Most people who sell their home don’t have to pay capital gains tax, even if the value of the home increased substantially while they owned it. But some people do owe tax, so if you’re thinking of selling, it’s important to know whether you can escape the IRS. Here are the rules: As a single person, you can generally exclude up to $250,000 in gain from a home sale. If you’re married and file jointly, you
A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors is challenging stereotypical notions of what’s important to men and women when it comes to buying a home. The survey asked single men, single women and married couples what house features were “very important” in their decisions about what to buy.
Next year, you’ll get a few extra days to file your 2015 income tax return. The District of Columbia will be observing Emancipation Day on Friday, April 15, 2016, the usual filing deadline. That moves the filing deadline for 2015 federal income tax returns to Monday, April 18. Residents of Massachusetts and Maine get one more day to file – to Tuesday, April 19 – due to Patriots’ Day.
Would you like to give your child a head start on smart money habits? Here’s a suggestion: Have the child invest in a Roth IRA. Why? The tax-free compounding of contributions and investment returns over your child’s lifetime is a great wealth-builder. Here’s what you need to know.
Don’t let penalties for underpaid taxes increase your tax bill next April. Check the total you’ve paid in for 2015 through withholding and/or estimated taxes. If you’ve underpaid, consider adjusting your withholding for the final months of the year or increasing your remaining quarterly estimate. If you employ household workers, be sure your calculations include the payroll taxes you’ll owe for them. Remember to include the 3.8% tax on net investment income in your planning too.
October 1 – Generally the deadline for businesses to adopt a SIMPLE retirement plan for 2015. October 15 – Filing deadline for 2014 individual tax returns on automatic six-month extension of the April 15 deadline. October 15 – If you converted a regular IRA to a Roth in 2014 and now want to switch back to a regular IRA, you have until October 15, 2015, to do so without penalty.
Here’s yet another example of how people who try to create their own wills, using a form taken from a book or the Internet, often shoot themselves in the foot.
We accumulate a lot of things over a lifetime, and at some point – often because of the death of a loved one, or because a senior is downsizing and moving – we need to get rid of some or all of them. An estate sale is one way to dispose of possessions that you no longer want or need.
Before it approves a medicine for human use, the federal Food and Drug Administration requires rigorous clinical trials to ensure that it is safe and effective. These clinical trials can take many years. But what about people who have life-threatening illnesses now, and who might benefit from an experimental treatment that is still a long way from approval? Currently, such patients have two options. One is to enter one of the clinical trials, but this is often impossible due
Medicare beneficiaries often buy “Medigap” insurance policies that pay for many of regular Medicare’s deductibles and copayments. But as a result of a new law passed by Congress, starting in 2020 Medigap plans will no longer be allowed to offer coverage of the Medicare Part B deductible, which is currently $147. However, current Medigap policyholders and those buying policies before 2020 will still be eligible for the deductible coverage after that date, so this is something to keep in
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