Time to start thinking about your taxes (750 hits)
I know it's a subject that many cringe when they think of, unless you anticipate a refund. But now is the time to begin to think of where you want to be financially when the tax man cometh. Here are a couple of things to think about.
There are many steps you can take that will help you with the tax man at the end of the year. For instance play around with your exemptions. If you have children that are in daycare and you are in school and you work maybe you should consider electing enough expemptions to prevent you from paying income taxes depending on your locality you can also do this for your state, municipal and city tax. There is no need in paying out the money all year only to get it back at the end. You can take this money put into a simple saving account and earn interest on it. Though it won't be much now it will add up. Another way to spend your money may be investing in our government. I know I know but we all rely on our government for everyday conviences. Our government fund our states and localities and whether you like it or not if you live in America you are a part of the govt. The govenment bonds pay interest that you don't have to pay tax on, can possibly reduce your earned income and they keep ownership of our nation within our nation. Right now china and japan own more of america than america does and if they wanted to cripple us financially they could at any given second. Note that the bonds have to held for a certain period but they can be worth it in the end. You can open an account here to buy them https://www.treasurydirect.gov/RS/BPDLogin...
If you own a home and are looking to purchase appliances pay a little more for ones that have required energy savings for an extra tax deduction also if you buy your home this year you could qualify for the first time home buyers credit (there are some legislators trying to push this credit for all home buyers as an incentive to boost the economy). If you replace your car you could qualify for a car credit based on milleage (i have posted a blog about this).
For small business if you hire certain types of employees you get extra credits that could prove to be quite beneficial. For home based businesses you may be able to recoup some money based on legislation that is expected to pass (i blogged about this as well).
Based on your personal situation there are many many ways to lower your tax, get a refund or pay zero tax but the time to start to think about this is now not january.
