Category: Tax
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How Does Capital Gains Tax Work
Capital gains taxes are incurred when you sell, give away or transfer an investment that’s increased in value like stocks or real estate. If you kept the house for over a year before selling that property, you are taxed with a long-term capital gains rate, and short-term for less than a year. The rate differs…
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What Happens To Your Tax Return Once You File It
When American taxpayers file their tax return to the Internal Revenue Service, they submit their figures and calculations for evaluation by the people and computers of the agency. They’ll get an audit flags when the IRS examiners discover a miscalculation or discrepancy which will be subject to longer and thorough review. Take a look at…
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How Your Federal Tax Dollars are Spent
American taxpayers don’t like the federal government spend in the abstract. One Gallup poll indicates that many US citizens believed about half of all government spending and more than 40 percent of the state expenditure is misused. Most of them are against cuts in Medicare, Social Security, education, and welfare programs while supporting cuts on…
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Earth Day: Save on Tax by Saving The Planet
2016 marks the 46th annual celebration of World Earth Day. For the taxpayers who are kind to the environment may find that the environment can be kind to them too—in the form of saving money on their upcoming tax return. Here are some illustration of the environmentally-related tax credit to think about and items to…
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Understanding Section 179: Tax Deduction for Small Business
The IRS Section 179 is a tax incentive by the US government to help small businesses. This tax rule let business owners deduct the entire cost of their business equipment during the tax year, as opposed to expensing the cost over many years thru depreciation. If you want to understand more about this tax deduction,…
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The Freelancer Tax Guide For 2016
While freelancing offers the flexibility of choosing your own working time, one disadvantage is the obligation of paying all your taxes. Freelancers, like other independent contractor and consultant, are viewed by the Internal Revenue Service as self-employed. So if you receive income as a freelancer you have to file as a business owner. Here are…
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List of Tax Write Offs
Wondering what you can write-off or deduct from your taxable income onto your tax return? This is one of the complex part of filing your income tax, because there is a thin line between which legitimate expenses are deductible and which of them are not. Overlooked tax deductions are lost savings so you should get…
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Sin Taxes: Taxing Your Vices
A sin tax is a state-imposed tax specifically added on products considered as unnecessary and unhealthy to society. The growing number of taxable “sins” impose by the government includes alcohol and tobacco, soft drinks, fast foods, coffee, drugs and activities like gambling. Know more about what sin taxes are as well as the interesting statistics…
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A Brief History of Income Taxes
While the United States tax law is relatively new, the history of taxation is really old. The first known tax system was in ancient Egypt. The origin of the federal income tax imposed on individuals is commonly cited in the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by Congress on 1909, and then ratified on…
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Payroll and Tax Deductions From Your Payslip, Explained
Reading through your payslip can be difficult to understand. You probably wondering why your total take-home pay is a lot less than your gross pay. The reason is your paycheck have deductions for federal income tax, social security, medicare and other payment contributions for employee benefits. Here’s an infograph to explain all these deductions from…