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MoneyTips The last few years have been difficult ones for the IRS with respect to security issues, and the agency is determined to improve security during this year’s filing. Electronic filing is particularly vulnerable because of the speed of the process — it is a favorite method among thieves who steal information from taxpayers and
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If you have done your homework leading into retirement, you probably already know that Social Security benefits may be subject to federal taxes under certain circumstances. Did you know that some states also impose taxes on Social Security? Currently there are thirteen states that impose at least some tax on the benefits of Social Security
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Help the Renters, Too For years, cities have struggled to help lower-income Americans find affordable housing. Many housing assistance programs approach this problem through making home mortgages more affordable. However, a new test program in Montana addresses an underserved area of the housing market – affordable rental homes – by making loans to help people
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According to Collegedata.com, the average annual cost of tuition and fees for the 2017-2018 school year was $9,970 at an average public college for in-state residents. Out-of-state collegians paid an average of $25,620, while those attending private colleges saw average bills of $34,740. Throw in a typical $10,000-$12,000 for housing and meals, another $1,200 for
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When using the Life Insurance Quote Comparison Tool on MoneyTips, you can see multiple carriers and rates. Daily, we receive new applications for life insurance through this channel. When I see a new application, I know that an intelligent person has made a choice to get coverage, and that they likely did some investigating before
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Taxpayers tend to shy away from taking the home office deduction, assuming that they will be targeted for increased scrutiny from the IRS. That is certainly possible, especially if your deductions are unusually large – but if you truly were entitled to the deduction, why wouldn’t you take it? You may feel that you have
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What two words cause the most panic to Americans? There are probably a hundred funny responses running through your mind right now, but we were thinking of a less humorous response: “IRS audit.” Your odds of avoiding an audit are usually pretty good. The IRS reviewed 1.03 million tax returns in fiscal year (FY) 2016,
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Policymakers have been struggling to identify ways to deal with America’s staggering student loan debt. As of January 2018, Student Loan Hero estimated total outstanding student loan debt at $1.48 trillion, affecting 44 million Americans. Thanks to this debt burden, young Americans are having difficulty achieving typical financial milestones such as home ownership. Here’s
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Computers and the Internet have become mainstays in virtually every area of American life in the 21st century. There are tremendous benefits and conveniences to this, of course, but there are also some downsides — such as the increased risk of identity theft that arises as we share more of our personal information online. In
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1. Lead by example – Great leaders operate with humility and a “Do as I do” rather than a “Do as I say” mentality. They never ask anyone to do anything they are not willing to do themselves. 2. Use the 7 P’s – In the military, I learned that Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pitifully
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The news seems to be filled with stories about hackers and identity theft these days, and rightly so. According to the Identity Fraud Study released by Javelin Strategy & Research, there were 16.7 million victims of identity theft in 2017, racking up a total of $17 billion in damages. Identity fraudsters successfully netted 1.3 million
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What’s the best way to pay down credit card debt? LaTisha Styles, Millennial Finance Expert and Founder of Financial Success Media, LLC, outlines two popular strategies. “In the first way,” says Styles, “you pay off the debts with the smallest balance. That’s how you get quick wins.” This is known as the “snowball” method, because
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You Can’t Decide Without Facts When should you claim your Social Security benefits? Should you claim them on your own work record or on your spouse’s work record? Those relatively simple questions can become very complex in certain cases. Fortunately, there are Social Security Administration (SSA) offices throughout the nation with staff waiting to help.
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Millions of Americans choose to supplement their Original Medicare benefits with additional coverage that helps to cover the gaps. Medigap plans in America are standardized, and for decades, Medigap Plan F has been a top seller. This is largely because it covers all of the deductibles, coinsurance, and copays that would normally be your responsibility
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The Equivalent of Debtors’ Prison Is there such a thing as a modern-day debtors’ prison? Not literally, as debtors’ prisons were outlawed by Congress in 1833. However, a recent ACLU report on the criminalization of private debt points out that some private debt collectors are creating the equivalent of debtors’ prison via the courts. The
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War is coming. This one will not be a traditional type of war. This conflict will be fought inside the borders of the United States, between foes of different birth-years armed with little more than outrage and hyperbole. The point of this war isn’t land or power. The purpose of this battle is to affix
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