“Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams,” according to the IRS. The scams may come in through email, text messages, telephone calls or regular mail. Criminals regularly target both individuals and businesses and often prey on the elderly. Important: The IRS will never contact you by email, […]
Author Archive | James B. Reynolds
The best way to survive an IRS audit is to prepare
The IRS recently released audit statistics for fiscal year 2022 and few taxpayers had their returns examined. Overall, just 0.49% of individual returns were audited. Historically, this is very low. However, even though a small percentage of returns are being audited these days, that will be little consolation if yours is one of them. Plus, […]
Are you married and not earning compensation? You may be able to put money in an IRA
If one spouse in a married couple doesn’t earn compensation, the couple may not be able to save as much as they need for retirement. An IRA contribution is generally only allowed if you earn compensation. But an exception exists. A spousal IRA allows a contribution for a spouse who doesn’t earn compensation. For 2023, […]
When can seniors deduct Medicare premiums on their tax returns?
If you’re age 65 and older and have basic Medicare insurance, you may need to pay additional premiums to get the level of coverage you want. The premiums can be costly, especially for married couples with both spouses paying them. But there may be an advantage: You may qualify for a tax break for paying […]
Benefits of a living trust for your estate
If you have significant assets, you should consider establishing a living trust to avoid probate. Probate is the legal process intended to make sure a deceased person’s assets are properly distributed. However, going through probate typically means red tape, legal fees and your financial affairs becoming public information. You can avoid this with a living […]
Being a gig worker comes with tax consequences
In recent years, many workers have become engaged in the “gig” economy. They may deliver takeout restaurant meals, walk dogs, drive for ride-hailing companies or even perform services such as nursing. There are tax consequences when performing these jobs. Generally, if you receive income from gigs or freelancing, it’s taxable. That’s true even if the […]
4 tax challenges you may encounter if you’re retiring soon
Are you getting ready to retire? If so, you’ll soon experience changes that may have tax implications. For example, if you sell your principal residence to downsize and you have a gain from the sale, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your income ($500,000 if filing jointly). You […]
Questions you may still have after filing your tax return
If you’ve filed your 2022 tax return with the IRS, you may think you’re done with taxes for another year. But some questions may still crop up. 1) When will your refund arrive? Go to irs.gov and click on “Get Your Refund Status” to find out. 2) How long should you save tax records? In […]
The IRS clarifies what counts as qualified medical expenses
If you itemize deductions on your tax return, you may wonder: What medical expenses can I include? The IRS recently issued some frequently asked questions addressing when certain costs are qualified medical expenses for federal income tax purposes. For example, the costs of over-the-counter (non-prescription) drugs generally don’t count as qualified medical expenses. However, the […]
Tax news for investors and users of cryptocurrency
Two developments for crypto users and investors: 1) Taxpayers must now check a box on their returns indicating whether they received digital assets as payment for property or services or whether they sold, exchanged or transferred digital assets that were held as capital assets. If “yes” is checked, taxpayers must report income related to the […]
