This video is actually about 6 months old - but it gave me another reason to like Warren. He is (or has been) fighting to increase the tax rate on the rich and lower it for the middle class.
(added 05/07 - oops, it turns out the video isn’t showing up in some browsers… so here is the link if you can’t see it…)
His tax rate is lower than mine - how about everyone else?
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This is a guest post from Chad over at GoingGazelle. Chad is a volunteer Financial Peace University coordinator and a volunteer Crown Money Map Coach.
IIAS Flexible Spending Accounts: Swipe Twice & Reduce Your Taxes!
A lesson in Personal Finance from a Wal-Mart Cashier
I wish I could tell you my vast knowledge of Personal Finance led me to discover and write this tip. However, this post was driven by a lesson from a Wal-Mart cashier. My wife accidentally used her FSA debit card to pay for some purchases instead of our normal debit card. We had some Tums and Dora the Explorer Band-aids in the cart. The Wal-Mart register recognized those two items were approved for FSA and debited them from the FSA account. The rest of the materials we had to pay for by swiping a normal debit card or pay cash.
The cashier then explained that their register system was “smart” enough to allow us to pay for FSA reimbursable materials with some types of FSA debit cards. Because the approval took place at the point of sale, we no longer had to submit receipts for items purchased at Wal-Mart. I didn’t even realize that either item would be approved as an FSA expense.
The original FSA programs work like this. Your employer deducts money from your pay check tax free and put into a savings account with an FSA vendor. You would go out buy items, track all of your receipts, mail or fax them in and wait for approval. The FSA company would manually look through your receipts, if the expenses were allowed, they would mail you back a refund check. In essence, any approved health care expenses were paid for with tax free income. It is small bit of a paperwork, but worth the hassle in my opinion.
Then FSA vendors improved their services by issuing Visa or Mastercard branded debit cards which you could pay for health care services. Instead of paying out of pocket and seeking reimbursement, you can use the FSA debit card at the merchant to pay for the item. No cash out of pocket. You only had to mail in or fax back the receipt. Every transaction on the debit card had to be supported by mailing in paperwork. Again the FSA vendor would manually review the paperwork and approve each transaction. If you used the debit card for an unapproved expense you had to mail them a check for that amount of money.
Welcome to the new standard: Inventory Inventory Approval System - IIAS
Now the FSA vendors have worked out a point-of-sale approval system with major retailers such as Wal-Mart, CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens. Every item in the store is evaluated to see if it meets federal FSA reimbursement guidelines. The register system now knows which items are approved by the government for FSA account purchases.
When you use an IIAS debit card at Wal-Mart, it only allows you to pay for the items approved by the Federal government. By automating the approval at the Point-of-Sale, the consumer does NOT have to fill out forms and submit paperwork any more. The FSA vendor does not have to manually verify that paperwork. This makes life easier on the consumer and the FSA vendor. (Its always a good idea to keep receipts just in case).
The IIAS system went into effect on January 1st, 2008. The list of IIAS approved FSA administrators and merchants is growing. The next time open enrollment comes around. Check out your employer’s FSA options. Tax reductions are getting hard and harder to come by.
If you are lucky enough to have an IIAS administrator of your FSA, when shopping at Wal-Mart or any other IIAS merchant, swipe the FSA card first and see what happens to be in your basket that the government will let you purchase with tax free income. Our family has been doing this for about a month. We’re amazed at how many items we normally purchase quality for this tax reduction measure.
Click for more information about IIAS FSAs
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The H&R Block TaxCut Giveaway
If you haven’t done your taxes yet, you may be in luck.
I have TWO H&R Block Flash Drives containing TaxCut 2007 Premium Federal + State. A $45 value, these reusable 1 GB USB Flash Drives contain everything you need to complete your federal and state taxes, guidance for every personal tax situation, step-by-step interview guides, advice on how to find the deductions you deserve and advanced tools for investors and business owners (product demo).
H&R Block also recently launched their online community called DIGITS. They created the site to extend the tax office experience and better connect with its customers online. DIGITS contains features like “Tax Tip of the Week” and “Ask a Tax Advisor” (which links visitors to an H&R Block tax pro), Digits also has a bunch of personal finance podcasts.
What is great about this package is that it allows you to do Federal, State, and eFile all for FREE. You won’t spend 2 hours plugging in information only to find out that you have to pay an extra $20. I have two of them available, so I will randomly pick TWO numbers this week.
If you have already finished your taxes, sorry!!
What do I have to do to win the TaxCut software?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win the TaxCut software just type “TaxCut” in the comments below before 7:00 p.m. CST on March 16th
A few more notes about the TaxCut giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win.
- The winner will be announced on March 17th in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not subscribe?
Technorati Tags: TaxCut giveaway, Tax software
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I-Can tax filing service
Thanks to Flexo I recently found out about I-Can!! online tax filing service. I-Can is a not-for-profit organization that is seeking to help people save some money on tax prep rather than spending a fortune just to get your taxes done.
Unlike most online tax prep services who offer free Federal filing, but charge for filing for your state taxes - I-Can files the state return for free as well (if you happen to be in one of the few states the offer.)
Their site looks very BASIC and doesn’t appear to have any bells or whistles, but it’s free - so I guess we can’t really complain…
I have not used them before and honestly I don’t know if I will, since all of my data from the previous years is loaded with H&R Block online. I don’t really enjoy the tax filing process and am happy to pay $25 for the state filing to make the pain go away quicker!! 
Here are a few things they mention on the I-Can site…
I-CAN!™ E-file can help you file your taxes for FREE. There is no income limit to use I-CAN!™ E-file. Just answer simple questions on each screen and print your completed tax return. I-CAN!™ E-file can also e-file (electronically file) your return to the IRS (and your state if applicable).
You can generally use I-CAN!™ E-file unless you own a business, are a church employee or clergy member, sold real estate in 2007 or you or your employer have a non-US address. If you are in the military or you are disabled you may be eligible for tax credits that are not included in I-CAN!™ E-file.
Bottom line: I would say if you are trying hard to save a few bucks and you live in one of the states they offer, it may be worth your time. If not, I would suggest using the option below…
Other options for free online tax filing
Free Federal filing of your taxes
If your adjusted gross income was $54,000 or less in 2007, you can use Free File to prepare and e-file your taxes online.
Check out how to get free Federal tax filing online for the step-by-step process. What you will find is that most major online tax preparation companies are part of this free file program, but you will not be able to access it UNLESS you go through the IRS site. If you go directly to the company’s site, often they will make it difficult to find the free file hoping that you will just give up and pay for filing.
These are a few of the advantages of using the IRS’s free e-file system:
- Get a faster refund, in as little as 10 days with Direct Deposit.
- File your taxes at anytime: day or night.
- Save paper—and that helps all of us.
- Benefit from Free File’s automatic checks for accuracy.
- Receive a quick confirmation within 48 hours that your return was received.
- Know that your return is safe and secure.
Technorati Tags: free tax filing, free online tax
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These three items actually have something to do with each other.
As you well know [tag]Barry Bonds[/tag] recently hit his record-breaking homerun and his ball was caught by a 21 year old kid. Last I heard the fan, [tag]Matt Murphy[/tag], was not going to sell the ball.This brings up an interesting issue regarding [tag]taxes[/tag]. According to some tax professionals as soon as Matt caught the ball it became income to him based on a fair estimate of the value of the ball. The ball is estimated to be worth over a half a million dollars. In the top tax bracket this could be a tax bill of over $150,000 for Matt.According to one tax lawyer:
Even if he does not sell the ball, Murphy would still owe the taxes based on a reasonable estimate of its value. Capital gains taxes also could be levied in the future as the ball gains value.
So, according to this lawyer, if he does not sell the ball he will still owe over $150,000 in taxes this year. He is a college kid. Something just doesn’t seem right about this.
Any thoughts?
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Or do you hate to get money back, knowing that you loaned it to the government at 0% interest? I must admit that I enjoy getting a check back for a few hundred dollars more than breaking even with my taxes. Wisdom says it is best to break even - so that is what I try to shoot for, but who would argue that it is more fun to get $50 back rather than pay $50?
It turns out the IRS has a calculator on their website that will help you calculate how much tax you should have withheld from your paycheck. Once you round up the necessary documents, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to complete.
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html
Let me know what you think.
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The federal government started a program in 2003 to give 70% of the country’s taxpayers a break. It is called the Free File program. The program allows you to complete and submit your federal tax return online at one of many different tax prep companies (i.e. H&R Block, TurboTax, etc.). The catch is that you MUST go through the links on the IRS website. I have found that most of the companies do not advertise this service because they don’t get much out of it. To take advantage of it follow the below steps:
1. Go to the IRS Free File page. http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html
2. Once you click “Start Now!” you will be given the option of many different tax prep companies, if you go through these links you will be able to get the advertised “Free File.”
3. Read over each company’s description to be sure that you will be eligible for Free File with their service.
Keep in mind that most of the tax prep companies will not provide a free state return. Also, most of them require and AGI of $52,000 or less.
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