November 2021 Tax Tips

It’s time to make Thanksgiving Day plans, as well as tax moves
to ensure you don’t end up facing any turkeys on your 2021 taxes.

Halloween is over. You are now free to move about and make plans for the annual end-of-year holiday season.

Quick confession: I’ve already been getting Christmas materials in order and done a bit of shopping.

Another quick confession: The hubby and I aren’t big Thanksgiving fans. It’s not that we’re not grateful for all we have. It’s that we don’t like turkey very much. So we hew to our West Texas roots and have barbecue and all the fixings on the fourth Thursday of November.

I do, however, make my grandmother’s dressing as a side to our Christmas ham. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself in the excitement of the impending holidays.

Whatever are your Thanksgiving traditions, enjoy the celebration. Here’s hoping that you and yours are able to spend at least some time together, and not just Facetiming, this year.

Tax tips to make you thankful at filing time: And since this is a tax blog, you also need to make some tax moves this month.

I know, things are hectic, what with the COVID-19 pandemic easing enough (thanks for getting vaccinated!) for you to go back to your office and the kiddos back to classrooms.

But try to work some tax planning into your schedule. It will ensure that if you really will be thankful not only during the holiday, but also at tax filing time next year.

This page of collected November tax tips will give you some ideas on how to deal with your Internal Revenue Service responsibilities. As always, the tips will be added here as soon as they are highlighted in the upper right corner of the ol’ blog.

So don’t worry if you miss one on its featured day. You’ll find them and their links below.

Now, let’s get to dishing out some items from our November tax tips menu.

1. Nov. 1 is a big tax deadline — You’re not in a tax time warp. And yes, this was the final tax tip for October. But it bears repeating since today, Nov. 1, is a big tax day for many. It’s the extended filing deadline for some Michigan and Mississippi taxpayers who endured major disasters earlier this year. It’s also the day for recipients of advance Child Tax Credit payments to opt out of the remaining monthly deliveries or make income changes online that affect the credit amounts. (Nov. 1, 2021)
2. Tax matters on Washington, other state, Nov. 2 ballots — It’s election day. In addition to state and local candidates to approve or reject, some states are asking voters about state and local taxes. That’s the case in Washington State, where the electorate can tell lawmakers to keep or repeal an impending new state capital gains tax. Even if there aren’t tax ballot issues for you to decide, do vote today. The people you elect eventually will likely decide on some taxes you’ll have to pay. (Nov. 2, 2021)
3. November tax moves — OK, #1 in this list that originally was posted on Nov. 1 now is moot. But the 5 remaining November tax moves still could help. Check them out, and if they apply to your personal situation, take tax action this month. (Nov. 3, 2021)
4. WOTC helps businesses with staffing & taxes — Still looking for staff for your company now that you’ve finally reopened after COVID lockdown? Consider hiring someone who could also let you claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). Not only will you get fill your employee needs, but also save on your business taxes. (Nov. 7, 2021)
5. Adjust your tax withholding now — We must find our inner Goldilocks when it comes to calculating just how much income tax we want withheld from paychecks. If we have too much taken out each pay period, we’ll likely have to wait for the Internal Revenue Service to send us our tax refund. But if don’t have enough withheld, we’ll owe Uncle Sam at tax filing time. So get it just right by tweaking your withholding now. Here’s what to consider and how to make any necessary withholding adjustments. (Nov. 10, 2021)
6. Nov. 15 is deadline to enroll for early Child Tax Credit payments — If you’re eligible for, but haven’t received, any Advance Child Tax Credit payments this year, today, Monday Nov. 15, is the deadline to sign up to get your full allocation in December. You have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time — wait for it — today, Monday Nov. 15, to go online and give the IRS your information so it can send you the credit, which could be as much as $1,800 per child age younger than age 6 or $1,500 for youngsters ages 6 to 17. (Nov. 15, 2021)
7. Tax deduction bunching — Itemizing might be more appealing soon if Congress increases the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that can be claimed on Schedule A. To make that deduction option work for you, look ingot bunching your tax-deductible expenses into one tax year. (Nov. 16, 2021)
8. 5 tests a child must meet to be your tax dependent — Children can add a lot to your life. Love. Pride. Expenses. That last child-related factor can be substantial, but the tax code can help. There are several tax breaks for parents or guardians of youngsters. The key for all is that the youth is an eligible dependent. In some cases, the requirements are tweaked a bit; the latest example is the 2021 tax year changes to the Child Tax Credit, half of which is being delivered early to eligible families. In general, however, a youngster must meet five requirements to be a taxpayer’s dependent. (Nov 22, 2021)
9. Tax credit for other dependents — Are your youngsters too old for Child Tax Credit, but still depending on you for, among other things, the bulk of their financial support? Then check out the Credit for Other Dependents. This tax break also can help if you are supporting older parents or other relatives or even folks who aren’t related to you. (Nov 26, 2021)
10. 11/29 deadline for final AdvCTC changes — If you’ve been getting monthly Child Tax Credit, aka Advance Child Tax Credit or AdvCTC, payments and need to adjust December’s final amount, you can do so. Just get the info to the IRS via the agency’s online portal by Monday, Nov. 29. (Nov. 28, 2021)
11. Giving Tuesday ideas, tax tips — Nov. 30 is a dual celebration day. It’s the official end of the annual hurricane season and this year it marks Giving Tuesday. You can combine those two by donating to charities, today and any time, that help with disaster recovery efforts. You can find some ideas and tax tips in the ol’ blog’s Storm Warnings collection of posts on helping those dealing with disasters. (Nov. 30, 2021)

Looking for more tax tidbits? All the Tax Tip page links below are live. If, however, you click on an upcoming month, which now is just December, you’ll be greeted by a fun GIF of a man enthusiastically telling us to slow down, or Whoa Up! as we say here in Texas, instead of finding Internal Revenue Service and Don’t Mess With Taxes tax tips.

I know you want to see the animated fellow, so go ahead and click on December and enjoy his animated way of conveying there’s nothing (but him) to see. For now.

But he’ll gladly relinquish his position to more tax info when the calendar finally flips to the next, and final, month of 2021.

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