In order to reduce federal income taxes on your mutual funds, avoid buying mutual funds near the distribution date, buy index funds which typically have little to no capital gains or dividend distributions, buy a tax-managed mutual funds, or harvest other capital losses to offset your capital gains (If you have more capital losses than gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 of those capital losses from your earned income. And if you still have losses left over, you can carry those over into the next tax year). The full range of strategies to minimize your taxes on investment gains is explained in this article:
Category: Federal Income Taxes
Federal income tax issues including IRS tax problems, installment agreements, offers-in-compromise, ways to lower your income taxes.
Common Tax Filing Mistakes to Avoid
From filing status errors to incomplete info on charitable deductions, don’t delay receipt of your refund with any of these common tax filing mistakes (courtesy of Yahoo! Finance and Bankrate, Inc.):
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/avoid-10-common-tax-filing-100000908.html
Is the gain on the sale of my home taxable?
Is the capital gain on the sale of my home taxable income? When you sell your home, federal tax law allows exclusion of up to $250,000 for single filers ($500,000 for joint filers) of capital gain if the home has been your principal residence for two of the preceding five years.
With respect to the exclusion of gain from sale of principal residence, the Internal Revnue Code provides that “gross income shall not include gain from the sale or exchange of property if, during the 5-year period ending on the date of the sale or exchange, such property has been owned and used by the taxpayer as the taxpayer’s principal residence for periods aggregating 2 years or more.” 26 USC § 121.
Ways to Lower Your Income Taxes
Looking for ways to lower your income taxes? Although this article from Kiplinger’s is a few years old, it still contains some good suggestions to lower your income taxes such as increasing your 401(k) contribution, increasing your Flexible Spending Account contribution, harvesting capital losses, and deducting capital expenditures:
http://www.kiplinger.com/article/taxes/T054-C001-S001-10-ways-to-lower-your-taxes.html
How do I resovle IRS Tax Problems?
If you are a taxpayer who owes income tax debts to the Internal Revenue Service, you may be asking yourself: “How to defend against an IRS tax or federal tax levy?” or “How can I resolve my federal income tax problems?” or “What should I do about my unfiled federal income tax returns and unpaid IRS tax debts/federal income tax debts, penalties and interest?” Chicago tax attorney and CPA Brian J. Thompson can assist you in resolving your unpaid federal income taxes and federal income tax problems with the IRS.
What should you do if the IRS sends you a Notice of Tax Due and Demand for Payment, a Notice of Federal Tax Lien, or a Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing?
Do not ignore collection actions by the IRS which may include seizure and sale of property
held by you or levy of property that is yours but held by someone else (such as your wages,
retirement accounts, bank accounts, rental income, accounts receivable). The first step is to determine your true tax liability to the IRS, including any failure-to-file penalties, failure-to-pay penalties, and interest. This first step may include filing any unfiled tax returns or correcting prior tax returns. The next step in resolving your IRS tax debts involves paying the IRS what you owe. If you don’t have the money to pay your unpaid back taxes and federal tax debts now, an installment agreement or offer in compromise might be right for you.