Unemployment Benefits Identity Theft Scam Alert During 2020, millions of taxpayers were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic through job loss or reduced work hours. Some taxpayers who faced unemployment or reduced work hours applied for and received unemployment compensation from their state. As a reminder, unemployment benefits are taxable income and must be reported on…
Capital Gains Tax on Sale of Stocks Apps like Robinhood make it easy for everyone to play the stock market. If you’re a retail investor who made money last year buying and selling stocks, you may owe capital gains tax when you file your tax return this year. If you lost money, you may be…
Tax Breaks for Families with Children If you have children, one or more of these tax credits and deductions could help your family reduce the amount of tax owed. Let’s take a look: 1. Child Tax Credit Generally, taxpayers can claim the Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child under the age of 17. The…
Renting Out a Second Home In general, income from rental of a vacation home for 15 days or longer must be reported on your tax return on Schedule E, Supplemental Income and Loss. You should also keep in mind that the definition of a “vacation home” is not limited to a house. Apartments, condominiums, mobile homes,…
Who Qualifies for the Earned Income Credit The earned income tax credit can give qualifying workers with low-to-moderate income a substantial financial boost. The credit not only reduces the amount of tax someone owes but may give them a refund even if they don’t owe any taxes or aren’t required to file a return. If…
Relief for Taxpayers Struggling With Tax Debts While there have always been payment options available from the IRS to help taxpayers struggling to pay tax debts, the new IRS Taxpayer Relief Initiative was put into place to expand these options and offer relief during the pandemic. These revised COVID-related collection procedures will help taxpayers, especially…
Are you wondering if there’s a hard and fast rule about what income is taxable and what income is not taxable? The quick answer is that all income is taxable unless the law specifically excludes it. But as you might have guessed, there’s more to it than that. Taxable income includes any money you receive,…
What’s New for 2020 Tax Returns As always, taxpayers should be aware of several key items involving credits, deductions, and refunds when filing their tax returns. Let’s take a look: 1. Recovery Rebate Credit/Economic Impact Payment. In January, the Treasury Department and the IRS began sending the second round of Economic Impact Payments (EIP2) to millions…
Protecting Business Taxpayers From Identity Theft Starting December 13, 2020, the IRS began masking sensitive data on business tax transcripts. Previously, only sensitive data on individual tax transcripts was masked. Here’s what you need to know about this new initiative to protect business taxpayers from identity theft: What is a tax transcript? A tax transcript…