What is the Child and Dependent Care Credit?

Posted by Kristen on February 27, 2013

What is the Child and Dependent Care Credit? The Child and Dependent Care Credit is a nonrefundable tax credit available to qualifying individuals who have paid costs for child care or care for a dependent within the same year. The payments must be made to a care provider. This cannot include your spouse, other children, […]

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I went to my first horse race ever a few weeks ago when I snagged an awesome mystery shopping gig. The mystery shop reimbursable expenses even included three $10 bets that I placed on three different horse races. How neat! I have never placed a bet on anything before, and I was hopeful that I […]

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How to File a Schedule E Renters Income Form

Posted by Kristen on February 20, 2013

What is the Schedule E Renters Income Form? The Schedule E Renters Income Form is used to report the income and losses you have received or incurred from renting out a home, condo, apartment, or other property during the year. This is also used for renting out any space in which the home you currently […]

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Update: The laws have changed! Please see the New Rules on How to File a Joint Tax Return for Domestic Partners. The federal government does not recognize domestic partners as being married for either legal or tax purposes. However, some states do recognize domestic partners as being married for legal and tax purposes. Naturally, this […]

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7 Ways to Use Your Tax Refund as Parents

Posted by Kristen on February 18, 2013

Filing taxes can be stressful. It is even more stressful when you have a baby crying in the background, lunches to pack before the school bus leaves, and costumes to make for the school play. But on the upside, parents filing taxes can get some breaks for having kids (like education credits, dependent care credits […]

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What is Nontaxable Combat Pay?

Posted by Kristen on February 17, 2013

What is nontaxable combat pay? Nontaxable combat pay is any amount of income you have earned while you were an enlisted member, warrant office, or commissioned warrant officer and you were stationed in a combat zone. NonTax Status Nontaxable combat pay is not included in your total gross income and is not taxed. When and […]

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How to Report a Tax Cheater

Posted by Amanda on February 13, 2013

Reporting a tax cheat and getting a reward is not for the faint of heart. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme, as cases that are pursued can take several years from the moment you report a tax cheater to when you actually reap a reward. Not only does the IRS have to determine guilt, it […]

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7 Commonly Overlooked Tax Deductions

Posted by Don on February 12, 2013

Come tax time, everyone is looking for a way to lower the amount of taxes they owe. It reminds me of an old episode of The Cosby Show where Cliff is trying to justify that every purchase they made for a given year should be considered a tax deduction. He even goes to talk about […]

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What is Modified Adjusted Gross Income?

Posted by Madison on February 9, 2013

So you want to contribute to a retirement plan, and you’re trying to find out if you are eligible? Then you arrive at the eligibility for IRAs and Roth IRAs and find they’re based on your modified adjusted gross income. What is that exactly? Let’s take a look! What is Modified Adjusted Gross Income? Modified […]

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Crazy Tax Fraud: Dead People, Prisoners, Gambling and More

Posted by Amanda on February 7, 2013

Tax season is here, or at least the documents have begun showing up in our mailboxes and inboxes. I know we have a small paper pile building on our desk (and quite a ways to go in order to round up all of the documents needed to file our tax return). While the majority of […]

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