Taxes Blog

Nobody likes paying taxes, even when we acknowledge that we must do so to get services. But which tax do we hate the most? It’s a close race, but last year property taxes edged out income taxes as the most-hated tax. Yes, even though this levy can offer some tax benefits to homeowners who are allowed to

Who here ordered a new U.S. tax system? You? Great. Here you go. That’ll be 9-9-9. And don’t worry about tipping your delivery blogger. Actually, 9-9-9 isn’t the price of the tax reform plan offered by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. It’s the name of his proposed solution to our convoluted tax system. Cain wants

While it’s easier for criminals to exploit tax themes around the April filing deadline, tax scams crop up 365 days a year. But despite the time of year, the most popular tax con remains the same: phishing. Identity thieves send out emails purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service and request personal and tax information

Colorado is home to the skinniest Americans, although there are reports they’ve been loosening their belts of late.    Colorado also imposes a soda tax and a candy tax. Coincidence? Or cause and effect? If you’re a fan of the taxes, you say that the extra pennies tacked onto fattening food and drinks supplement willpower and help people keep

You know that old saying about the cobbler’s kids going barefoot, right? Well, I’m the tax geek version. A lot of years I file for an extension. And when I do, I also tend to wait until the drop-dead October filing deadline (it’s Monday, Oct. 17, this year) is upon me before I complete my

In these tough times a lot of folks have to scrimp to pay their bills. That includes what they owe the IRS. The IRS understands this. And the agency long ago discovered what private businesses have known all along. If you let people pay off their bills over time, you get the money, and you

While most small business owners are honest citizens doing their best to pay their fair share in taxes, there are a few who try to dupe the system. As a result, the IRS has created a formula called the Discriminate Function that looks for certain tax audit red flags in returns to catch those individuals.

Employer-provided benefits that can save workers tax dollars are one of the biggest costs to the U.S. Treasury. But apparently Uncle Sam’s costs could be higher if more employees took advantage of additional workplace offerings. Take flexible spending accounts, or FSAs, for example. These are a great way to stash money before taxes are taken

President Barack Obama has come up with ways to get more Americans working and reduce the federal deficit. His plan to reduce the deficit by about $3 trillion over 10 years also would pay for his previously announced $447 billion jobs package. Cynics might say that the person Obama is most interested in employing is himself,

I’ve been married almost 30 years. Yes, I was a child bride. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. So, what does my wedded bliss have to do with taxes? Well, I’ve done our married filing jointly tax returns for each filing season since the hubby and I said “I do.” Statistically, we’re the aberration when