Not paying your taxes has serious consequences, and one of the worst ones is the federal government filing a legal claim against all property you currently own and property acquired in the future in the form of a federal tax lien. In this article, we’ll explain what a federal tax lien is and what you… Read More

Many people are still in shock after filing their 2018 federal and state income taxes. Because the new federal tax law — the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — reduced marginal tax rates, many people expected a refund would be coming their way. But for some high-income households, that turned out not be the… Read More

 AKRON, Ohio — Colin Robertson wonders why he pays federal taxes on the $18,000 a year he makes cleaning carpets, while the tech giant Amazon got a tax rebate. His concerns about a tilted economic playing field recently led Mr. Robertson to join the Akron chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. At a gathering… Read More

By now, most of us have filed our 2018 tax returns on or before the April 15 deadline. What did we learn from the experience? Let’s discuss. Here are some questions taxpayers may have — and answers. My refund check was less than expected More taxpayers got refunds this year, but they are smaller than… Read More

The IRS assesses billions in tax penalties each year — in 2017, individual taxpayers faced a share of more than $11 billion in penalties — but few people know the agency is sometimes willing to change its mind and reverse certain tax penalties for first-time offenders. Two tax pros offer some insights into how the… Read More

With tax season over for nearly everyone, a common question concerns how long you should keep tax returns and other financial records. Even in the digital age, much of our financial life is on paper, which makes many people hesitant to discard those records because they fear that they’ll need them someday. Sometimes this fear… Read More

There used to be a time when I couldn’t wait to file my taxes. As a 20-something with little income and tons of tax deductions available (and probably the wrong withholding amount), I always received a tax refund. How things have changed. If you’re like me, you usually owe money at tax time these days. And some years, it… Read More

Attention, taxpayers: If you haven’t filed a tax return for 2015, your time to claim money owed you is running out. The Internal Revenue Service said as many as 1.2 million Americans who haven’t claimed a tax refund for that year have until April 15 do so. And those refunds could be substantial. The agency… Read More

Nobody wants to run afoul of the Internal Revenue Service, but it can be unnervingly easy to do. Mistakes and oversights can happen. The IRS may be sending you notices or you may just be digging your way out of some past troubles and trying to avoid any future problems. You might be surprised to… Read More

It can be a sinking feeling to finish preparing your tax return only to realize that you owe the IRS money. Worse, you may lack the funds to pay right away. The Internal Revenue Service charges penalties and interest for late payments, but it also imposes penalties for late filings. It makes sense to at least get your tax return… Read More