Student Loan Debt – Paying and Avoiding It, Plus Tax Benefits
Despite recent rounds of forgiveness for thousands of borrowers, nearly 43 million Americans are responsible for roughly $1.6 trillion in federal student loans which results in a significant long-term burden for students after graduation. The average debt varies by state from $28,600 in North Dakota to $54,900 in the District of Columbia.
Although the U.S. Department of Education has, as a COVID-19 pandemic relief measure, currently suspended loan payments, reduced the interest rate to zero and stopped collections on defaulted loans, all that is scheduled to end after Aug. 31, 2022. Unfortunately, it is time start thinking about how to deal with the resumption of payments and interest charges
This article looks at the issue of student loan debt from an income tax perspective including…
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As the summer break from school approaches, many students are looking for part-time summer employment. Both parents and students should be aware of the tax issues that need to be considered when working a summer job. Here is a rundown of some of the more common issues:
There is a little-known disaster provision of the tax code that, where if an employer has adopted a leave-based donation program, the employees can forgo paid vacation, sick, or personal leave in exchange for their employer making equivalent cash payments to qualified charitable organizations. This does not necessarily mean the employee also forfeits the time off; it will not be paid time off to the extent it is converted to leave-based donation payments. 
When you got married, you and your spouse pledged your love for each other and promised to stand together through good times and bad, sickness and health. But what happens if your spouse turns out to be a tax cheat, and you signed a joint tax return without realizing it. Can you be held responsible?
When Congress enacts tax laws, many times whether the law applies is based on the age of the taxpayer or a taxpayer’s dependent. Reaching a certain age sometimes provides a tax benefit, while in other cases there’s a tax “penalty” – meaning that a specific type of income becomes taxable, or a credit no longer applies. Most of these age-related tax rules concern dependent children or retirement plan contributions or distributions. If you or a member of your tax family is having one of these special birthdays this year, you may be interested in knowing how your taxes will be affected, so here are some birthdays (or half-birthdays in a couple of cases) that have tax significance, listed by the age as of the birthday:
Taxpayers often question how long records must be kept and the amount of time IRS has to audit a return after it is filed.
If you have a second home in a resort area, or if you have been considering acquiring a second home or vacation home, and with summer just around the corner, you may have questions about how rental income is taxed for a part-time vacation-home rental. The applicable rental rules include some interesting twists that you should know about before you begin renting. Although some individuals prefer to never rent out their homes, others find such rentals to be a helpful way of covering the cost of the home. For a home that is rented out part time, one of three rules must be considered, based on the length of the rental: 
There’s an old saying that reminds us “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Whoever coined that phrase was talking about the world of small business accounting whether they realized it or not.
Have you ever wondered how long the IRS has to question and assess additional tax on your tax returns? For most taxpayers who reported all their income, the IRS has three years from the date of filing the returns to examine them. This period is termed the statute of limitations. But wait – as in all things taxes, it is not that clean cut. Here are some complications:
The real estate market is red hot, and plenty of folks nearing retirement and holding investment property see now as an excellent time to offload their real estate assets and reap the profits. If you’re one of them, then – tempting as it may be – make sure that you talk to your tax advisor before making that move.