I Love That Big Tax RefundWritten by Terry J. Rigg
A Disclaimer of Sorts: No matter whether you file your own taxes or have a tax professional prepare and submit your taxes, You The Taxpayer are responsible for completeness and accuracy of return. Any questions, comments, extra taxes or penalities will be directed to you. Please consider any and all tax advice with this in mind, including this article. I will give you all of resources you need to check this out for yourself at end of article.No, this is not another article with a little know tax break IRS is trying to hide. This is a very legitimate way to put extra income in your paycheck. Many people can't wait to file their tax return in anticipation of having all that money to spend at one time. Where else can average person be forced to save. In most cases this is only way they can save. If federal government were in banking they would probably be in violation of law. They receive funds from citizens and are not required to pay any interest on that money. This may sound like I'm down on government, but I am not, not for that anyway. This is because IRS has a way for you to get that money in your paycheck throughout year. Starting with 1998 tax year , anyone that owes taxes and has children is eligible to deduct up to$400 for 1998 and $500 after 1998 tax year, for each child. Folks this comes right off of any taxes you owe. This is known as The Child Tax Credit. It is probably biggest cut in taxes average citizen has had in years. Just a note: You can only deduct this if you owe taxes and you can only deduct up to amount of taxes you owe. Example: If you owe $200 then you can only claim $200. Also, this does not apply to self-employment and certain other taxes. Since The Child Tax Credit became law, tax refunds have skyrocketed. The reason for this is that most people that have federal income tax withheld from their paychecks have not changed their W4 form (Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate) with their employer. Did you know that in certain instances you can claim 9 exemptions for a family of 5? Yes, this is legit. Here is how it breaks down directly from W4 personal allowance worksheet: A. Enter "1" for yourself if no one else can claim you as a dependent - 1 B. Enter "1" if you are married, have only one job, and your spouse does not work - 1 C. Enter "1" for your spouse - 1 D. Enter number of dependents (other than your spouse or yourself) - 3 E. (Does not apply to this example) - N/A F. (Does not apply to this example) - N/A G. Child Tax Credit: If your total income will be between $23,000 and $63,000 if married, enter "1" for each child - 3 H. Add lines A through G - 9
| | Get Started Managing Your MoneyWritten by Terry J. Rigg
There are literally thousands of articles about how you should or should not manage your money. Myself and other well intentioned money saving wizards bombard you with ideas of all that you should be doing. However, if you are behind two payments on your mortgage or rent, credit card debt up to your ears or there is a tow truck waiting outside to repossess your car, not much of what we say really seems to fit your situation.This article will attempt to give you some guidelines to help you get started no matter what your situation. The steps are fairly simple. Access Situation, Damage Control, Find a Way and Get on Track are just 4 steps that you will need to take quickly. Access Situation Sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and find out where you are now. No I'm not talking about a budget yet. Many people never take time to get a picture of what they have coming in compared to what they have going out. On left side of paper put down any income you have. Only consider take home money because this is all that matters to you right now. On right side of paper write down all of bills that you have coming out this month. At bottom of paper, put down any bills that are past due with dollar amount needed to bring them up to date. Now total everything. Then subtract your bills from your income. If there is anything left over after bills, deduct what it will cost you for food and other necessities for month. Damage Control If you are behind on your bills or just don't have enough money left after bills to buy what you need, something has to be done. This is where you have to set priorities. The first step is to eliminate anything you don't absolutely need. Some good examples of this are things like call waiting and other extras on your phone bill, selling that second car unless it is needed to earn income or stop eating out. Here is a priority list of how you need to spend your money if you are behind: 1. Groceries and necessary health items 2. Mortgage or rent 3. Utilities 4. Other bills such as installment loans or credit cards Notice that above list adressess your basic needs, food, water and shelter, first. Your next step is to call your bill collectors and let them know about your situation. I guarantee hiding from them will only make things worse. Let them know you can't pay them. Most important is to tell them you are working on situation and will keep them informed. You will be surprised how many will work with you.
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