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Charitable contributions made to qualified organizations may help lower your tax bill. The IRS has put together the following eight tips to help ensure your contributions pay off on your tax return. If your goal is a legitimate tax deduction, then you must be giving to a qualified organization. Also, you cannot deduct contributions made to specific individuals, political organizations and candidates. See IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, for rules on what constitutes a qualified organization. To deduct a charitable contribution, you must file Form 1040 and itemize deductions on Schedule A. If you receive a benefit because of your contribution such as merchandise, tickets to a ball game or other goods and services, then you can deduct only the amount that exceeds the fair market value of the benefit received. Donations of stock or other non-cash property are usually valued at the fair market value of the property. Clothing and...

Just to Say 'Thanks' Haiti survivor returns to Broward General Medical Center to express his gratitude for nursing staff. IN GRATITUDE: Broward General Medical Center staff receive a plaque presented by former patient, Jean Maret Joseph. Cindy Boily, RN, CNO (left); Fayon Walker, RN; Joseph; Elaine Miller, RN; and Kim Kearney, RN. photo courtesy Broward General Medical Center Jean Maret Joseph, a former school teacher from Haiti, returned to Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, on Feb. 23 to personally thank the staff who cared for him during his month-long stay following Haiti's devastating earthquake in 2010. He especially wanted to express his gratitude to Fayon Walker, RN, in the ICU. Injuries prevented Joseph from opening his eyes during the first 14 days of his hospitalization, but Walker kept talking to him and reassuring him he would be OK. Walker...

If you have a farming business, there are several tax issues to consider before filing your federal tax return. The IRS has compiled a list of 10 things that farmers may want to know. Crop Insurance Proceeds —You must include in income any crop insurance proceeds you receive as the result of crop damage. You generally include them in the year you receive them. Sales Caused by Weather — Related Condition If you sell more livestock, including poultry, than you normally would in a year because of weather-related conditions, you may be able to postpone reporting the gain from selling the additional animals due to the weather until the next year. Farm Income Averaging — You may be able to average all or some of your current year's farm income by allocating it to the three prior years. This may lower your current year tax if your current year income from farming is high, and your taxable income from one or more of the three prior years was ...

Florida holds the distinction of having the highest amount of prisoner tax fraud in the nation, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. North Florida, especially, is a hot bed for this type of tax fraud. In 2009 there were 2,407 false returns filed by prison inmates in Northeast Florida alone, Nelson's office said. Nelson, D-Fla., was in Jacksonville Friday morning as part of a larger trip through the state to speak about efforts to curb this growing issue. Nelson's main focus toward ending prisoner tax fraud is a law already in place that gives the Internal Revenue Service the ability to give inmates' financial information to federal prisons. The law, The Inmate Tax Fraud Prevention Act, was passed in 2008 and last year was amended to include state facilities. But the IRS has yet to enforce that amendment, Nelson's office said. "They're afraid of getting sued," said Dan McLaughlin, the senator's communications director. In an letter to the c...

After the recession, there were many Americans who were looking for financial rescue. This was just next to impossible for then to save their home from foreclosure. This is important to note that in 60% of cases the home-owners had started filing petition under the various Bankruptcy Laws. In such a messy and difficult situation the USA government had to take some immediate actions. The Federal Loan Modification program is such an action of the federation. With the joint efforts of government the Bank of America loan modification program was designed and government has to invest $75 billions. The mortgage lenders were also been awarded with the cash awards to promote and process the loan modifications. Every loan lenders who will be offering the home loan modification services were given $1,000 for three years. The home-owners were even offered the cash incentive of worth $1,500 so that they can afford to make the regular mortgage payments. The loan modification options...

US stock futures are higher this morning, after AT&T (NYSE: T ) announced its plans to buy T-Mobile USA for around $39 billion. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 115 points to 11,914.00, while those for the S&P 500 stock index climbed 15.60 points to 1,289.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 27 points to 2,248.50. US stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 83.93 points to 11,858.52, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rising 5.49 points to 1,279.21 and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbing 7.62 points to 2,643.67. Data on February existing home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. AT&T Inc signed an agreement with Deutsche Telekom AG (OTC: DTEGY ) to buy T-Mobile USA for around $39 billion in cash and stock. American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG ) projects $1billion of catastrophe losses in the first quarter. The sum includes $700 million for the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Wal...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that today six financial institutions have repurchased Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Capital Purchase Program (CPP) investments, delivering a total of $475 million in proceeds for taxpayers. With today’s transactions, the programs within TARP that provide direct financial support to banks are continuing to near profitability. Through repayments, dividends, interest and other income, taxpayers have now recovered more than 99 percent (approximately $244 billion) of the approximately $245 billion in total funds disbursed for TARP investments in banks. Treasury currently estimates that bank programs within TARP will ultimately provide a lifetime profit of nearly $20 billion to taxpayers. Today’s CPP transactions are listed below: Fifth Third Bancorp (Cincinnati, OH) : Repurchased 43.6 million warrants to purchase common stock of Fifth Third Bancorp. (Total Proceeds To...

If you itemize deductions and are an employee, you may be able to deduct certain work-related expenses. The IRS has put together the following facts to help you determine which expenses may be deducted as an employee business expense. Expenses that qualify for an itemized deduction include: Business travel away from home Business use of car Business meals and entertainment Travel Use of your home Education Supplies Tools Miscellaneous expenses You must keep records to prove the business expenses you deduct. For general information on recordkeeping, see IRS Publication 552, Recordkeeping for Individuals available on the IRS website , http://www.irs.gov , or by calling 800-829-3676 . If your employer reimburses you under an accountable plan, you do not include the payments in your gross income, and you may not deduct any of the reimbursed amounts. ...

arents need to be aware of the tax rules that affect their children’s investment income. Here are four facts from the IRS that will help parents determine whether their child’s investment income will be taxed at the parents’ rate or the child’s rate: 1. Investment Income Children with investment income may have part or all of this income taxed at their parents’ tax rate rather than at the child’s rate. Investment income includes interest, dividends, capital gains and other unearned income . 2. Age Requirement The child’s tax must be figured using the parents’ rates if the child has investment income of more than $1,900 and meets one of three age requirements for 2010: Was under age 18 at the end of the year, Was age 18 at the end of the year and did not have earned income that was more than half of his or her support, or Was a full-time student over age 18 and under age 24 at the end of the year and did not have e...

Whether you are self-employed or an employee, if you use a portion of your home for business, you may be able to take a home office deduction. Here are six things the IRS wants you to know about the Home Office deduction 1. Generally, in order to claim a business deduction for your home, you must use part of your home exclusively and regularly: as your principal place of business, or as a place to meet or deal with patients, clients or customers in the normal course of your business, or in any connection with your trade or business where the business portion of your home is a separate structure not attached to your home. 2. For certain storage use, rental use, or daycare-facility use, you are required to use the property regularly but not exclusively. 3. Generally, the amount you can deduct depends on the percentage of your home used for business. Your deduction for certain expenses will be limited if y...

Tax preparation shouldn’t be so stressful. The IRS has put together six tips to help make your tax filing experience a breeze this year. 1. Don’t Procrastinate Resist the temptation to put off your taxes until the very last minute. Rushing to meet the filing deadline may cause you to overlook potential sources of tax savings and will likely increase your risk of making an error. 2. Visit the IRS Website In 2010, more than 304 million visits were made to http://www.irs.gov . Make 1040 Central your first stop to learn the latest news and find answers to your questions about tax filing. 3. Use Free File Let Free File do the hard work for you with brand-name tax software or online fillable forms. It's available exclusively at http://www/irs.gov . Everyone can find an option to prepare their tax return and e-file it for free. If you made $58,000 or less, you qualify for free tax software that is offered through a private-public partne...

Taxpayers who made some energy efficient improvements to their home or purchased energy-efficient products last year may qualify for a tax credit this year. The IRS wants you to know about these six energy-related tax credits created or expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 . Residential Energy Property Credit This tax credit is for homeowners who make qualified energy efficient improvements to their existing homes. This credit is 30 percent of the cost of all qualifying improvements. The maximum credit is $1,500 for improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010 combined. The credit applies to improvements such as adding insulation, energy efficient exterior windows and energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems . Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit This tax credit will help individual taxpayers pay for qualified residential alternative energy equipment , such as solar hot water heaters , solar electricity...