Tag Archives: Tax

Estate vs Estate

Today TaxMama® hears from Kelly in the TaxQuips Forum, who is confused. Let me summarize. “Kelly’s father died, leaving the house to the children. But the value is less than $5 million, so no estate tax return needs to be filed. Why do they need to file anything to report the sale of the property?”

Grant & Fellowship Income

Today TaxMama® hears from Mark in the TaxQuips Forum, who is bewildered. Let me summarize. “Mark received a post-doctoral fellowship that covered his salary to do research. It came with insurance and other employee benefits. The income was reported to him on a 1099-MISC. He paid taxes on the income. Two years later, the IRS […]

Caring Friends

Today TaxMama® hears from Grace in the TaxQuips Forum, with this charming question. “We have a friend that is dying of terminal cancer and is expected to pass away within 6 months. We will use a web-site that easily allows fund gathering.  But we need to know if there are tax consequences to her estate […]

Diminished Value

Today TaxMama® hears from Robert in the TaxQuips Forum, who has this tale of woe. “My car was parked in front of the house and was hit by a hit and run driver. The car had about $10k in damage that my insurance took care of.  I had a professional report done where they took […]

Tax Exempt Rentals

Today TaxMama® hears from Grace in the TaxQuips Forum with an interesting question. “I understand that if you rent/lease your home for production filming for 14 days or less, then that income you earn is “exempt” from California and Federal taxes. Although a 1099 will still be issued by the filming company, on our taxes […]

Property Taxes and Trusts

Today TaxMama® hears from Lee in the TaxQuips Forum who wants clarification. “Are property taxes lower when a house is in a trust?” 

Late Gift Tax Return

Today TaxMama® hears from Ivan in the TaxQuips Forum who seems to be concerned. “I have found lots of info on filing gift tax returns – penalties – life time exclusions. But what I cannot find is, what if someone makes a gift(s) to a child, or anyone else, in an amount well over the […]

It Never Hurts to Ask

Today TaxMama® hears from Sue, who overcame a big problem. To make a long story short, Sue suddenly discovered, purely by accident, that she’d only been paying one of the two taxes required by her city for her business. They hit her with about $12,000 worth of back taxes, penalties and interest. Uh oh. What […]

Excessive Disclosure

Today TaxMama® wants to address some political craziness. This year’s presidential campaign is getting out of hand. On the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)  recently stated that a “reliable source” has revealed that Romney hasn’t paid federal income taxes in the past ten years. Kelly Phillips Erb, (otherwise known as TaxGirl) writes […]

10 Fun Tax Facts

  Today TaxMama® decides it’s time to have fun with taxes. Let’s play with some tax trivia and see if you know the answers?

If You Love me

Today TaxMama® hears from Cheryl in the TaxQuips Forum who triggers a line of thought. Her client has under-reported income for many years. And it reminded me of other tax pros, including myself, who were asked by family members to help them under-report their income. The usual argument is “If you love me, you’ll file […]

Laptop for College

Today TaxMama® hears from Jenni in the TaxQuips Forum who has an amazing job. “I took a job at a university that offers free tuition for my family. The American Opportunity Credit can be used for tuition, books, fees and required materials. We have used the credit for books, fees and a laptop, which is […]