Savings bonds for a long time have been a popular investment to add to your portfolio.  They provide some stability to your investments, a guaranteed rate of return, and can help you save on your taxes.  Some investors have owned Series I savings bonds for many years, and the 30-year maturity date might be approaching. Others have bought them in recent years to insulate their portfolios from inflation and the ups and downs in the stock market.  Either way, you should be aware of the federal income tax rules.

IRS sends notices and letters when it needs to ask a question about a taxpayer’s federal tax return, let them know about a change to their account or request a payment. Don’t panic! They say they’re there to help.

When a taxpayer receives mail from the IRS, they should:

After doing people''s taxes for over two decades, one of the worst parts of it is when your client''s die and you have to help pick up the pieces.   It is sad that in so many households only one of the spouses does all the accounting and taxes. If that spouse dies first, time and again I have found that the remaining spouse has no clue where to even start to put all the financial pieces together again.

It seems that you can find a study about just about anything these days.  I was readying about a study that  was done at the University of Michigan, using data from the U.S. Treasury Department to determine if it matters whose name is listed first on a tax return.

One of the more interesting questions I get now and then is "I heard that I can hire my kid and save on my taxes.  Is that true?" 

The answer to that is yes - IF you follow the IRS rules.   I think their is a better reason to hire your children, though.  It is the best education they can learn to prepare them for life after they move out of your house - from either an employee''s point of view or a business owner''s point of view or both. 

An IRS chief counsel recently issued advice (CCA-2025-11015) that describes five situations in which taxpayers were victimized by scammers.

Property tax rates are on the rise nationwide, creating challenges for many homeowners, including retirees. Data shows that last year’s property tax bills increased up to 30% in some places. 

If you own a home, you can''t avoid property taxes altogether without risking penalties. However, some strategies and programs, an lower your property tax bills and help your budget.

It's that time again to get ready to file your tax return and some of you may be wondering about the chances that the IRS will audit your return. You may be a bit more concerned knowing that congress gave the IRS $80 billion in extra tax dollars over ten years, with a large chunk of that money to be used by the agency for increased enforcement activities. This money is on top of the IRS''s annual funding. Congress has since clawed back about $25 billion of that windfall, and Republican lawmakers are promising to slash it even more. 

There has been a lot of political talk lately about no longer taxing Social Security payments. (Like they promised when it was created back in the Roosevelt administration.)

Last week, a dozen GOP lawmakers introduced the Fair Tax Act of 2025. The bill proposes to abolish the IRS and repeal all personal and corporate income taxes, the death tax, gift tax, and payroll tax.

The IRS has set its sites on millions of people who enjoy gambling: the huge gap between tax collections and people reporting them on their tax returns. Those unreported winnings ad up to a whopping  $13.2 billion. 

When the tax laws changed in 2018, most people no longer had to use the itemized deductions (Schedule A), but found it easier and more beneficial to just use the standard deduction.  Generally, I find that there is a small minority that still itemize.  They usually have a lot of property taxes, large amounts mortgage interest and give a generous amount to charities (such as tithing 10% to their church).