U.S. Citizens and resident aliens who live and earn money or have investments abroad that generate income are required to report them and pay appropriate taxes. Any gains related to stock ownership on foreign exchanges, foreign trusts, and bank accounts need to be disclosed for tax purposes. The IRS looks...

As typical this time each year scammers are trying to trick innocent people into sharing personal information that is later used against them. The latest phishing attempt comes as criminals pretend to be Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). With proliferation of the Internet phishing has gained more interest from scammers as...

Tax exception is a type of a tax deduction that reduces a taxable income by a specific amount. In this article I discuss a personal tax exemption although the term tax exemption may also refer to acquaintance from paying taxes on all generated income. Those types of tax exemptions are...

Tax brackets are ranges at which different portions of your income are taxed. The U.S. tax system is set up in a way where each individual pays the same tax on the same income level. The current tax system is a progressive one meaning that the more you earn the...

Most people associate taxable income with salaries and wages received but that category is much broader. The IRS also taxes portion of commissions, tips, fees received, stock options, and some types of fringe benefits. An employer will report most of these types of income on a Form W2 but there...

This year welcomes hundreds of thousands of new taxpayers and although many may have received some direction on how to go about getting ready for the tax season, many may be on their own. As we go along every year, we develop our own routines often dictated by our personalities...

Earned Income Tax Credit or EITC (sometimes also called Earned Income Credit) is a form of financial assistance or benefit offered by the IRS to the individuals with a relatively low income. You may qualify for it if you worked any part of 2013 and earned $51,567 or less from...

Starting this year the IRS is providing an option to individuals who operate home-based businesses to report home business deductions in a much simpler way. A 2013 tax return is the first one when this alternative method is allowed and it states that if you qualify for a home office...

Individuals married to the same-sex spouse ought to know that the way to file their tax return has recently changed. If you are one of them you may even want to change some returns you filed in the past because from now on the IRS will treat same-sex spouses as...

With the onset of Obamacare starting this year all citizens are required to have a medical insurance. The system has been restructured to ensure that everyone has access to affordable healthcare including individuals with preexisting conditions. The purpose of the law is to streamline the process of finding insurance and...