I maintain that now is a good time to start your holiday shopping. You’ll go easier on your wallet that way. However, whether you start holiday shopping now or not, you can save some money between now and the holidays. All it takes is a little planning. Here are 3 things you can do right now to pad your holiday spending by Christmas:

Check your tax withholding: This is probably the way you can save the most. I like to try and get it so that my tax refund is $0. This is because if you are getting a tax return, …read more

What are you doing with your tax refund?

I prefer a tax return of $0

For the first time in years, we are getting a tax refund. A big part of the reason is the itemized deduction that comes from mortgage interest paid for an entire year. In light of this fact, it interested to me to learn that changes are on the way for mortgage interest tax deduction for those in the 33% and 35% tax brackets.
New mortgage interest tax deduction policy
As part of his efforts to cut the annual federal deficit in half by 2013, Barack Obama knows he needs to raise revenues. And one way to do this is to pay less …read more

Several people have been asking me how they can check the status of their tax refund, and how to figure out when they’ll get their tax rebate. So, here are the appropriate links from the IRS, answering those questions:

Check the status of your tax refund. You will need your SSN, filing status and refund amount shown on your tax return.
When will you get your tax rebate? This depends on three things: the last two digits of your SSN, when you filed your tax return, and whether you are doing direct deposit for your tax return. If you didn’t file by …read more

Not too long ago (last week), I mentioned that a $500 tax rebate idea for stimulating the economy was getting kicked around. That idea has been modified to a tax rebate in different amounts for different people, and is expected to be one of the points of a Bush economic plan. And it will probably work.
The government wants us to spend more money, and is willing to give it to us to spend (it builds “confidence” in the market, you see). And, as Americans, we usually do spend the money. Less than half of Americans with a significant tax refund …read more