At the beginning of the year, I started participating in my company’s newly-offered employee stock purchase plan, which gives us the opportunity to automatically deduct up to 10 percent of our paychecks and defer that money for use at the end of the quarter. At that time, we are able to purchase stock at a 15 percent ... Continue reading this article…

Several years ago, I was expecting a tax refund from the IRS of about $900. When I received the check — this was before direct deposit was available — it was for significantly less money, about $600. They included a note indicating I miscalculated one of the lines on my 1040 and provided the correct ... Continue reading this article…

Most people will be receiving a tax refund this year, and many people I know have received theirs already. There are two reasons people would receive a tax refund: either they’re not minimizing their withholding throughout the year and missing out on interest or investment returns they could earn, or they deliberately overpay for the ... Continue reading this article…

I decided to bite the bullet and do my income tax return without any professional assistance. I was originally considering working with a tax accountant due to the increased income from my side business. As it turns out, it wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be. I’m pretty sure I was able to ... Continue reading this article…

It’s always interesting to see stories in the media that seem to conflict with each other. Here is a case of conflicting messages, although both viewpoints may be true to an extent. First of all, CBS reports that Americans pay too much to the IRS in the form of taxes. This happens mainly because people ... Continue reading this article…

We talk about tax brackets for income taxes ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent, but when all payments to the government are taken into account, we pay significantly more. Research by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and David Rapson in a paper called Does it Pay, at the Margin, to Work and Save [PDF] shows that most people ... Continue reading this article…

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is a rule that was established in the United States tax code to make sure rich people don’t take advantage of loopholes to the point where they owe no tax to the government. The minimum income required to qualify for the AMT was never adjusted for inflation, so over time, ... Continue reading this article…

In general, if you have to ask whether you need to report certain income to the IRS, the most likely answer is, “Yes.” Here are some examples, courtesy of MSN Money. Q. I hosted a party to sell products to my friends (and use my social circle for multilevel marketing from some corporation), and my ... Continue reading this article…