Entries by Mike

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Foreign Account Reporting Requirements

U.S. citizens and residents with a financial interest in or signature or other authority over any foreign financial account need to report that relationship by filing FinCEN Form 114 if the aggregate value of the accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the year. The due for 2018’s report was April 15, 2019, with an […]

The IRS Is Cracking Down on Cryptocurrency Tax Transactions

The IRS announced in late July 2019 that it is ramping up its campaign to ensure that taxpayers with cryptocurrency transactions report these transactions on their income tax returns – and report them correctly – by sending “educational” letters to approximately 10,000 taxpayers who either didn’t report their crypto-transactions or may have reported them incorrectly. […]

August 2019 Individual Due Dates

August 12 – Report Tips to Employer If you are an employee who works for tips and received more than $20 in tips during July, you are required to report them to your employer on IRS Form 4070 no later than August 12. Your employer is required to withhold FICA taxes and income tax withholding […]

Minimizing Tax on Social Security Benefits

Whether your Social Security benefits are taxable (and, if so, the amount that is taxed) depends on a number of issues. The following facts will help you understand the taxability of your Social Security benefits. For this discussion, the term “Social Security benefits” refers to the gross amount of benefits you receive (i.e., the amount […]

The Best Ways to Maximize Your Savings for Retirement

According to one recent study, the vast majority of Americans who are between the ages of 55 and 64 say that they have only saved, on average, about 12% of what they’ll need to live out their retirement years in comfort. Things have gotten so severe that experts believe that about 64% of working aged people in […]

What You Need to Know about Student Loan Interest

If you are considering borrowing funds to finance your college education or that of your spouse or children, it is important that you understand that the student loan interest deduction is not limited to the interest paid on government student loans. In fact, virtually any loan interest will qualify as long as the loan proceeds […]