Dolans.com - Taxes

7 Early Tax Tips That Will Save You Time and Money

Ken & Daria Dolan — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:16:43 GMT

» The IRS estimates that Americans spend 6.1 billion hours a year on tax prep. That's almost as many hours that 3 million full-time employees work in a year. You can easily cut down the number of hours you spend preparing your 2012 taxes by taking a few simple steps now. Trust us, tackling tax season in bite-size chunks will make the whole process less daunting. Here are seven simple, painless tips to save time, money, a headache and hassle down the road: Next: Get organized! « » 1. Create a system for organizing tax documents as they arrive. There is nothing worse than sitting down to finally do your taxes and realizing that you can't find an important document. So tip #1 is to have a record-keeping system in place before the first tax document ever shows up at your house. Your system can be as simple as a large envelope or an accordion file. Just designate a specific spot and make sure that everyone in the house knows about it. If you want to be even more organized, you can use our checklist of critical tax documents to track documents as they come in so that you...

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9 Tax Changes in 2012 You Need to Know

Ken & Daria Dolan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:03:46 GMT

» We've talked a lot about the rising cost of just about everything this year: food, energy (including gas) and health insurance to name a few. In fact, inflation rose 3.8% this year, that's up from 1.4% last year, and far greater than the 0.18% inflation used to set the 2010 tax amounts. Fortunately for us, the IRS has noticed too. So how will these changes affect your bottom line? Let's take a look at the biggest changes you need to know about... Next: New Tax Brackets for 2012 « » New Tax Brackets for 2012 Thanks to the rising cost of living, federal income-tax bracket limits will jump higher in 2012. For a married couple filing jointly, the 25% bracket will kick in at $70,700, up from $69,000 this year. For single filers, the 25% bracket will start at $35,350, up from $34,500 in 2011. Next: Standard Deductions Jumps $300 « » Standard Deductions Jumps $300 About two out of three taxpayers claim the standard deduction, acccording to the IRS. The standard deduction for married-filing-jointly couples will jump to $11,900, a $300 increase. For single filers and couples who file separately it will rise $150 to $5,950....

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Does the IRS have Money with YOUR Name on It?

Ken Dolan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:05:09 GMT

The IRS is holding $150 million in undelivered refunds because they have been unable to deliver them. Are you one of them? We have tips to help you find out!

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8 Ways the Government Wastes Your Money

Ken & Daria Dolan — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:49:36 GMT

Billions of dollars are being wasted on government programs that made our newest "dirty dozen" list. Here are 12 ways the government is throwing away your tax dollars right now.

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Our Tax Code Sucks!

Daria Dolan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:29:33 GMT

Why NOW is the time to introduce a FLAT TAX... a far fairer option than raising taxes on the "wealth" or the supposed "fair tax" being proposed by some...

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War Bonds

Daria Dolan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:02:00 GMT

If our government is so committed to wars in Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and heaven knows where else, why doesn't it do what was done in World War II and issue WAR BOND bonds instead of raising taxes?

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What's Governor Pat Quinn's next trick going to cost?

Ken Dolan — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:55:44 GMT

If you raise corporate taxes 9.5% in Illinois to close an $8 billion dollar budget gap, which increased tax receipts by $300 million, but then had to give out $230 million ($500 million over 2 years) to corporations in tax breaks just to keep them in the state, what's Governor Pat Quinn's next trick going to cost? Just asking...

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GM CEO Calls for Gas Tax

Ken Dolan — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:22:39 GMT

The General Motors CEO is calling for a $1 a gallon gas tax for everyone. WHAT?!

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