Economics Finance

The biggest problem with missing a tax due date is that it gets a little less stressful every day. April 15th is awful, April 16th is bad, but after a while, you might notice that the IRS hasn’t caught up to you. But after a few weeks, it fades into the background: maybe they’ll forget, maybe they filed your information for you. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. The IRS often takes a while to catch up to delinquent taxpayers, but they definitely try to ensure that people who miss filing have a good reason to file late taxes.

The first incentive the IRS uses is that even if they’re not keeping in touch, you’re accumulating fees and penalties. There are multiple fineable offenses associated with the failure to file taxes on time, even if you do end up getting it done late, and they add up pretty fast. In addition, the IRS charges a brutal rate of interest before you file late taxes — generally, the rate is 1% per month. With your debt accumulating so fast, it’s a good idea to hurry up and slow this process down.

Once you do file late taxes, the situation improves. First, you’ll stop accumulating so many fines. Second, the interest you owe drops to about a quarter of a percentage point per month — one of the lowest-interest borrowings available to any consumer. When you file late taxes, the IRS will ask you to pay them back pretty quickly (immediately, or over a period of months), but this is also not as daunting as it might seem. Continue reading ‘File Late Taxes – How To, Why To’ »

It is a glorious event that takes place every year without fail. The month of April rolls around and the drama builds. Then it happens. You file tax returns? No. You file an extension! The folklore surrounding the act of filing an extension is extensive, but does it really impact your risk of being audited by the IRS? Let’s take a look.

As an individual taxpayer, you have the option of filing for an extension to file your tax form each year so long as you do it on or before April 15th. The magic document is Form 4868. It is shocking short and simple to fill out. Even better, the application is granted automatically by the IRS. You get a six month extension to October 15th to get your act together. Most people remember this deadline right around October 14th in the middle of the night, but that is another matter.

The filing of an extension is seen by some as an act that causes a reaction by the IRS. Depending on who you are talking to, this reaction can be good or it can be bad. The “good reaction” crowd believes that filing an extension is a good move because it lowers your risk of an audit. The thinking is the IRS hires extra employees to help it during the tax season around April and then lets them go. With fewer employees around, there is less chance you’ll get audited because there simply isn’t the manpower to do it.

The “bad reaction” crowd looks at the extension differently. They believe the filing of extensions, particularly when done year after year is indicates to the IRS that you are up to something. This, in turn, puts you on either a watch list or sends you straight to an audit. Either result is, of course, bad. Continue reading ‘Does Filing an Extension Change Your Risk of Being Audited?’ »

Owning a rental property may be advantageous in some ways. The income you get from rental real estates can sometimes be a substantial amount, and this could increase your tax liability. However, landlords can reduce their income tax on their profits. This is possible through investments. To know more about rental tax deductions, read on.

There are two types of investors: passive and real estate professional. The losses of real estate professionals are deductible against all types of income, be it passive or non-passive. If the losses are passive, then the landlord is only allowed to deduct up to $25,000 against the rentals’ income. Conversely, losses that exceed up to $25,000 can be carried forward to the following year. Continue reading ‘What You Should Know About Rental Property Tax Deductions’ »

By using a Christian credit counseling service, you will be joining forces with other believers who have a true desire to help. They are even likely to look at their services as a ministry to others, and as a way of serving the Lord’s body, the Church. Your counselor is likely to be a trained professional with expertise in the field of accounting or a related area. There may be extra benefits this fellow Christian can provide, such as putting you in touch with a Church buying co-op, or other cost saving plans.

Once you decide to use a credit counseling program, you will need to gather all the relevant financial ‘paperwork’: bills, contracts, creditor’s statements and bank and salary details. As your counselor goes through these with you, his trained eye may see ways to reduce the owings more quickly. His wider knowledge of available lending rates could be applied to some of your debt, and he will have some ‘inside’ advice. Learn from the tips he gives you, as this will help prevent some financial misstep happening again.

Because of the particular financial challenges of these modern times, many people need help to learn effective money management skills. This is a topic which is neglected in our schools, so some churches are stepping in to provide this type of financial education as an ongoing program. This way money problems are often avoided before they happen, and by combining Bible studies on the responsible use of money, and good stewardship, the church members should emerge more financially stable than the average citizen. Continue reading ‘Christian Credit Counseling – Improve Your Bank Account by Checking Out the Benefits of Counseling’ »

Estate planning allows you to get your affairs in order in the event you become incapacitated or die. A will, which is the most basic estate planning tool, contains a written set of instructions to your loved ones as to how you want your estate to be distributed after your death.

So, what happens to your property if you don’t have a Will or estate plan?

If you die without a Will or any type of estate plan, your state’s intestacy laws will determine who will inherit your property. Intestacy laws may also determine who will act as guardian of your minor children. These laws do not consider personal circumstances or personalities, so your property and/or minor children can end up with a relative who you never would have chosen if you had the opportunity to establish an estate plan. In certain circumstances and in certain states, the state may benefit from the intestacy laws to a greater degree than your heirs. Continue reading ‘Why Every Adult Needs an Estate Plan’ »