Money Today That Matters Tomorrow
President Obama has released his latest budget and one of it’s the hallmarks has been an increase in taxes on the “rich”. This would be done by reinstating 10-year-old income tax rates of 36% and 39.6% for single Americans earning more than $200,000 and joint filers making more than $250,000 …
[Updated following SOU speech] President Barack Obama has proposed a new round of stimulus spending in 2010, focused on middle class families struggling to pay bills and care for their families. The initiatives in the new stimulus package are a product of a middle class task force headed by Vice …
There are pages written about how to buy term life insurance, but very few devoted to death benefit claims and payouts. Sadly, this topic is so neglected, that awareness levels on this matter are very low. Term life insurance is the best kind of life insurance available today, and it …
Below are the latest Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) tables and income qualification thresholds adjusted for recent tax years and new legislation. These limits are adjusted annually in line with inflation and other government mandates. The EITC has returned to normal levels following the temporary expansion of eligibility rules and …
Did a double take when I read an article in the WSJ that said under the new health care reform bill in Congress, marriage (relative to unmarried couples) will cost you in terms of health care premiums. And quite significantly apparently. The built-in “marriage penalty” in both House and Senate …
With tax season well and truly upon us now a decision many have to make is to do their taxes via ever improving accounting software (like Turbo Tax) or go with a professional tax prepare for more complex returns. More than 80% of taxpayers use a paid tax preparer or …
It was a year in which governments and central banks around the world took extraordinary measures to get their economies growing. While the bailouts and economic stimulus boosts that many countries employed may have had mixed results for it’s citizens, the boost to stock markets was definitely real. The U.S. stock …
2022-2023 Outlook – The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)’s latest GDP report shows the the US economy is definitely slowing and heading into a recession. With stock markets down over 30%, high inflation, Russia-Ukraine driving geopolitical issues and consumer sentiment at all time lows, things don’t look good. However …
I’ve been reading a lot about the future tax implications given the large amounts of government spending and contracting corporate and consumer tax base. All this means is that tax considerations should play a much more central role in people’s thinking as they’re making critical financial decisions. At the end …
[Updated] The IRS has released final guidance for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year. The IRS have also provide a one-page form and instructions for small employers to use for claiming the credit for the 2010 tax year. New …
I recently got my auto insurance renewal policy and was shocked when I saw it was more than double my prior renewal amount. This prompted me to look at factors which drove this increase – market driven or related to my specific situation – and to see if there is …
Update – See more on the Coronavirus stimulus package, unemployment insurance extensions/boosts and additional stimulus payments. Publication #17 from the IRS, Your Federal Income Tax, is one of the most important tax booklets issued by the IRS each year. It features details on taking advantage of new tax-saving opportunities, such as the …
The IRS standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating a car (includes vans, pickups or panel trucks) for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes are shown in the table below. These are effective from Jan. 1. The business mileage rate is based on an annual study of the fixed …
Read an interesting article in the NY times, discussing states that are suing the various corporate credit rating agencies like Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, because of the losses they bore from securities they rated as AAA. They argue that these “incorrect” ratings have cost them millions now and into …