You don’t really believe a zombie apocalypse will come to fruition, do you? [Well, not really...]
But you may be one of the millions that loves the AMC show The Walking Dead.
Like most great series you get more than just entertainment from The Walking Dead. If you pay attention you can learn a lot of great lessons that can help you, even without a zombie-pocolypse. (This is a continuation of our previous article on our site, 10 Life Lessons from the Television Series “The Walking Dead”.)
Even as you gather your documentation to prepare your 2012 tax return, it’s time to look ahead and begin planning your tax situation for the next tax year.
One of the things to consider as you plan for this year is the new option for taking the home office tax deduction.
There are a number of tax-deductible business expenses that you can claim with your home business. One of those is a deduction for the cost of the space you are using in your home.
If you plan to take the home office tax deduction, you are required to fill out Form 8829, which consists of 43 lines and can include depreciation and carryovers of deductions you haven’t used. In some cases, the IRS even acknowledges, figuring the deduction can be a bit complex. Plus, if you make mistakes on this form, it can red-flag your return for an audit.
Recognizing that home offices are becoming increasingly popular for the growing number of self-employed taxpayers, as well as for telecommuters, the IRS has released an optional method of claiming the home office tax deduction. It comes into effect this year, in 2013, so you will be able to claim it (if you choose) early next year when filing your 2013 tax return.
Today is Selection Sunday and college basketball teams around the country are anxiously waiting to learn their fates.
Will it be that coveted last spot in the NCAA tournament? Or relegated to the NIT? (Sure, playing in any tournament is nice, but the NIT pales in comparison to the real deal.)
If you are like me and your team is sitting in the first four out list (as of time of this writing) you see a lot of similarity to financial issues. My team, the University of Tennessee, is on the outside looking in. They lost in their conference tournament when a win would have likely locked up a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Instead they lost, but even with a loss they aren’t completely out of the running. They are just reliant on a bunch of other teams losing in order to propel them into one of those last few spots in the tournament.
Don’t we often run our finances this way?
We miss doing things right and do just enough. We cut corners, and suddenly find ourselves reliant on someone or something else to save us. That might be a relative lending us money or just hoping that our employer continues to employ us.
The tax filing due date is quickly approaching! Have you done your taxes yet?
If you haven’t then I’m here to help.
The kind folks at Intuit (TurboTax’s parent company) have given me a promotional code for one TurboTax Online Federal Filing product, up to a $100 value. I’d like to pass that on to a loyal Free From Broke reader.
When I first started doing my taxes I did them myself by hand. It wasn’t so difficult since there wasn’t a lot going on with my income but it was time consuming nonetheless.
Then I started using TurboTax. It was immediately so much easier to get my taxes done! Take a look at our TurboTax Online review for more information on the different TurboTax products.
It seems like when you get to retirement you should be able to take it easy.
Your money is in a tax-advantaged account, and you can take out money as you need. No reason to fuss about it.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
While you might think that you can put off withdrawing money from your tax-advantaged account if you have income from other sources, this isn’t true if your account is subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs).
The RMD is a required amount that you are forced to take from certain tax-advantaged retirement accounts — even if you don’t need the money.
If you don’t take your RMD when you are supposed to, you can be charged penalties that can reduce the value of your retirement account.
RMDs are not required for Roth IRAs. However, other retirement accounts come with RMDs. This means your Traditional IRA, and other non-Roth IRAs are subject to RMDs. Additionally, all 401(k) and 403(b) accounts are subject to RMDs.
Continue Reading
We toss different terms around to describe our incomes, one of which is adjusted gross income, but what exactly is adjusted gross income (AGI), and is it an accurate way to describe what we make?
In its simplest form, adjusted gross income, or “AGI”, is the broadest measure of income from all sources, but it’s also reduced by certain expenses. (This is where the term “adjusted” figures into AGI.)
Because the income reduced, and because certain income isn’t taxable, it’s not accurate to say that AGI describes total income in any way.
AGI isn’t really a general description of income so much as it’s a term specific to income taxes.
It’s your income as the Internal Revenue Service sees it and wants us to report it. It is everything that is reported on page one of IRS Form 1040.
But even if it isn’t an objective measure of income, it still has major implications, at least as it relates to income taxes.
At first glance, it may not seem that you are spending a great deal on your blogging endeavors.
However, the fact is that blogging does incur costs. And, if you are making income from your blogging, you might want to offset some of that with the help of tax breaks for your costs.
Before you go claiming tax breaks, though, it is a good idea to double check to make sure that the items you claim truly are related to your blogging efforts.
If you are looking for some blogger tax deductions, here are some things to consider:
Continue Reading
If you have been looking at dividend investing as an income generating option you have probably run across the term “dividend aristocrat“.
The stocks carry a unique title, but often it is not explained as to what exactly a dividend aristocrat is.
Should this be a type of stock that a dividend investor should target? Or do you want to avoid Dividend Aristocrats?
A dividend aristocrat stock is a stock that has raised its dividend to shareholders for a minimum of 25 years straight. There are a limited number of stocks that make this achievement over a long period of time.
To consistently raise your dividend to investors every year for decades is a solid commitment to returning value to your shareholders.
It is great to get higher dividends as an investor, but is that the only reason to invest in these special stocks?
Continue Reading
Women juggle multiple responsibilities, especially if they are moms.
There are work responsibilities, household responsibilities, and family and children responsibilities. Don’t forget to set aside some time to care for yourself by preparing healthy food and finding time to exercise.
The work at home mom must become an expert at juggling because she’ll constantly have to switch between childcare tasks and completing her work. I should know because I’ve been a work at home mom now for two years.
In the beginning, juggling my childcare responsibilities with work responsibilities was fairly easy. My two younger children took fairly long afternoon naps, and my workload was not that heavy as I was just starting my business. I could get all my work done during nap time and in the evenings after the kids were asleep, and I still had time to relax.
Fast forward two years, and most days my kids don’t nap. If they do, it isn’t longer than 40 minutes. Meanwhile, my workload has increased. My schedule had to change so I could find more time.
We hear a lot about compound interest, and how it can help you build your retirement.
Indeed, the power of compound interest is the subject of many articles on how to build wealth over time.
Even though compound interest is powerful, it’s not just a force for good. In fact, compound interest, like so much in the world of finances, is itself neither good nor bad. It’s how you use it that matters.
Understanding how compound interest works is essential.
A quote, commonly attributed to Albert Einstein (although it hasn’t been completely substantiated), points out that, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it, and he who doesn’t pays it.”
Compound interest can work against you just as well as it can work for you.
The key is to earn it — and not pay it. Debt is the way that you pay compound interest, and it works against you.