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).

One of the biggest tax pains in the last two decades in the tax preparation world has been when two separated or divorced parents both try to claim the same child - regardless of who had the right to.  You see, the IRS doesn't care what a separation or divorce decree says.  They got tired of reading them to make determinations.   So they came us with the custodial parent rules.

Because they don't trust United States persons resident abroad and green card holders to pay their taxes, the IRS has issued final regulations on required income tax withholding for certain types of retirement distributions. These regulations apply to distributions from deferred compensation plans (such as 401(k)s), IRAs, and commercial annuities.

I'm always amazed each tax season that people don't really know how the profits and losses from stock sales (capital gains) are taxed at the federal level, much less the state level.  Depending on your income, they can be taxed at three different rates: 0%, 15%, or 20%.