Tag Archives: Income tax in the United States

Income Not Reported

Today TaxMama® hears from Ninja in the TaxQuips Forum who got an IRS notice. Since her problem is universal, let me generalize her situation.  “This is the time of year IRS starts sending out the CP2000 notices. These letters are computer-generated. The IRS computer compares your income to the information it has received from W-2s, […]

Effective vs Actual Tax Rate

Today TaxMama® hears from KD in the TaxQuips Forum who is justifiably confused.  “I was looking over our tax return and was wondering why we are paying almost 50% effective tax rates on our income. I’m currently unemployed and my husband is an independent contractor. Our CPA included a chart with this year’s tax return. […]

IRS Provides Answers to Community Property Filers

Courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service today provided information in a question and answer format to individuals who are subject to their state’s community property laws. These questions and answers apply generally to same-sex spouses in California and to registered domestic partners in California, Nevada, and Washington.

Taxable Retirement Income

Today TaxMama® hears from Dave in the TaxQuips Forum with a quickie little question. “If I retire at 62 or 63 with Social Security and IRA distributions (not Roth) what will my tax liabilities be? For example: Monthly: $1700 from social security and $3,000 from IRA for total of $4,700.  Do I pay income tax […]

Courts Protect Taxpayer Basis and Audit Limits

Here are a couple of tax-related court cases you might find interesting. Attorney Ronald Marini writes about a very recent Supreme Court decision that limits IRS’ audit powers in a way you’ll like. The IRS is limited to three years to audit you or your business when it comes to determining the basis of anything […]

Withholding from Contractor

Today TaxMama® hears from Robert in the TaxQuips Forum who is suspicious. “I am a 1099’ed contract driver. I recently noticed they are taking taxes out of my check. I was told that they take taxes out, then make quarterly payments to federal income tax. I have worked as contract labor before and they didn’t […]

Internet Job

Today TaxMama® hears from Cristie in the TaxQuips Forum with a quick question. “I just wanted to know if my husband needs to report the money he makes from an Internet job which pays $400.00 a month? This is on top of his regular job in which taxes are taken out from every paycheck.”

Taxes After Death

Today TaxMama® hears from Darlene in the TaxQuips Forum with this question. “A couple has filed married filing separately for at least 4 years. About 3 years ago he went into a nursing home. She continue to file married filing separately, preparing his return for him also. The nursing home took just about all his […]

Wage Settlement From State

Today TaxMama® hears from Ken in the TaxQuips Forum with this happy news. “Several years ago I worked for a company that ran out of money and couldn’t make payroll. I continued to work for several months with the promise that the wages would be paid. Eventually, I requested a layoff and left the company. […]

Gift to Daughter

Today TaxMama® hears from John in the TaxQuips Forum with this quick question. “I gifted monies ($5,000) to my daughter in 2011. How do I account for this in my 1040 filing? What other associated forms need to be included to do this?”