget about Barbie dolls and blocks. Kaleigh Roberts, age 4, has a job and a retirement plan.

TAX STRATEGIES

Don't Let Alternative Minimum Tax Sneak Up on You

Did you exercise incentive stock options, pay a lot of state income tax or claim deductible medical expenses?