Most retirement plan distributions are subject to income tax and may be subject to an additional penalty if you take an early withdrawal. What’s considered early? In general, it’s when participants take money out of a traditional IRA or other qualified retirement plan before age 59½. Such distributions are generally taxable and may be subject to a 10% penalty tax.
The IRS announced it opened the 2023 individual income tax return filing season on January 23. That’s when the agency began accepting and processing 2022 tax year returns. Even if you typically don’t file until much closer to the mid-April deadline (or you file for an extension), consider filing earlier this year. The reason is you can potentially protect yourself from tax identity theft.
Continue Reading: Why you might want to file early and answers to other tax season questions
A new law was recently signed that will help Americans save more for retirement, although many of the provisions don’t kick in for a few years. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement 2.0 Act (SECURE 2.0) was signed into law on December 29, 2022.
Continue Reading: SECURE 2.0 law may make you more secure in retirement
If you own a home and rent it to a relative, you may be surprised to find out there could be tax consequences.
Continue Reading: Renting to a relative? Watch out for tax traps
If you’re thinking about selling stock shares at a loss to offset gains that you’ve realized during 2022, it’s important to watch out for the “wash sale” rule.
Continue Reading: Selling stock by year-end? Watch out for the wash sale rule
As you may know, you can’t keep funds in your traditional IRA indefinitely. You have to start taking withdrawals from a traditional IRA (including a SIMPLE IRA or SEP IRA) when you reach age 72.
The rules for taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) are complicated, so here are some answers to frequently asked questions.
Continue Reading: Answers to your questions about taking withdrawals from IRAs
The overall stock market has been down during 2022 but there have been some bright spots. As year-end approaches, consider making some moves to make the best tax use of paper losses and actual losses from your stock market investments.
Continue Reading: Strategies for investors to cut taxes as year-end approaches
The holiday season is here and many people plan to donate to their favorite charities or give money or assets to their loved ones before the end of the year. Here are the basic tax rules involved in these transactions.
Many people have savings bonds that were purchased many years ago. Perhaps they were given to your children as gifts or maybe you bought them yourself. You may wonder how the interest you earn is taxed. And if they reach final maturity, what action do you need to take to ensure there’s no loss of interest or unanticipated tax consequences?
Two tax benefits are available to offset the expenses of adopting a child. In 2022, adoptive parents may be able to claim a credit against their federal tax for up to $14,890 of “qualified adoption expenses” for each child. This will increase to $15,950 in 2023. That’s a dollar-for-dollar reduction of tax.
Continue Reading: Adopting a child? Bring home a tax break too