With an ode to Twitter, I’m doing a Follow Friday. But also because Dante Lee of Diversity City Media, has a great point, I thought I would share. Check out his blog and recent article on “Wedding vs Family Business”.

On more than one occasion, I’ve seen family members come together to financially contribute to a wedding. $3,000 for flowers. $1,000 for a chocolate fountain. $5,000 for a wedding dress. No exaggeration: I’ve seen low-income families come together and raise thousands of dollars for a wedding that lasted a few hours, and a marriage that lasted a few years.

This same energy and passion should be used to come together to invest in a business that can make everyone wealthy, can last a lifetime, and can be passed down to future generations.

If a family got together and raised just a couple thousand dollars, they can open a store front, buy a franchise, and/or even expand an existing business.

Why not organize your family to invest in something that will yield a return and produce results that can financially empower everyone? Dante Lee

But really this could be numerous situations vs family business ( i.e. Family Reunion, Birthday Party, etc).

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It’s never too early to begin teaching your children valuable money lessons.

In fact, teaching your kids how to manage their money is probably one of the greatest lessons that a parent can teach a child. Money management skills aren’t taught at most schools. That means it’s up to parents to equip our children with the tools they need to manage their money the right way – with saving, investing, giving back and learning how to make smart purchases.

When to Begin?
As soon as they are able to comprehend spending they should be taught management. My four year old, a toy fanatic, knows that if he helps mom in the office, emptying the trash and arranging the waiting room chairs he can get $5. But of that $5 he must put $2 in his piggy bank. It took some getting use too because of course he wants the most expensive toy in the store.

It’s Good To Earn
Money doesn’t grow magically from Mom and Dad’s ATM card; it is earned, especially when it is given as an allowance for chores jobs outside of a child’s daily work. Requiring that they save a percentage of what they earn instill good saving habits early.

Make It A Game
Saving doesn’t have to be boring or some stressful event that they see as depriving them of fun. Get your child their very own bank account. Make how much they save a “game” that rewards them with a match – your special rewards to them for saving at the end of each month. Teach them to appreciate the power of a growing savings account early.

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I know that we are all gearing up to get our children’s school supplies and gear ready for the 2009-2010 school year, and in this economy, we could all stand to save some money here and there! The State of Georgia is offering tax free shopping this coming weekend starting on Thursday, July 30th and ending on Sunday, August 2nd.

However, don’t go to the cash register expecting all your purchases to be tax free. There are limits to everything, but your dreams of course! This tax break applies only to the following items:

• School Supplies
• Clothing
• Footwear
• Computers

(Note: Clothing has to be $100.00 or less in order for the discount to apply. Personal Computers should be under $1500.00. School supplies would cap off at a price of $20.00)

If you are on Macy’s mailing list, or know someone who is, you may want to team-up the 15% off coupon on their mailer with the two-day sale on Friday and Saturday for extra savings! Don’t forget to watch the fine print on any advertisements that you receive or on the websites of your local retailers. The fine print will get you ev-ver-ree time!

Go prepared! Know what you need ahead of time and map out a course of action so you can take full advantage of all the savings offered without rushing around. Check out your target stores in advance and write down what you are interested in. If possible, do your best to stick with you list – though I know we often see a few little things that we didn’t know we needed, *wink, *wink!

Stores like
Best Buy will be opening early and some retailers are bumping up their inventory on computers to prepare for anticipated shopping over this tax-free holiday. If you shop at Kohls, in addition to the tax break, you will also receive cash coupons for later redemption based on your purchase price.

If you’d planned on taking that one last vacation before school starts, check the dates of neighboring states (see below)

I hope this helps you get your shopping done for the back to school season and maybe even get a few things for yourself! Enjoy!

***ADDED BONUS***

There are several states that will be offering a separate tax free week for the purchase of energy efficient appliances! Check the table for more details.

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If there is one thing you don’t want to forget when preparing your taxes, IT’S CREDITS. I repeat, you want to receive as many credits as you qualify for, this is one of the main reasons, you shouldn’t go at it alone. Many taxpayers that fail to use a tax preparer miss these very important credits because they change and vary from year to year. For a full list of available credits visit theIRSwebsite, three of the most popular are Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit and Child & Dependent Care Credit.

First off, a tax credit is more valuable than a tax deduction of the same amount because a tax credit reduces tax directly, while a deduction or allowance only reduces taxable income and so the reduction in tax is only a fraction of the deduction or allowance.

There are two types of credits, refundable and nonrefundable. Refundable can reduce the tax owed below zero and result in a net payment to the taxpayer more than their own payments into the tax system. (Ex. EITC and child tax), non-refundable cannot reduce the tax owed below zero, and hence cannot cause a taxpayer to receive a refund in excess of their payments into the tax system. (Ex. Child and Dependent Care Credit).

To qualify for the EITC, you must earn less than $37K with two child dependents, less than $33K with one child and yes you can still qualify for EITC if you don’t have any dependents as long as you earn less than $12,500. With the Child tax credit you can qualify for $1000 per child under 17, the portion that is not used to reduce any tax owed can be refunded to the taxpayer.

So go ahead to get those credits.

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With the standard deduction, every taxpayer is allowed to use this option. Standard assumes you have an “average” amount of tax-deductible expenses, and lumps them into one easy sum based on your circumstances. With itemized, you list all your expenses individually and this can save you hundreds to thousands of dollars more than the standard deduction, if when they are totaled your expenses are more than what your standard would be.

Itemized deductions are:
* Charitable donations
* Medical costs
* Interest payments
* Investment losses
* Gambling losses
* Certain legal fees
* Property lost to theft
* Casualty losses
* Expenses for your employer or business that were not reimbursed
* Estate tax payments

In general, you should claim whichever of the two deduction methods saves you the most money. If your itemized deductions are greater than the standard deduction, you should probably itemize. If the standard deduction is greater, claim the standard deduction.

For more information check out, tax deductions

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One of the most important choices you have to make as a taxpayer is to know what filing status is best for you. This determines the rate at which your income is taxed, there are 5 statuses available so choose wisely.

Single — you are unmarried, legally separated or divorced and you do not qualify for another filing status.

Married Filing Jointly — you are married and both you and your spouse agree to file a joint return. You must included all income, you can still file joint if only one spouse work.

Married Filing Separately — you must be married, should be last result, only if you have no other option that applies to you should you use this status. This method may benefit you if you want to be responsible only for your own tax, you know your spouse owes or if this method results in less tax than a joint return. If you and your spouse do not agree to file a joint return, you may have to use this filing status.

Head of Household — there are a couple qualifications you have to meet for this status: 1. You have to be single and you paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. 3. A qualifying person lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except temporary absences, such as school). However, your dependent parent does not have to live with you.

Qualifying Widow(er) — your spouse died in 2008, you can use married filing jointly as your filing status for 2008 if you otherwise qualify to use that status. The year of death is the last year for which you can file jointly with your described spouse. You may be eligible to use qualifying widow(er) with dependent child as your filing status for two years following the year of death of your spouse. This filing status entitles you to use joint return tax rates and the highest standard deduction amount (if you do not itemize deductions). This status does not entitle you to file a joint return.

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Most accountants and tax preparers dreaded when clients schedule an appointment, than arrive with not one but at least two shoe boxes full of documents. Ranging from invoices, receipts, credit card statements, etc. etc. I immediately categories them as “My Shoe Box Crew”, and from that point on I know to schedule their appointment for a Friday where my weekend will be slow, lol.

Being unorganized is not only careless it can be costly. Because of the time it takes to sort through and than arrange all the papers into a manageable situation, you’re absolutely going to be charged a higher tax preparation fee. Because as they say time is money, if you don’t have time to deal with it than you must have the money to pay someone else to do it. Because believe me you want it manageable!

But “My Shoe Box Crew” aren’t the only ones driving my up the wall. Next in line are “My Cutting it Close Crew”, these are my clients that every year wait to the last minute, when I say last minute I mean April, 12th, 13th or14th. And they all know what category they fall in because I tell them their status as soon as they walk in.

We all know procrastination is never good, but with taxes it should fall in line with other evil-doings. Many of my colleagues will turn you down, because of the stress, risk of mistakes and there’s a strong possibility of overlooked tax savings.

So when’s the best time to file? Early February but no later than late March. Even if you owe, at least you’ll know how much and you have until April 15th to pay it. I love “My Get In, Get Out Crew”, they come early, get it done, get their refund and don’t speak to me no more until October, just to make sure I’m getting ready for the next year. Well, unless I owe them for referrals, lol.

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After verifying whether you should file a tax return, your next step is to gather your personal and financial information. Your employer is required by law to mail your W2 on by January 31st. It’s important to have a W2 and / or 1099 for each job you worked the year prior. Here’s what you do if you are missing some of your documents.

Did you get your W-2 or All 1099s? I repeat these documents are essential to filling out your tax returns. So if you haven’t receive them when you’re ready to file:

1. Contact your employer to see when it was mailed and to what address. Request them to resend it to your current address.

2. Contact the IRS, I know this is scary but if you still do not receive your W-2 by February 17th you have no choice. Provide them your with employer’s name and address, your name, address and social security number. Also have available your gross year to date wages, you can find this amount on your final pay stub.

3. Lastly file your return and advise your preparer of the steps you’ve taken. They are allowed to use Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement to complete the preparation process.

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With the “Tax Day” deadline getting closer and closer here’s a tax tip to help those that procrastinate for the inevitable. The first question you should is do I have to file a tax return?

For example, a married couple both under age 65 generally is not required to file until their joint income reaches $17,900. However, self-employed individuals generally must file a tax return if their net income from self employment was at least $400.

Even if you don’t have to file, here are six reasons why you may want to file:

1. Federal Income Tax Withheld. If you are not required to file, you should file to get money back if Federal Income Tax was withheld from your pay, if you made estimated tax payments, or had a prior year overpayment applied to this year’s tax.

2. Recovery Rebate Credit. If you did not qualify or did not receive the maximum amount for the 2008 Economic Stimulus Payment, you may be entitled to a Recovery Rebate Credit when you file your 2008 tax return.

3. Earned Income Tax Credit. You may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, if you worked, but did not earn a lot of money. EITC is a refundable tax credit meaning you could qualify for a tax refund.

4. Additional Child Tax Credit. This credit may be available to you if you have at least one qualifying child and you did not get the full amount of the Child Tax Credit.

5. First time Homebuyer Credit. If you bought a main home after April 8, 2008, and before July 1, 2009 and did not own a main home during the prior 3 years, you may be able to take this refundable credit.

6. Health Coverage Tax Credit. Certain individuals, who are receiving certain Trade Adjustment Assistance, Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance, or pension benefit payments from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, may be eligible for a Health Coverage Tax Credit when you file your 2008 tax return.

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No this is not an April Fools joke, ya girl is back at it with this blogging stuff. As you all know I operate a tax business and tax season this year was mad crazy. With the recession in full effect my clients wanted their money like yesterday and I was getting it to them just that fast.

But anywho, I figured with the Tax Day deadline quickly approaching there was no better day than April 1st to jump back into the swing of things.

Stay tuned for a bigger, bolder, better blog. Thanks for sticking in this with me!

Yours Truly,
LaQuitta

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