In the last several years my household has been the beneficiary of a substantial amount of government stimulus money. First there was the $600 check (each) under President Bush, then we had the Make Work Pay $800 ($400 per person for two years), we received $8,000 free and clear for purchasing our first home, and […]
Articles by Amanda
Are you one of the millions of Americans who have lost their job during this recession? Despite economists declaring that the recession ended in June 2009, there was still a 9.4% unemployment rate at the end of last year, with many speculating only a small percentage change in the positive in 2011. Unemployment Insurance Extension […]
I’ll never forget the time when I was in the three month waiting period between graduating college and getting my own health insurance plan through my first job. I had lost coverage on my mother’s health plan because I had graduated college. Instead of picking up my own plan for those measly three months, I […]
With the recession ending recently, it turns out that bartering has made a huge comeback from ancient times. According to the International Reciprocal Trade Association, over 400,000 companies bartered in 2010. Typical examples are writers, graphic designers, and the like who design brochures, do website work, provide advertising space etc. in exchange for help with […]
Last year was the first time that I made a significant amount of money from writing, freelancing, and my blog Frugal Confessions. What an exciting milestone in my life! Even though I wholeheartedly have planned out the next 40 years of my life financially speaking, for some reason I never opened up a side account […]
Are you aware that if you owe money to the IRS they can garnish your wages? What a scary prospect. Of course the IRS can do a lot more than garnish your wages; under Internal Revenue Code section 6331, the IRS can levy upon wages, bank accounts, social security payments, accounts receivables, insurance proceeds, real […]
Passive income seems like an oxymoron (albeit an intriguing one): how can I earn money while doing nothing? How can anyone earn money while doing nothing? It turns out that one way to earn money while doing nothing is by investing a sum of money in stocks and mutual funds that reap dividends. And the […]
Are You an Innocent Spouse?
Posted byMany married couples file a joint tax return, which means that they report their combined income and deduct their combined allowable expenses on the same tax form. This is because tax liabilities together may be less than tax liabilities if married and filing separately. However, if one spouse falsely fills out tax information or makes […]
You’ve filed your delinquent tax returns, or perhaps you are still teetering on the edge because of the fear that you don’t have enough money to pay all of your tax obligations. Maybe you are dreading the tax deadline because you have estimated your taxes and know that you will not have enough to pay […]
Every year April 15th rolls around, and for some people this date comes and goes without filing a federal tax return. Sometimes this is due to missing the tax filing deadline, confusion as to whether or not a person needs to file, or the physical inability to do so. But many times, it is because […]