Tag: income

Much to my disappointment I ended up owing taxes when I filed my tax return this year. Or said another way I had a tax liability to the IRS. While paying taxes I legally owe is not itself a bad thing, after all I did not give an interest free…

Despite earning more than $100,000 in household income many people still feel that they are living month-to-month and that a loss of employment or sudden medical emergency could easily move them from upper middle class to low income earners. This feeling of being on the “edge” of poverty, despite these…

Every year I get asked about income requirements for filing taxes when publishing tax filing due dates for the upcoming tax season.   While there are other factors (residency status, claiming tax credits) that also drive if you have to file taxes or not, how much you earn (gross income) is…

You can see the latest EIC tables in this updated Earned Income Tax credit (EITC) page [Updated] Below are the final IRS published 2016 and 2017 Earned Income Tax credit (EITC) figures. You can reference IRS publication 596 or use online tax providers like TurboTax or H&R Block to get a free estimate of the specific…

According to an analysis conducted by two former census bureau officials median income for the average American is still around 6 percent lower (after adjusting for inflation) than when the recession began. So if you feel poorer today than you did a few years ago you are not alone. The…

From a long term trend perspective, despite a few recessions along the way, the American economy based on GDP data, has been growing consistently bigger. Coupled with the stock market reaching new long term highs one may argue that America has found its groove again and that we are back…

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has published an interesting report titled, The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System, that shows how 10 of the largest tax breaks, credits and deductions are distributed across household with different income levels. These tax breaks (or tax expenditures as…

You would think that figuring your income that is subject to taxes would be easy. Unfortunately, with our overly complex federal tax system the IRS has multiple definitions of income and it’s important to understand the difference between these because not only can it affect how much you pay in…

Being the finance wonk that I am, I rather enjoy reading some of the tax advice that the big accounting firms put out for their clients. While their target audience (based on their $250 to $500 hourly fee) is clearly higher net worth individuals, you can glean some pretty useful…

The table below shows where your household stands, relative to others in the US population, based on how much income is earned per year. For example, if your household makes $50,000 a year you would be in the 25% percentile group of household income. At $150,000, you would be in the percentile that makes…

An interesting study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provided some very telling graphics around income distribution changes relative to which groups paid the most in taxes. Amazing how politicians can both take the same data and spin it in different ways. The first graphic shows the cumulative growth in…

I've written a fair bit on tax-advantaged individual retirement plans, but still keep getting lots of questions on this topic. This is likely due to two main factors. One, thanks to the complexities of our tax code, it is not always easy to find current and applicable IRA information. Secondly,…

I moved to the states over five years ago to pursue my graduate degree and for better career opportunities. Before this I was in Australia. Looks like I probably should have stayed where I was according to the latest OECD survey, which ranks Australia as the happiest industrialized nation based…