Author Archives: Steven R Patterson

Cash

8 Tips For Making And Saving Money

In just a few days, it will be 2016 and we are eager for its arrival. We have some big projects planned for this coming year and we are working hard now to prepare for success. Some of our time is being spent looking for ways to increase our income and reduce our expenses as a family, saving money In 2016.

Increasing your Income in 2016
Who would not want to have more money left over for their budget? If you want to increase your 2016 income a little, now is the best time to plan.

Look over your TurboTax 2015 W-4. Recently, my husband had Human Resources send an email to all the employees to remind them there were some withholding changes in North Carolina. It was good for us to be reminded as well, since we have not really looked over our withholding in a while. If you haven’t looked at your Turbo Tax 2013 return in a couple of years, you might want to take a few minutes to look at it. Make sure your retirement benefits, flexible spending plan and health insurance are all correct. Make sure you are are taking advantage of the opportunities available to you to decrease the amount you pay in taxes. It might be time to find a health plan that is more affordable and accommodates your family better. If your employer offers a 401(k) match, make sure you are getting the max amount.

Saving Money In 2016
Saving Money In 2016

Make some extra money with a hobby. Do you play a musical instrument, handcraft something or enjoy number crunching? Talk to your friends, neighbors and extended family and see if you can teach them a skill or assist them for a little extra money on the side. We have a neighbor that is a very good builder and we bought a cat box from him. It was better than what we found for sale in stores and it was better-built and he got a little extra money from doing something he liked. Everybody won.

Sell your things. As we are tidying up our home in preparation for putting it on the market, we have been downsizing and getting rid of things that we do not really want or have not used in a long time. It really is crazy how much stuff you can accumulate without realizing it. If you sell some of your extra stuff, you can increase the space in your home and accumulate a little extra money. Craigslist and other similar sites make it free and easy to unload your extra stuff.

Saving Money in the New Year

You can make more room in your budget by streamlining your month to month bills and doing some things yourself. Weatherproof your house. You do not need to spend a lot of money on this to make a dent. Make sure there are no drafts or leaks so that you do not drain your wallet dry.

Check out your phone plan. Cell phone bills have gotten expensive for some people. Lots of people just sign a two year contract so they can get the newest iPhone model and do not count up the true cost. Some cell phone companies offer great plans that offer unlimited services for a small portion of the cost of a plan with one of the larger companies. Ting, Republic Wireless and other companies have smartphone plans that cost about $25 per month.

Compare prices on insurance. We halved out insurance a few years ago just by switching companies. Now you can go online to look at plans and compare prices for life, health, home and car insurance. Do not just go with the cheapest plan. Find one that offers the best value, as well.

Skip cable. You probably do not need cable anymore, now that options like Hulu Plus, Netflix and Roku are available. Even if you decide you would rather have cable, you should probably shop around and see if you can find a better deal somewhere else which could split the bundle.

Thoughts on Saving and Making Money for 2016
I talked about a few ways you can increase your savings, but I would love to hear more. What financial goals have you set for 2016? What do you want to achieve in the coming year?

2014 Tax Return

Optimize Savings On Your Tax Return

It’s always difficult to be caught up in a mad rush at the end of the tax season to get your federal taxes filed on-time. Filing at the last minute is bound to be particularly stressful this year due to the scaled back phone support from the IRS and the additional requirements set by the Affordable Care Act. Here are some tax changes to take note of now so you are not surprised down the stretch with your 2014 Tax Return.

Tax Breaks

Sales tax can be deducted once again thanks to the last minute efforts in Congress. The primary beneficiaries of this measure are resident of states that have no income tax, as well as those living in states will considerably low income taxes. There is an IRS Sales Tax Deduction Calculator online to help assess the amount covered.

2014 Tax Return

Mortgage insurance premiums may also be deducted in some cases. Only people with a 2014 gross income that is less than $109,000 and who took out the loan after 2006 are eligible for the tax break. Programs like TurboTax Online will make the calculation for you automatically when you enter your income and your mortgage insurance paid.

Seniors are also going to get a couple additional breaks this year thanks to Congress. Those who are 70 and a half years of age may transfer as much as $100,000 from their individual retirement account (IRA) to a qualified charity. This will not be included in the gross income but instead count as the required minimum distribution. This may reduce taxes on Social Security benefits and avoid the Medicare high income surcharge.

Note that these tax breaks are only for the 2014 tax return. Congress has not made them permanent and the changing political landscape is likely to affect their renewal for the following year. Make sure to check several online tax resources next tax season to make sure they were renewed again.

Investment Income Tax

Single taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes in excess of $200,000 and married taxpayers with $250,000 or more may have to pay 3.8% surtax on their investments. Tax-exempt interest is not covered by the surtax.

Fraud With Taxes

Criminals Benefit Via Fraud With Taxes

As with any online program, Turbo Tax 2013 has had its share of people trying to fraud the users by stealing sensitive login information. The reason that this happens is because people are not careful when they log into the system, or they do not ensure that their connection is safe. Here’s many ways to avoid Fraud With Taxes:

Criminals have systematically started to target Turbo Tax simply because it is a site where many people are now going to do their taxes without the help of an expensive tax refund business.

The Internal Revenue Service has reported major losses in its income since this type of fraud has been going on, but they are not the only ones. The customer is the one who also suffers when they are not receiving their full tax income. Sophisticated programs being used by criminals on the Internet are to blame for this, but also the method of encryption used on the site.

Fraud With Taxes
Photo by HM Revenue & Customs Fraud With Taxes

Keeping your password safe can help you to be sure that you will not have to worry about hacking in that regard, as is any type of malware protection on your computer. Intuit does offer some state-of-the-art protection for this, but it is also your duty to ensure that fraudulence does not happen on your part. This is all about the safety of you and your tax refund, after all. Always keep your Turbotax login tax return 2014 information safe.

TurboTax Deluxe

TurboTax Deluxe Buyers To Get Free Premier Upgrades

TurboTax, a popular tax filing software recently announced that it will offer users free upgrade to the premier version of the software on 7 February, 2015. The catch: only TurboTax Deluxe users will be able to avail it.

A spokeswoman for the company told the press that starting the coming Saturday, users will be able to click on a link in their TurboTax software to upgrade to the home or business version of the Premier version of TurboTax. The announcement has outraged devoted users of the desktop version of the TurboTax Deluxe because, for this season, the Premier version will effectively replace the older tax preparation software after the free upgrade.

TurboTax Deluxe
Photo by State Farm

Users who bought TurboTax Deluxe software this year were angered by the company’s decision to remove capital gain reporting capabilities from the new edition. Self-employed taxpayers, to whom this feature was indispensable, found themselves forced to spend 50% more than the TurboTax on buying the Premier version. TurboTax is an operation of Inuit, a company that specializes in making financial software solutions.

The Deluxe version’s hitherto loyal following protested on Amazon and tax software forums. Meanwhile, TurboTax’s H&R department tried to placate angered users with free updates for their copies of the software.

Inuit’s CEO, Brad Smith has apologized to buyers for not explicitly alerting them of the change beforehand.

The company began damage control by offering $25 refunds to all TurboTax Deluxe customers whose process of filing their 2014 Taxes was hampered by the changes in the Deluxe version of the software.
Next, the company offered free upgrades to the Premier version and has promised to restore the deducted capabilities to TurboTax Deluxe next year.

Buyers of TurboTax Deluxe receive their upgrades starting Saturday.

Intuit Apologizes To Upset Customers

Recent changes to the TurboTax Deluxe edition has caused the owners of the software, Intuit, to apologize to customers. Many customers had to spend more to upgrade to another version to get the features they needed, and they will receive a refund.

Sasan Goodarzi is general manager and acknowledges that the company has caused customers frustration and anger.

Many loyal TurboTax 2014 customers were outraged when they found out about the downsizing of the TurboTax deluxe edition. Customers – many of them loyal for years – had to spend between $30 and $40 to upgrade to other editions to get certain features. These included the forms used to report income from rental property, self employment and investments, Schedules C D E and F.

Intuit TurboTax Apologizes To Upset Customers
Photo by jurvetson

Anyone using TurboTax 2014 to file their return and who used the company’s software last year but had to spend money to upgrade this year will receive a $25 refund. Customers will need to give their social security number and must apply for the refund after they have filed their 2014 tax return.

The online version had already had the Schedules C D E and F removed, and Intuit explained in its apologetic email to customers that the changes were implemented to ensure a consistent customer experience across different platforms. Julie Miller is VP of communications at Intuit and she pointed out to NBC news that customers were not informed of this information in a timely or an effective way and definitely deserved an apology.

Using Turbo Tax For Your Taxes

The Internal Revenue Service says that the tax-filing season starts on January 20, 2015. Taxpayers have the okay to start filing their 2014 taxes via TurboTax on this day. Although Congress passed a last minute tax law that has already been signed by President Barack Obama, this will not delay the start of the tax-filing season.

At the beginning of the month, Congress passed a bill that extends over 50 tax breaks that expired at the beginning of 2014. This law, which was signed into law by the President on December 19, provides extensions for each of these tax breaks until the end of 2014. This gives taxpayers the ability to take advantage of these tax breaks for the 2014 tax season.

Traditionally, the tax-filing season has always been delayed when Congress passed last minute tax laws. But according to John Koskinen, the IRS Commissioner, there will be no delay this tax season.

Using Turbo Tax photo

Photo by DonkeyHotey

The IRS Commissioner says that the agency looked at the latest tax law changes and ascertained that there weren’t any changes that prevented them from performing their normal updates and tests.

Millions of taxpayers like to file their taxes via TurboTax at the beginning of the year so that they can get back early refunds. This happens every year for those who choose to file electronically by using a tax software program such as TurboTax.

The IRS says that in the past few years it gave out most electronic tax refunds within three weeks. The agency states that filing an electronic tax return via TurboTax is the quickest way to obtain a tax refund.

Not too long ago, the IRS Commissioner stated to the press that there may be a delay with taxes 2014 for tax refunds because of internal IRS budget cuts. But he would not give a time frame for the delays associated with taxes 2014.

It is estimated that close to 150 million individual tax returns will be filed by the Internal Revenue Service for taxes in 2014. The average tax refund is normally about $2,800.