Attention users of Internal Revenue Service online options. Some of you soon will be getting letters from the IRS about proving who you are. This is not a scam. The coming IRS letters will be real. Some folks will be getting real letters from the IRS asking them to validate the IDs they use to access online tax services. The mailing is not a scam, but it's always good to be careful when you get any request for personal data. New ID validation effort: The IRS notified tax professionals this week via email that during the next five weeks, the…

President-Elect Donald Trump's tax reform plan has slipped off the radar as we've been watching him select folks to fill his cabinet. (We're still waiting on The Donald to reveal his Treasury Secretary choice.) But this Giving Tuesday, the unofficial kick-off of the annual charitable season, is the perfect time to look at how a Trump Administration might change our donations and the tax breaks that many get for their gifts. Trump Tax II vs. Pease: In revising his original tax proposal so that its projected deficit would drop from around $9 trillion over 10 years to just (please note…

The addition of more state sales taxes to online purchases doesn't seem to be slowing Cyber Monday shoppers. Thanks for taking a break from your online shopping to visit the ol' blog this Cyber Monday. (Photo by Keith Williamson via Flickr Creative Commons) In fact, many of you e-commerce devotees got a head start on buying and remitting sales taxes on Black Friday. Record-breaking online purchases: Shoppers shelled out $5.27 billion in online purchases between Thanksgiving and the end of Black Friday, according to Adobe, which uses a proprietary predictive model to forecast online sales and trends. In fact, the amount…

Do you live in Lafayette, Tennessee? Or maybe you know someone who lives in this town of about 5,000 just 60 miles or so northeast of Nashville. Or perhaps you know someone who just happened to pass through there and purchased a Powerball lottery ticket. Don't get too excited if you had 32 and 16 on your Powerball ticket. This Giphy image is from an earlier drawing, not the almost $421 million jackpot won by a Tennessee ticket buyer this weekend. That lucky person bought THE Powerball lottery ticket, which last night (Saturday, Nov. 26) matched all six of the national game of…

This post was updated for Small Business Saturday 2017 on Nov. 25, 2017. Small business owners are hoping that their shops are filled with lots of paying customers this annual Small Business Saturday. The first Small Business Saturday was Nov. 27, 2010. That initial year, it was the creation of the financial company American Express. In 2011, the U.S. Senate unanimously made the day official. The day, coming the Saturday after the Black Friday shopping rush, celebrates small businesses and encourages supporting them and how they impact communities. They also are hoping that by this time next year, their top…

Happy day after Thanksgiving! For many folks, it’s time for Christmas shopping, although internet commerce and changing demographics have made Black Friday a tad less chaotic. Are you shopping today? At a major retailer or at a local thrift store? If it’s the latter and it’s run by an IRS-approved charity, consider donating some items you no longer need or want to the nonprofit. It could provide you a tax deduction. (Thrift store shopper photo by Daniel X. O’Neil via Flickr) For others, it’s a day to finally start decking the home’s halls (and living rooms and mantels and…). The hubby…

Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving, whether you're at home with family and friends or are 249 miles above Earth on the International Space Station. Astronaut Shane Kimbrough shares what he and his colleagues will be eating aboard the International Space Station this Thanksgiving Day. Click image to watch the full NASA video on YouTube. Astronauts aboard the ISS will enjoy each other's company over a specially packaged turkey dinner with all the trimmings and NFL football. "It's going to be little bit different for us up here in space, but I'm going to try to make it as much like home as…

NOTE: This post was updated Nov. 22, 2017. Millions of us will be seeing our parents during Thanksgiving. For many, it's the first they've seen of mom and dad in months. Thanksgiving traditionally is a multi-generational celebration. But adult children might need to pay special attention to their aging parents over the holiday to gauge whether mom and dad now need some extra help. (Photo courtesy NealeA via Flickr Creative Commons) If you're heading to your parents' place this holiday and they're getting up there in years, it's a good time to make sure they're doing OK when you're not…

This post was reviewed and updated June 7, 2017. Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving in October. I like that timing. It doesn't force folks into attending two annual family gatherings within a month of each other. Not that I don't love my family, but like many things, a little goes a long way. And don't worry. I know which relatives (and there are plenty!) are thinking, if not saying, the same about me. Canada and the United States share many things, but the same Thanksgiving holiday isn't one of them. But during this week that we Americans are preparing to say…

Come January, Republicans on Capitol Hill will officially start looking at ways to cut taxes. It's been the Grand Old Party's goal since President Obama was successful via the fiscal cliff deal of 2012-2013 in getting Congress to let the top level George W. Bush tax cuts lapse, pushing up the top individual tax rate to 39.6 percent. First focus on corporate taxes: While individual taxes will be part of the coming tax reform debate, it's likely that corporate taxes will get the most attention in the beginning. After all, ways to use the tax code to lure U.S. companies back from…

Donald J. Trump prefers to fight things out in court. Over the years as a businessman, the president-elect has filed and been named as a defendant in thousands of lawsuits. Even as he prepares to be sworn in on Jan. 20 as the United States' 45th president, he will facing, as of today, more than 70 lawsuits filed against him. Click certificate image for video report on settlement via KABC-TV Los Angeles. But he's no longer worrying about Trump University allegations. Friday, Nov. 18, afternoon, Trump and his attorneys agreed to pay $25 million to settle three lawsuits that claimed…

Most of us use credit and debit cards as convenient cash substitutes. Instead of reaching for wads of cash stuffed in pockets or purses or a paper checkbook, we simply whip out plastic to pay for almost everything or every service we need or want. Even micro businesses use mobile devices as mini non-cash registers to complete transactions. Yet most countries still print money. And those actual bills remain important to many. Some eschew credit cards for security reasons. They're afraid of become an identity theft victim. Similarly, others like the anonymity of a cash exchange for personal as well as…

It's early Christmas for 89 Maryland cities. They will be getting some unexpected money from the state's comptroller. Unfortunately, it's not new money. It's cash the municipalities should have received over the past five years. And there's also a Grinch, I mean glitch, in the Maryland revenue office that will require another other 83 cities to pay back state funds they received in error over the years. All told, according to The Baltimore Sun, the Maryland comptroller misdirected more than $21 million in tax money since 2010.  "I'd love to blame this on our predecessors, but this is our problem,"…

Taxes are about dollar amounts and dates. April 15 obviously is the biggie. But Dec. 31 is almost as important. The end of a tax year is, for the most part, the last time you can make tax moves that could help lower your coming tax bill. While we all wish we could have Homer Simpson's to-do list, when it comes to taxes, most of us need to take care of some potentially money saving tax tasks by Dec. 31. With the days rapidly dwindling (the countdown clock over there in the ol' blog's right column is tracking them), here are a dozen…

Today is National Philanthropy Day, created to recognize those who strive to make life better for others. The term philanthropist usually conjures up rich people holding fancy galas attended by their wealthy friends to raise money for various causes. But you don't have to be rich to be a philanthropist, or a good-deed-doer as The Wizard of Oz called such folk when he stumbled over the fancier moniker. "Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phil … er … phil … er … er … good-deed-doers and their hearts…

Every presidential year, some of the folks whose candidate didn't make it to the White House swear they're moving to another country. Maybe some of them got a head start this year. U.S. passports have blue covers. Thousands of Americans, however, have become expatriates this year, giving up their U.S. documents, perhaps for a United Kingdom passport like the one shown above. The Internal Revenue Service reported 1,380 expatriations in the third quarter of 2016. That just missed the record of 1,426 Americans who decided to renounce their U.S. citizenship during the same period last year. That's a huge increase from…

Did you catch the supermoon? 2016 is a great year for lunar gazing. The full moons of October, November and December all take place when the moon is at its closest point of approach in its orbit around Earth, creating the so-called supermoon. Click image to watch a NASA video about the phenomenon. (Photo courtesy NASA) The hubby and I were driving back earlier this evening from visiting my mom and we were treated to the supermoon peeking in and out of clouds. Luckily for us, by the time we got home the clouds had moved on, giving us a…

After a cordial Oval Office meeting with President Obama, the incoming 45th commander in chief doesn't seem so inclined to pull the plug on the health care program. Mr. Trump goes to Washington, specifically the White House to meet with President Obama the day after the GOP candidate won the 2016 presidential election. (White House YouTube video screenshot) Repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was one of Donald J. Trump's core campaign messages. As soon as the election results seemed clear, opponents of Obamacare, as the health program is popularly known, were exultant. With a Republican president joining…

We call it Veterans Day here in the United States. An Army veteran salutes the colors being carried in the Veterans Day parade in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 11, 2011. (Photo courtesy U.S. Army via Flickr) That Nov. 11 is such an important date is evidenced by the fact that federal holiday has escaped conversion into a Monday that wraps up a long weekend that's usually more focused on consumer spending than actual commemoration. End of the Great War: Each November we mark what originally was the official, formal end of World War I at the 11th hour of the 11th…

Voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine approved recreational marijuana use, and taxing those personal pot amounts, on Nov. 8. The votes are in, for the most part, not only for the U.S. president, but also for myriad ballot initiatives. Only Arizona voters on Tuesday rejected personal marijuana legalization. The lone consolation for many disappointed Grand Canyon State supporters is that travel is easy to the neighboring, and pot-approving, states of Nevada, California and Colorado. While the weed votes — medical marijuana also was on ballots, and approved, in North Dakota, Arkansas, Florida and Montana — got most mass media attention,…

With the 2016 election over, a lame duck Congress will return to Washington, D.C., next week to begin the job of wrapping up some pending legislation. One tax measure that passed the House earlier this year, but is still awaiting Senate action, is the RESPECT Act, which tax attorney Darrin Mish discusses in this guest post. A bank customer working with a teller to complete a transaction. If some large withdrawals seem suspicious to bank officials, a person could end up having assets seized by the Internal Revenue Service.  In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act was…

With Donald J. Trump's presidential win, Republicans will be in control of the White House, House and Senate. Get ready for changes to your taxes. President-elect Donald Trump makes his victory speech early Nov. 9. He is joined on stage by, at right, his youngest son Barron, whose mom Melania is just out the frame, and at left VP-elect Mike Pence and his wife Karen. (Screenshot of Right Side Broadcasting YouTube video) Here are some highlights of how your taxes might change in the near future.  Huge cost of first plan: After Trump's first tax plan was roundly criticized by…

Nov. 8. Election Day 2016. Blessed relief, at least from one of the most divisive campaigns for the White House in modern memory. N.H. earliest votes: Three small communities in rural New Hampshire, as is tradition every four years, cast the first 2016 presidential ballots of the day just after midnight Eastern Time. Under state law, towns with fewer than 100 voters can open voting locations at midnight and close them as soon as all registered voters have cast their ballots. Dixville Notch voters opted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump 4-2. Libertarian Gary Johnson got one vote. Clinton also won…

Americans vote tomorrow for our 45th president. Finally! Do you know where your polling place tomorrow is? If not, HeadCount can help. While that's the biggest decision, millions of folks across the country also will have a voice Nov. 8 on a variety of consequential issues via ballot initiatives. Ballotpedia reports that this Election Day, there are 162 statewide ballot measures in 35 states. Eight measures were decided in pre-November elections, leaving 154 measures to be decided tomorrow.  Politicking for pot, other smoking taxes: Marijuana always gets a lot of attention at election time. (I still blame "Reefer Madness" for…

Taxpayers will be "trusted customers" when they file their tax returns next year. That's how the Internal Revenue Service and its state tax and private sector Security Summit partners are approaching the 2017 filing season. The group, which discussed upcoming security measures at a press conference Nov. 3, says the filing process next year will focus on and expanded features that will help ensure the authenticity of the taxpayer and the tax return. Paris officials last summer removed the love locks from Pont des Arts for safety reasons, but the IRS and its Security Summit partners are adding heavy duty…

Finally the weekend! It's what, as the song says, we've been working for. Some folks, however, are spending today looking for a job. Job fairs are good places to get, if not a job, at least an idea of what's available in the marketplace. (Photo courtesy iLearn Schools Job Fair 2016/NJASCS.org) Good jobs report: On Friday, Nov. 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its last jobs report before the presidential election. It showed 161,000 jobs were added in October, as well as a hike of 10 cents in the hourly pay rate. The number of jobs was less that economists…

They're back. OK, they never really left. They are tax scammers. And they are once again targeting tax professionals. Specifically, says the Internal Revenue Service, tax con artists have their sights on tax pros who use the agency's e-services. Phishing for tax pro data: The crooks are sending these tax pros an email asking them to update their accounts and directing them to a fake website. The subject line for the fraudulent email is "Security Awareness for Tax Professionals," purportedly coming from "Your e-Services Team." The scam email tells recipients that information was stolen from certain user accounts in 2015…

Welcome to Part 7 of the ol’ blog’s series on 2017 inflation adjustments.You can find links to all 2017 inflation posts in the series’ first item: Income Tax Brackets and Rates. Today we look at changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax exemption amounts, as well as the previously announced increase in the Social Security wage base.Note: The 2017 figures apply to 2017 returns that are due in 2018. For comparison purposes, you’ll also find 2016 amounts to be usedin filing 2016 returns due next April. The AMT, or Alternative Minimum Tax, forces some taxpayers to do extra work to pay more taxes.…

Sure, the polls are tightening as election day nears. Ignore them. The sports world has spoken and word is Hillary Clinton will be the 45th U.S. president. The Chicago Cubs celebrate their third World Series victory. Click image to watch the MLB.com video. World Series and White House winners:  When the Chicago Cubs won the World Series 8-7 in a 10-inning Game 7 last night, Windy City native Hillary Clinton had to be happy. Sure, she's probably thrilled that her hometown team finally took Major League Baseball's crown after what many had believed was a 108-year-old curse. But the National…

It's November. You know what that means. Yes, the presidential election will be over next week. But November also means that we have two months to make some tax moves to ensure we don't encounter any tax turkeys. Don't be gobbled up by tax concerns. Make these November tax moves. (South Park/Comedy Central turkeys via GIPHY) Health care considerations: November kicked off with open season for Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, enrollment. If you don't get medical insurance at work, you should check out the Health Care Marketplace for coverage. You'll need minimal essential coverage or you'll owe a tax penalty. Of course,…

Welcome to Part 6 of the ol' blog's series on 2017 inflation adjustments. You can find links to all 2017 inflation posts in the series' first item: Income Tax Brackets and Rates. Today we look at changes to estate and gift tax amounts, as well as limits on investment income for children, known as the kiddie tax.Note: The 2017 figures apply to 2017 returns that are due in 2018. For comparison purposes, you'll also find 2016 amounts to be usedin filing 2016 returns due next April. There's a time for play and a time for generational tax planning. (Photo by Ryan Ruppe via Flickr.) If you…

It's official. We will not see Donald J. Trump's tax returns before we vote on Nov. 8. During an interview Oct. 30 on NBC's Meet the Press, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump's running mate, reiterated that Trump will not release his returns until after an audit is completed. This Twitter image of Donald J. Trump signing his 2014 return on Oct. 15, 2015, is probably the closest we'll get to seeing the Republican presidential candidate's tax filings. "All right, so not before the election?" host Chuck Todd asked. "Yeah," Pence replied. Breaking election tradition, again: If the Republican presidential nominee wins…