Unlike me, my sister is an actual accountant. When I was talking to her about her taxes a few months ago, my ears perked up when she said she was still itemizing deductions on her federal tax return, even though her itemized deductions were less than her standard deduction. Huh? I thought the equation was… Continue reading Should I Itemize My Deductions When My Standard Deduction is Higher?
I finally filed my 2020 taxes after filing for an extension last May. I hoped for additional tax changes related to the pandemic, making it advantageous to hold off filing. I would have been fine filing in May. As with every tax year, I learned new things, mostly about how I could reduce my taxes… Continue reading Taxes – 2020 Edition
We live in Northern Virginia and there are many government employees who frequently move their families to other areas of the country or world on two or three year stints, often cycling back into the area. This can make taxes and finances more complicated. In this post, I’ll walk through a hypothetical example of a… Continue reading Scenario: Partial Year Resident and 529s
It’s official! This is the first year I’ve filed for a tax extension. Every year I use the FreeFillableForms to fill out and submit my taxes. I was slightly concerned that I’d have to restart the process to file the extension. That was until I saw the nifty “File an Extension” button in the upper… Continue reading April 2021 Update
Tax Season – In Progress I finished filing the tax returns for both of my oldest two children. Both made well under $30k for the year. I laughed at how simple they were and also the sheer number of dark patterns that Turbotax employed to trick us into paying for what should have been a… Continue reading February 2021 Update
During the presidential election, one proposal put forth by the Biden campaign was to switch traditional 401(k) contributions from a tax deduction to a tax credit. With today’s current tax regime, when you make a contribution it reduces your taxes at your marginal rate, which for me is 22%, or 22 cents for every dollar… Continue reading 401(k) Deduction-vs-Credit
I jog regularly with two guys who, like me, both have college age kids like me. During our most recent jog, I explained the benefit of paying for college through a Virginia 529, even if you don’t have much time for the contribution to grow. After the run, I realized that a blog post with… Continue reading 529 Example Scenarios
My previous twenty tax returns are a treasure trove of lessons learned. In many ways, my experience can provide a road map for young, up and coming professionals that are fresh out of college and embarking on the rest of their life. Here’s a one sentence, Jeopardy-summary-plus-commentary for each of the previous twenty tax seasons.… Continue reading Twenty Years of Tax Lessons
Despite complications to my taxes, I have personally found the financial benefits of participating in employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) to outweigh the cons. What’s an ESPP? In a nutshell, ESPPs give employees the opportunity to buy company stock directly from the company at a discount. Employees choose a percentage of their salary to set… Continue reading A Tale of Two ESPPs
Every year I learn something new when I complete my taxes. This year was no different. A Seventeen Year-Old Is Not a Child The first thing I found out this year was that my oldest, who turned seventeen in 2019, no longer qualifies for the Child Tax Credit. I had thought I had until the… Continue reading Taxes – 2019 Edition
