Financial Solution News

I just received my notice about how much I will receive on my economic stimulus payment. That’s right, I got the actual economic stimulus payment before the notice of how much I will receive. In a way, it’s funny because it makes the notice totally useless but in another way, it’s just sad. Has this happened to any of you?
Seriously though, perhaps a more important question is whether you’ve received the stimulus check.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Whether it came from direct deposit or check, you should have received it by now so if you haven’t, you can call 1-866-234-2942 (I got this number from the notice so it should be safe) to find out why.
Since we are on this subject, how are you using the money that you’ve received? I’ve […]

Original post by MoneyNing

Speaking about different sales tax, I also remember an interesting experience I had one time when I bought something from Macys’ (department store) from another state and returned the product in Orange County that I want to share.
I don’t quite remember what it was that I bought, but when I returned the product to Macys’, the cashier actually gave me more money than I’ve bought it for! I remember asking why there was a discrepancy and the manager came over to explain that they had to return the product in their own state’s tax laws. Since I bought the merchandise at a lower sales tax state, I was making money off this purchase as I paid a lower sales tax originally and got more money back on the return.
So if every store does this, I can theoretically make money because I can always buy something from a lower […]

Original post by MoneyNing

While I was traveling in Raleigh, North Carolina, I bought a wireless mouse at the Apple Store to work with my Macbook Pro. It wasn’t until I heard the cashier tell me the total did I realized the sales tax was different than where I live (Southern California). I checked the receipt, and there in big letters were Tax@6.75%: $4.66.
I used to live in the border of Orange County and Los Angeles County, where the sales tax was 7.75% and 8.25% respectively. I remember thinking about our geographic location before we purchased anything because it was possible that we can pay less if we went to another location close by.
Now you might be thinking that 7.75% and 6.75% is only a difference of 1%, but if I bought my Macbook Pro in North Carolina, I could’ve saved myself $20. Sure it still wasn’t much but I […]

Original post by MoneyNing

Welcome to the 146th Carnival of Personal Finance, Q1 Financial Advice Edition.
There are many things we can do to help our finances throughout the year and certain ones are time sensitive. Now that the first quarter of the year has officially past, let’s look at what we could’ve done during this time while enjoying the following great articles!
Editor Choice
There is no doubt that great financial articles help us gain knowledge and in turn provide a solid foundation for us to build our wealth on. Here’s a few of many around the blogsphere…

FMF from Free Money Finance gives us 10 Things to Discuss Before You Get Married. Everyone should read this article!
Paidtwice from I’ve Paid For This Twice Already knows that Budgeting On An Irregular Income is still possible and tells us how! Valuable advice!
David from Money Under 30 presents The Annual Cost of Pet Ownership: Can […]

Original post by MoneyNing

I get junk emails many times a day but this list of tax deductions is quite useful so I want to share it with you. Those that haven’t filed taxes yet should take a look and see if you’ve missed anything!

Any expenses paid related to charity activities. This even includes the transportation costs!
Any transportation cost or lodging expenses incurred during a medical crisis
Legal fees you had to pay while obtaining or collecting alimony
Gambling losses can be tax deducted too! Actually, it can only be offset with the gambling gains but do not forget this!
Money spent looking for a new job in your current occupation, including fees for resume preparation and hiring a headhunter are tax deductible!
Contraceptives, if bought with a prescription
Any commissions and closing costs when you sell a property can be deducted
Seller-paid points on the purchase of a home
Education expenses are tax deductible if it is […]

Original post by MoneyNing

E-File must be one of the best inventions for US residence in the past decade for the total time it saved everyone filing taxes. During the past weekend, I e-filed my wife’s tax return in 13 minutes.
With paper returns, I would spend at least an hour (maybe two) filing. This frustrating hour includes:

Remembering and reading up on which forms I need
Using my calculator to do and re-check my math
Going to the mail box to mail out the tax package
Praying that it will get there safely

With e-file, I answer a few questions, and then the tax package is sent electronically to the IRS. Afterwards I even get a confirmation that my package was received and another email when it’s accepted so I don’t have to worry about it getting lost. Another benefit of e-filing is that I don’t have to worry about which form to use because […]

Original post by MoneyNing

Many of us in the United States have received our Form W-2s (Tax and Wage Statement) already. Those that haven’t received theirs yet should contact their employer because they are required by law to fill one out for every employee and the deadline to send them out was January 31st.
Usually, the employer will just hand them out to everyone but if you changed jobs, then your former company will mail it to you with its last known address. If you moved and changed jobs recently, then contact your former employer if you are missing a W-2 from them.
This form, which details our wages, tax payments, and taxable income is proof that we’ve paid taxes for the previous tax year that’s withheld by our employer so this is one important piece of document in order for us to receive our refund.
Many of us don’t even check for all the […]

Original post by MoneyNing

In tuesday’s article, I mentioned that I forgot to record one of my joint accounts’ interest earnings on my tax return and I went on to talk about what I’ve learned about tax returns and joint accounts. If you’re one of those people that thought it was weird that I never talked about how I was going to fix this error, then today’s article will address this.
What should we do when we realized that we made a mistake on our return but it was already filed?
Basically, it will depend on whether you e-filed or not. If you e-filed and the IRS rejects your return, then you have a chance to fix the error and resubmit. However, if you e-filed and the IRS accepts your return (meaning the return is already on the way), then you will have to wait till after you receive your refund. Once […]

Original post by MoneyNing

I e-filed my tax return last Saturday night only to check my mail box on Sunday and find an interest earnings tax form (1099-INT) from one of my joint account with my fiancee that I totally forgot about. So, I quickly went on Google and researched on the topic and learned a couple things about joint accounts and taxes.
Filed Under the Primary Account Holder
Since this is a joint account, I immediately thought about whether I could’ve just filed everything until the other person (my fiancee) as I haven’t filed hers yet. After searching the web, I find out that joint accounts are usually filed under the primary account holder and need to be filed under that person. Of course, I never knew who the primary account holder was but the way to check is to see who’s SSN is on the tax form. The other way […]

Original post by MoneyNing

I just saw a commercial from H&R Block about the option of having our tax refund put onto a debit card (actually, they started offering it as an option last year). I’m totally against this because I don’t think it is the best idea to have someone else hold my refund. If anything, I want my refund as quickly as possible so I can put it into my savings and investments. With that said, here are some alternatives for your tax refund.
Getting a Check
This is the oldest way to get a refund. Even though checks are used less and less, some of us still opt for this option. In general, we want to avoid this because it takes an additional 3 weeks for IRS to mail our checks to us, not to mention that the check might be lost through the mail. However, those […]

Original post by MoneyNing