Archive for Personal Finance

Don’t Be Scammed By Fake Charities

Article Highlights: Scammers and charitable contributions How to check on legitimate charities Disaster scammers As the end of the year approaches, you will probably be besieged by requests from charitable organizations for contributions. The holiday season is the favorite time of the year for charities to solicit donations. But you should be aware that it […]

Have You Taken Your Required Minimum IRA Distribution?

Article Highlights: Required Minimum Distributions When the Distributions Must Begin RMD Distribution Tables Figuring the Amount of the Distribution IRA-to-Charity Transfers As year-end approaches, this is a good time to make sure you have taken your required minimum distribution (RMD) for 2015. What is an RMD, you ask? The tax code does not allow IRA […]

Was Your No-Health-Insurance Penalty A Surprise?

Article Highlights: 2014 Uninsured Penalty Notices Flat Dollar Amount Penalty Percentage of Income Penalty Penalties Increase in 2015 and 2016 A tweet from an Indiana resident by the name of Benjamin Miller, including a picture of the IRS notice he received advising him that he owes $2,344 as a penalty for not having health insurance, […]

Marketplace Insurance Checkup

Article Highlights: Advance Premium Tax Credit Family Income Family Size Reporting Changes to the Marketplace Repayment of Credit Married Filing Separately If you are one of the many individuals or families who purchase their health insurance through the federal or a state government health insurance marketplace and are receiving an advance premium tax credit (subsidy […]

Retirement Plan Distribution Pitfalls

Article Highlights: Distribution Hazards Trustee-to-Trustee Transfers Rollovers Taxability Withholding Requirements Early Withdrawal Penalty When an individual retires or leaves an employer’s service, the individual will be required to take a distribution from the employer’s retirement plan (if the employer had a plan). Depending on the employee’s age and the plan’s terms, a distribution may not […]

Get Credit for Generating Your Own Home Power

Article Highlights Solar Heating System Solar Electric System Fuel Cell Plant Wind Energy Geothermal Heat Pump Through 2016, taxpayers can get a tax credit on their federal tax return equal to 30% of the costs for installing certain power-generating systems on their homes. The credit is non-refundable, which means it can only be used to […]

Is Your Hobby a For-Profit Endeavor?

Whether an activity is a hobby or a business may not be apparent to the customers of the endeavor, but distinguishing the difference is necessary for tax purposes because the tax treatments are substantially different. The IRS provides appropriate guidelines when determining whether an activity is engaged in for profit, such as a business or […]

Is a 1031 Exchange Right for You?

If you own real property that you could sell for a substantial profit, you may have wondered whether there’s a way to avoid or minimize the taxes that would result from such a sale. The answer is yes, if the property is business or investment related. Normally, the gain from a sale of a capital […]

No Health Insurance? Qualify for Hardship Waiver?

If you didn’t get health insurance coverage this year, you may be subject to a penalty unless you qualify for one of the many general or hardship exemptions. There are in excess of 30 possible exemptions from the penalty and some of the exemptions require you to complete and file an application for approval. If approved for […]

Avoid Tax Surprises: Report Life Changes to the Marketplace

If you are enrolled in insurance coverage through a government Health Insurance Marketplace, it is important that you report certain changes to the marketplace when they happen, such as changes to your household income or family size and other issues that affect your eligibility for and the amount of the advance premium tax credit (APTC). […]