A taxable account can be an important component of your overall saving strategy. The tax savings can be very useful in the long run.
capital losses
Year End Income Tax Planning
Image via Wikipedia Once you’ve reached the last month of the tax year, there aren’t a lot of things that can be done to minimize your income taxes. But there are a few things that could be done. For example, you could double up your real estate taxes by prepaying next year’s tax during December. Doing this with, for example, a $3,000 per year real estate tax bill could result in a reduction of tax for the year of $750 if you’re in the 25% bracket. Keep in mind though, that you’ll have forked out this money long before it is actually due in most cases, and for the next year you won’t have this deduction available if you used it in this year. The same could be done with your charitable contributions – there’s no reason that you can’t make additional contributions to your favorite charities at the end […]
Capital Gains and Losses and Your Taxes
If you own taxable investment accounts, real estate, collectibles, or literally any item that can appreciate or depreciate in value, you’ve likely had to deal with capital gains or losses on your tax return. (Actually, only if you’ve sold the item.) But how much do you really know about capital gains and losses? The IRS has published Tax Tip 2010-35 listing 10 Facts About Capital Gains and Losses – detailing what the IRS deems important about gains and losses and how they could effect your tax situation. Following below the IRS’ list is some additional detail on treatment of capital gains and losses. 10 Facts About Capital Gains and Losses Almost everything you own and use for personal purposes, pleasure or investment is a capital asset. When you sell a capital asset, the difference between the amount you sell it for and your basis – which is usually what you […]
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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”.