School Children
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Take Advantage of the Education Tax Credits

As with everything taxes, the devil is in the details, and that includes the education tax credits, which come in two types with some different rules for each. Many people think the credits are for sending their children to college, which is…

Crowdfunding Can Have Unexpected Consequences

Raising money through Internet crowdfunding sites prompts questions about the taxability of the money raised. A number of sites host money-raising projects for fees ranging from 5 to 9%, including GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo. Each site…
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Is It Better to Have a Tax Credit or a Deduction?

People often say that an expense is “a tax write-off”; most everyone interprets this to mean that the expense will have a tax benefit. Generally, such a benefit takes the form of either a deduction or a credit; these benefits’ effects…
Small Business
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Are You Subject to Self-Employment Tax?

Self-employed individuals, unlike employees, don’t have someone withholding Social Security or Medicare (FICA) taxes along with pre-payments toward their federal (and state, where applicable) income tax from their wages during the year. They…

Child Daycare and Taxes

When discussing daycare for children so their parents can work, there are two primary areas of discussion: one from the viewpoint of the individual providing the daycare services and another from the parents using a daycare provider’s services.…
Hand Drawing Money
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Earned Income Tax Credit: Used, Abused and Altered

Any discussion of the earned income tax credit (EITC) needs to begin with a discussion of why Congress created it in the first place. It has a twofold purpose: first, as an incentive for people to work and get off public assistance, and second,…
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Tax Issues Related to Hobbies

Generally, when individuals have a hobby, they have it because they enjoy it and are not involved in their hobby with the goal of making money. In fact, most hobbies never make money or don’t even create any income, for that matter. Tax law…

Who Claims the Children You or Your Ex-Spouse?

If you are a divorced or separated parent with children, a commonly encountered but often misunderstood issue is who claims the child or children for tax purposes. This is sometimes a hotly disputed issue between parents; however, tax law includes…

Disaster-Related Tax Losses May Be Less Than Expected

The late-2017 tax-reform package changed the rules for personal casualty losses, which now are only deductible if they occur in a federally declared disaster area. As a result, if a home is destroyed in a forest fire or other disaster within…