Hopefully this will never happen to you but in the unfortunate event you become of victim of tax fraud there are some steps that you can take to help alleviate the concern that someone has stolen your identity to file a fraudulent tax return in order to receive the refund. Generally, the first sign of fraud appears when you try to file our return electronically. Most e-file providers receive acknowledgements from the IRS that the return was successfully e-filed. If a return is rejected, a code will return with the rejection indicating what the issue is. For example, a sign of fraud will indicate that the Social Security numbers used to file your return were previously used in the same tax year for another return. If you know you didn’t previously file, then fraud is likely. If you feel you’re the victim of fraud, here’s what you can do: Contact […]
2014 Tax Year
5 Tips to Lower Your Tax for 2015
With 2014 over and 2015 well on its way you may be finding yourself gathering all of your 2014 tax information and getting ready to file your income taxes. Some folks will be expecting refunds while others will woefully dread writing out a check to the IRS. If you find yourself in the group of folks that will be writing a check to Uncle Sam, here are some tips to reduce your tax burden for 2015.
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Forget to Take Your RMD?
In case you forgot to take your required minimum distribution (RMD) for 2014 there’s still hope in order to avoid the 50% (yes, that’s FIFTY percent) penalty of the amount not withdrawn. If you missed taking the RMD for 2014 here’s what you can do. According to the IRS the penalty may be waived if you can establish that it was due to reasonable error that you didn’t take the RMD and that reasonable steps are being taken to remedy the error. That is, take the 2014 RMD right away (or as soon as you can let your custodian know) and it might not be a bad idea to take the RMD for 2015 as well (just to be on the safe side). Once that’s done you or your tax professional need to fill out Form 5329 as well as a letter explaining the reason for not taking the RMD. […]
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Qualified Charitable Distributions Extended for 2014
With the passage of the Taxpayer Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from your IRA is available through the end of the year under normal rules. This means that you can, if you’re age 70½ or older, make direct distributions from your IRA to a qualified charity or charities, not counting the distribution as income and not itemizing the charitable contribution.
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Your Year-End Bonus
As the end of the year approaches many employers will pay and many employees will receive year-end bonuses. While often the icing on the cake for a productive year employee should be aware of the tax consequences of their bonus. Percent vs. Aggregate Method When it comes to taxing the bonus an employer may choose the percentage method versus the aggregate method. Under the aggregate or wage holding bracket method the employer will use the withholding tables generally used for the employee normal paycheck. Then, the supplemental wages are aggregated with the employee’s normal pay and taxes are withheld accordingly.
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College Costs Increase for 2014/2015
Background Every year, the College Board releases its Trends in College Pricing and Trends in Student Aid reports that highlight current college costs and trends in financial aid. While costs can vary significantly depending on the region and college, the College Board publishes average cost figures, which are based on its survey of nearly 4,000 colleges across the country. Following are cost highlights. Total cost figures include tuition and fees, room and board, and a sum for books, transportation, and personal expenses. Together, these expenditures are officially referred to as the “total cost of attendance.”
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Don’t Let the Premium Tax Credit Hang You Out to Dry
When you are using the Health Insurance Marketplace for your family’s health insurance, you may be receiving assistance with the premiums in the form of a premium tax credit. This credit is paid to the health insurance provider, allowing your monthly premium to be lower. These premium credits are based upon your residence, income, family size, and eligibility for health insurance via other avenues, such as through a new employer. If something has changed in your life, you may be receiving too much or too little in premium tax credits. The IRS recently issued a Health Care Tax Tip designed to help you understand if you need to make a change to the premium credit you’re receiving to avoid unpleasant surprises at tax time.
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Resurrecting the Qualified Charitable Distribution?
This past week the US House of Representatives passed a bill (HR 4719, known as the America Gives More Act) which would re-instate the Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRAs and make the provision permanent. This provision expired at the end of 2013, as it has multiple times in the past, only to be re-instated temporarily time and again. A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) is when a person who is at least age 70½ years of age and subject to Required Minimum Distributions from an IRA is allowed to make a distribution from the IRA and direct the distribution to a qualified charitable organization without having to recognize the income for taxable purposes. This has been a popular option for many taxpayers, especially since the QCD can also be recognized as the Required Minimum Distribution for the year from the IRA.
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A Quick Trick to Reduce Your Tax Liability
Now that most folks are recovering from tax time there may be some individuals that paid an excessive amount of tax to Uncle Sam and are looking for ways to reduce their tax liability for next year. This post will be short and sweet, but hopefully it will drive a few points home. The best way to explain this is through an example. Let’s say that Mary and her husband Paul both work and file their taxes jointly. Their tax liability for 2013 was $4,000 – meaning that’s the amount of the check they wrote to the IRS. Needless to say, they are both looking for a potential way to reduce that liability – at least in the here and now. In this case, their marginal tax rate is 25%. The quick trick in this example is to take their tax rate which is 25% and divide it into their […]
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Updates to IRS Fees for Installment Agreements and OIC
Just like pretty much everything else in the world, the cost of doing business with the IRS has gone up. The good news is that some fees did not increase for calendar year 2014, but some fees have gone up by significant rates. Installment Agreement This is where you have a balance due to the IRS for unpaid taxes, penalties and interest, and you’re unable to pay the amount at the present time in a lump sum. So you set up an installment agreement with the IRS – where you agree to pay a set amount on a monthly basis until your balance is paid off. If you set up a direct-debit payment plan – where the payment is pulled directly from you bank account – the fee to set this up remains unchanged from 2013 at $52. This is the preferred method to set up such a plan, for […]
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Medicare Part B and D Premiums for 2014
Even though other retirement-related items increased for 2014, such as the taxable income limit for Social Security tax ($117,000, up $3,300), the earnings limits for pre-Full Retirement Age Social Security benefits ($15,480 before FRA year, $41,400 during FRA year), and the COLA for Social Security benefits (+1.5%), the premium for Medicare Part B coverage remained the same for 2014, at $104.90 per month. However, if your income in 2012 was above $85,000 for single filers or $170,000 for married filers, you will have to pay more for your Medicare Part B insurance, but it’s the same increase as in 2013. Medicare Part D coverage for upper income folks will rise slightly. The maximum increase for both Part B and Part D tops out at $300.10 per month, for a total premium of $405 per month. This income amount is actually your Modified Adjusted Gross Income, which is equal to your […]
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2014 IRA MAGI Limits – Married Filing Separately
Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately, who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on that page to determine eligibility. For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Married Filing Separately): If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job and your spouse is not covered by a retirement plan, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is less than $10,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 55% for every dollar (or 65% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200. If you are covered by a retirement […]
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2014 MAGI Limits for IRAs – Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)
Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately, who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on that page to determine eligibility. For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)): If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job and your spouse is not covered by a retirement plan, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions. If you are covered by a retirement plan at work, and your MAGI is $96,000 or less, there is also no limitation on your deductible contributions to a traditional IRA. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $96,000 but less than $116,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 27.5% for every dollar […]
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2014 MAGI Limits – Single or Head of Household
Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on this page to determine eligibility. For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Single or Head of Household): If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions. If you are covered by a retirement plan at work, if your MAGI is $60,000 or less, there is also no limitation on your deductible contributions to a traditional IRA. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $60,000 but less than $70,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 55% for every dollar over the lower limit (or 65% if over age 50), and […]
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2014 Mileage Rates for Tax Deductions
Recently the IRS published the mileage rates for various classes of deductible miles driven for tax year 2014. This amount is used in place of managing, collecting and tabulating the exact costs involved in operating a vehicle throughout the year. In order to use the standard mileage rates, you just track the miles you drive for each purpose (see below) and then compute the deductible mileage on your tax return when you file it the following year. Keep a log of the miles driven and the purpose of the trip to substantiate the deduction. This can be as simple as a paper calendar with your log notes, or more elaborate (check around, I bet there are apps out there for your iphone or other gadgets to do this). You have a choice to either use the standard rate or the actual expense of operating your vehicle. In either case, parking […]
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Social Security Bend Points for 2014
When the Social Security Administration announced the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2014, this also allowed for calculation of the bend points for 2014. Bend points are the portions of your average income (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings – AIME) in specific dollar amounts that are indexed each year, based upon an obscure table called the Average Wage Index (AWI) Series. They’re called bend points because they represent points on a graph of your AIME graphed by inclusion in calculating the PIA. If you’re interested in how Bend Points are used, you can see the article on Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA. Here, however, we’ll go over how Bend Points are calculated each year. To understand this calculation, you need to go back to 1979, the year of the Three Mile Island disaster, the introduction of the compact disc and the Iranian hostage crisis. According to the AWI Series, in […]
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Social Security Figures Increase for 2014
Recently the Social Security Administration released the updated figures for 2014, including the wage base, earnings limits, and the increase to benefits. For 2014, the wage base for Social Security will rise to $117,000. This is the maximum amount of W2 wages that are subject to the 6.2% employer- and employee-paid Social Security tax. This amount represents an increase of $3,300 over the wage base of $113,700 in 2013. In addition to that increase, benefits to eligible recipients of Social Security retirement will increase by 1.5% in 2014. This is slightly less than the 1.7% increase to benefits in 2013. This brings the average monthly benefit for all retired workers up by $19, to$1,294 in 2014. For the average couple who are both receiving Social Security benefits, the COLA increase is $31 per month, for an average benefit of $2,111 in 2014. Likewise, there was an increase announced to the […]
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Flex Spending “Use it or Lose it” is a Thing of the Past
If you have a Flex Spending Account (FSA) for healthcare expenses through your employer, you are familiar with the “use it or lose it” concept. Each year during December, it’s a mad dash to get that last-minute eye exam, or fill prescriptions, or what-have-you to use up the Flex Spending money before the end of the year. That tradition will, for many folks, be a thing of the past if their employers adopt the carryover rule now allowed by IRS. Traditionally, with a Flex Spending Account (FSA) for healthcare expenses you arrange with your employer to withhold a certain amount of money out of each paycheck and then as you incur expenses for healthcare throughout the year, you can be reimbursed for those expenses up to the amount of your annual withholding for FSA. The money withheld for the FSA is pre-tax, so it’s to your advantage to take part […]
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Retirement Plan Contribution Limits for 2014
The IRS recently published the new contribution limits for various retirement plans for 2014. These limits are indexed to inflation, and as such sometimes they do not increase much year over year, and sometimes they don’t increase at all. This year we saw virtually no increases for most all contribution amounts, but as usual the income limits increased for most types of account. IRAs The annual contribution limit for IRAs (both traditional and Roth) remains at $5,500 for 2014. The “catch up” contribution amount, for folks age 50 or over, also remains at $1,000. The income limits for traditional (deductible) IRAs increased slightly from last year: for singles covered by a retirement plan, your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) must be less than $60,000 for a full deduction; phased deduction is allowed up to an AGI of $70,000. This is an increase of $1,000 over the limits for last year. For […]
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Annual Gift Tax Exclusion Amount Remains the Same for 2014
All individuals have the opportunity to give gifts annually to any person, and as many persons as they wish, without having to file a gift tax return. For 2013, the amount of the annual exclusion is $14,000; it remains the same for 2014. This means that anyone can give a gift of up to $14,000 to any person for any reason without worrying about possible gift tax implications. A married couple can double this amount to $28,000. In 2014, this annual exclusion amount will remain the same at $14,000 ($28,000 for couples). For amounts given in excess of the annual exclusion amount, every individual has a lifetime exclusion amount, against which the excess gifts are credited. For 2013, the lifetime exclusion amount is $5,250,000. For 2014, the lifetime exclusion amount for giving is increased to $5,340,000. These are the same exclusion amounts as for estates in 2014.
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
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And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.