IRS WARNS TAXPAYERS TO BEWARE OF PHISHING SCAMS Phishing is a scam typically carried out by unsolicited email and/or bogus websites posing as legitimate sites luring unsuspecting victims to provide personal and financial information. The IRS has recently warned consumers to watch for emails appearing to be from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) that include [...]
TAXING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS Some taxpayers must include up to 85% of their social security benefits in taxable income, while others find that their benefits are not taxable at all. If social security is your only source of income, your benefits probably won’t be taxable. In fact, you may not even need to file a [...]
TAXABLE TIP INCOME If you receive tips on the job from customers, you must include those tips in the computation of your tax liability, if any. This includes tips, directly from customers, tips added to credit cards, and your share of tips received under a tip-splitting agreement with other employees. The method for paying out [...]
DON’T BE A CHARITY SCAM VICTIM When a natural disaster strikes, thieves often play on the goodwill of people by posing as representative of real charities to steal money or get information to commit identity theft. Bogus charities use several different tactics to get money and information from unsuspecting individual. They may claim to be [...]
DOUBLE BENEFIT FROM A TAX DEDUCTION For most taxpayers, the amount of federal income tax they pay depends on where they fall in the federal income tax brackets and the breakdown of their taxable income between ordinary (e.g. wages) and capital gains from the sale of assets (e.g., common stock). Taxpayers eligible for the lower [...]
MID-YEAR TAX PLANNING IDEAS Tax planning is a year-round process, so now is a good time to think about the following- Are you considering making a cash gift to a relative? If so, consider making the gift in conjunction with the overall revamping of your stocks and mutual funds held in taxable brokerage accounts to [...]