Tumbling Taxes

Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. -- Herman Wouk, author

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Christmas Tree Farm, song and taxes

Growing up in desert West Texas, we didn't have trees, much less Christmas tree farms. But being a Hallmark Channel fan during the holidays, I've seen plenty of Christmas movies about these mini commercial forests.

And today, I discovered that Christmas Tree Farm is a Taylor Swift song.

Christmas trees and the farmers that grow them also is the subject of a post at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

It looks at the challenge that the live Christmas tree industry is facing from the artificial tree market. There's also some information on the ecological benefits of real holiday greenery.

And, of course, there are tax connections to the trees and the Christmas/holiday season.

Whatever kind of tree you have, real or fake, have yourself a Merry Christmas.

And if you need a break from the festivities, feel free to visit Don't Mess With Taxes for more seasonal and everyday tax matters, tax tips, and random and fun tax tidbits.

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Avoid Tax Turkeys

Thanksgiving is many things to many people.

Family and friends you haven't seen in ages. Lots and lots and lots of food. Football games.

For the hubby and me, it means watching the annual Macy's parade with its ginormous helium balloons separating the marching bands. This year was special, since one of those bands was the Goin' Band From Raiderland.

It was a thrill seeing my alma mater so well represented. The group looked right at home, trading in the football field for the streets of New York City, just ahead of the floating Grogu, or Baby Yoda as we still call him in our house.

Yes, the marchers definitely did Texas Tech University proud on Thanksgiving Day!

But now that things are getting back to normal, it's time to think about taxes again.

Notably, you should check out these five tax turkeys that you want to avoid. Making some tax moves now could save you some money now, as well as next filing season and even help out well into the future.

You can read more about each of the five featured tax turkeys — as well as find more on other holiday and everyday tax matters, tax tips, and random and fun tax tidbits, at my blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Don't be haunted by tax ghosts

Halloween may be the scariest season, but taxes can produce more year-round scares.

The CBS television show "Ghosts" is fun entertainment, but there's no joking around when it comes to ghost tax preparers and their scams, or the fraud costs caused by ghost employees and employers.

Every one of those spectral tax situations can be costly.

You can read more about other scary tax matters, as well as find tax tips and occasionally some fun tax tidbits, at my blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Taxpayer privacy is a right

By law, all federal taxpayers have fundamental rights when they're interacting with the Internal Revenue Service.

A formal Taxpayer Bill of Rights enumerating these 10 principles was adopted in 2014 at the urging of the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

The video above elaborates on the 10 rights you have as a taxpayer.

Hunter Biden, the beleaguered son of President Joe Biden, has been under IRS investigation for alleged tax violations. A deal to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges fell apart this summer, in part due to public pressure that ramped up after IRS whistleblowers came forward to discuss the case.

Now the younger Biden is suing the IRS, alleging that the agency did not follow its own mandated Taxpayer Bill of Rights when it came to his tax privacy.

You can find more on Biden's lawsuit in my tax blog's post Hunter Biden sues IRS over tax disclosures.

You also can read more about IRS actions and tax laws, as well as find tax tips and occasionally some fun tax tidbits at my blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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School and their expenses are back

School has started, and most young students are excited to head to class.

They're thrilled to finally see their friends after a summer break, as well as resume learning.

CoComelon Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs' video captures the joy of heading to school. Sorry about the wheels on the bus earworm.

Ah, youth. Educational enthusiasm, at least for the structured kind, tends to wane as they climb the K-12 ladder.

One thing is constant, though, from kindergarten to high school to college and beyond. Education can be costly.

The tax code offers some help through a variety of educational tax breaks that can help offset some school costs. You'll find some popular ones in the post A Quick Lesson on 8 Education Tax Breaks.

You can read more about educational tax breaks and other tax matters in my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Get ready for upcoming sales tax holidays

OK, Macklemore doesn't have to wait for back-to-school tax holiday sales. But his song "Thift Shop" might be worth adding to your shopping playlist.

Maclemore and Ryan Lewis, featuring Wanz. Check the volume on this official video. You might want to lower it if you're at work or young kids are around. It includes explicit language.

The rest of us, though, are always looking for bargains. And we can save a few bucks by shopping the sales tax holidays that pop up in several states every summer.

This year, 17 states were on the tax holiday calendar. Three of them started and ended in July. But 14 are still underway, like in Florida, or scheduled for August.

The upcoming tax-free August events will be, in addition to this week in the Sunshine State, in Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.

You can read more about sales tax holidays and other tax saving posts at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Per-mile fees replacing fuel tax losses

No, I still write a tax blog, not an auto one, even though this is the second straight month with a vehicular peg. For June, it's a look at an automotive tax trend, specifically taxing motorists for the miles they drive instead of the fuel their vehicle uses.

Per-mile taxation has been happening in Oregon since 2015. That's fitting, since the first scenic drive in the Geography King video. below is the Beaver State's Pacific Coast.

There's about a minute of introduction before the drive images show up.

Utah, and Virginia have implemented per-mileage vehicle taxes. Hawai'i is poised to be the fourth. The U.S. Department of Transportation soon sill conduct a national per-mile charge pilot program.

The reason for the mile-based charges? Money. States and Uncle Sam are losing more traditional fossil fuel taxes as newer vehicles get better mileage and more electric autos hit the country's roads.

You can read more about auto-related taxes and lots of other taxes in my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Rimac Nevera doesn't make U.S. EV tax credit cut

When we hear electric car, most of us think of a more environmentally friendly auto. Not fans of the Rimac Nevera.

This all-electric two-seater sports car, designed and manufactured by the Croatian automotive manufacturer Rimac Automobili, recently smashed 23 Performance World Records.

Top Gear's Chris Harris takes a Rimac Nevera for a road test to see if the 1,888 bhp electric hypercar, with its 6,960-cell 120 kWh battery, really is the fastest car on the planet.

You won't see Nevera on U.S. roads, however. The production run is a minimal 150; former Formula 1 Champion Nico Rosberg got the first one. That's fitting, since it takes someone worth $50 million like Rosberg to drop 2 million euros on the auto.

And while the Internal Revenue Code's EV tax credit favors the wealthy, and the credit has been bumped up to $7,500 U.S., the Nevera costs way too much to qualify. Plus, it obviously doesn't have the American-made components required for the tax break.

You can read more about more mundane EVs and taxes in my recent posts 2 federal projects announced to improve EV charging options, and Texas joins the electric vehicle fee club.

You can find many more auto and energy related tax items at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Tips to help meet Tax Day April 18 deadline

Tax Day 2023 is Tuesday, April 18. Have you filed your 2022 Form 1040 yet?

Catnip probably isn't deductible, but that's what happens when cats get involved in taxes.

If you're trying to make that deadline, check out these last weekend before Tax Day filing tips.

You can find many more tax filing tips at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

In addition to such practical filing info to help you make the filing deadline or get an extension to file, you'll also find updates on tax legislation, state information, more tax advice and planning ideas, as well as tax fun stuff . Really. Tax! Fun! Stuff!

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Avoid these tax mistakes

We all make mistakes every day. But at tax time, they can be costly

If only our errors sounded as good as Lake Street Dive's "Mistakes".

Some tax mistakes are common ones that the Internal Revenue Service sees every filing season. Here are 10 tax errors that you can avoid.

You can find more tax filing tips at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

In addition to such practical filing info, you'll also find updates on tax legislation, state information, more tax advice and planning ideas, as well as tax fun stuff . Really. Tax! Fun! Stuff!

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It is state tax time, too

Only eight states — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming — have no personal income tax.

That means that the majority of U.S. taxpayers also must file state tax returns every year in addition to their federal 1040s.

As this Avett Brothers cover of the Woody Guthrie classic notes, it's a big country. And residents of most of the United States also must file state tax returns.

Most of the state-tax collecting states, and the District of Columbia, follow the Internal Revenue Service filing calendar, which means the returns are due this year on April 18.

So if you've yet to file any tax return, be sure when you start that you've set aside enough time to do your state taxes — and, for some filers, local taxes — too.

You can find tips to help you make your state and federal filings easier and less costly at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

In addition to practical filing info, you'll also find there lots more tax advice and planning ideas, as well as tax news and fun — Really! Tax fun! stuff.

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Tax Season 2023 is underway

The annual federal tax season starts today. Are you ready?

The classic comedy duo of Elaine May and Mike Nichols put out these public service announcements back in the day to encourage people to file.

You can find tips to help you make it through the full filing season, from today's Jan 23 opening all the way to Tax Day on April 18 this year or the extended filing deadline in October, at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.

In addition to practical filing info, you'll also find there lots more tax advice and planning ideas to help start reducing your 2023 tax bill, which started adding up the minute we flipped the calendar to the new 2023 tax year.

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Happy Holidays! Now take care of end-of-year tax tasks

I hope you had a Holly Jolly Christmas or, if you don't celebrate the holiday, some days off to do what you wanted.

This mechanical Santa is rockin' under, in not around, the Christmas tree.

But as soon as business gets back to usual on Tuesday, Dec. 27, you have just a few days to take care of necessary end-of-year tax tasks. They include —

*Giving your portfolio one final once over and determining whether you need to harvest any tax losses.

*Donating to your favorite charity.

*Converting your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

*Taking your 2022 required minimum distribution (RMD) from your tax-deferred retirement accounts if you're 72 or older (or had to take RMDs at 70½ before the law changed).

Dec. 31 technically is the final deadline, but that's a Saturday. That means you'll need to take care of most of these transactions by end of business on Friday, Dec. 30.

So take care of these tax tasks that apply to you in the coming days.

You can find about them at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes, which also will help you get ready for the new tax matters that will ring in along with the new 2023 tax year.

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Don't let Tax Turkeys gobble up your savings

We just wrapped up Turkey Day, and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We all have at least a little for which we are thankful.

But when it comes to taxes, many of us too often face tax turkeys that cost us.

"Talking turkey" in non-poultry situations means getting the straight to the point with practical advice. But for specialized bird callers, it means actually talking to Texas' wild turkeys, as shown in this Texas Parks and Wildlife video.

Several tax turkeys involve deadlines, usually at the end of the year. Others can crop up, and be handled, at any time of the year.

The key is to not let these tax turkeys — five of which are detailed at my main tax blog, Don't Mess With Taxes — gobble up your money and/or tax savings.

Check out all of them, starting with Tax Turkey to Avoid #1: Incorrect withholding and how to adjust it. At the end of that post, you'll find links to the other four tax turkeys.

Once you're done with these potentially foul fowl-themed tax issues, check out the rest of Don't Mess With Taxes for more on other holiday tax topics and, well, more tax information to help you master seasonal and year-round tax matters.

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Halloween scares: costumes, movies, and taxes

Sure, Halloween has a reputation, but we all know that the scariest day of the year is Tax Day.

OK, maybe April 15 doesn't have a theme song like John Carpenter's creepy piano intro to his genre defining 1978 movie that set the cinematic standard for its 10/31 title. It still gives me chills every time I hear it.

The official trailer for the original Halloween movie that scared the crap out of me and launched the decades-long film franchise.

If you're looking for some less dramatic cinematic scares, check out my main tax blog post with suggestions of great tax-related movies.

Once there at Don't Mess With Taxes, you also can find more on entertainment (movies, music, and books) and taxes, as well as IRL tax tips to help you get through filing season and face Tax Day unafraid.

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No hurricane sharks, but land shark scammers

A video reputedly taken as the Gulf of Mexico surged into Fort Myers, Florida, during landfall of Hurricane Ian on Sept. 28, shows what the poster says is a shark in a flooded park.

Doctored images and videos of sharks in hurricane flooded areas are the internet's version of the schlocky cable TV Sharknado movie series.

"You may be more likely to see alligators, snakes, and bears, so remember to stay alert and give them space," said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officials.

Another thing that's also likely to happen after natural disasters is scams by crooks looking to take advantage of people whose property was damaged.

My post at my main blog Don't Mess With Taxes has tips to help you spot and avoid these unscrupulous scam artists and con men/women.

You also can find more disaster related tips, such as preparing for storms, as well as ways the tax code can help you recover, at Don't Mess With Taxes.

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Excise tax costs of FDA proposed cigar ban

OK, I'll admit it. When I smoked, mostly cigarettes, I got a kick out of blowing smoke rings.

This contestant on Bulgaria's Got Talent shows off his smoke blowing expertise.

I gave up nicotine as a wedding gift to the hubby. And I recommend that all smokers kick the habit for health reasons.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to do more than recommend. It wants to band flavored cigars, along with menthol cigarettes.

More than 71,000 people commented on the FDA's proposed cigar rule. A lot of them cited the tax cost of doing away with legal sales of these tobacco product.

As we wait for the final FDA rule, you can read more about other sin taxes.

You also can find more about other taxes at my main tax blog Don't Mess With Taxes.