Today TaxMama® hears from Yazminia in the TaxQuips Forum with an apt question (rephrased). “I am over age 59 ½ and want to transfer money from my IRA to my Roth IRA tax-free. Based on my income level, how much may I transfer without generating taxe

Today TaxMama® hears from Hernandez in the TaxQuips Forum with good question. “I am one of two partners in a architecture service partnership. We are considering using life insurance, specifically whole life, as a way to save excess cash and lower our

Today TaxMama® hears from someone offline with this distressing observation. “A client for whom we do payroll has an entire team of high-powered accountants and attorneys. They got together and reviewed our client’s several business entities and deci

Today TaxMama® hears from Eliezer in the TaxQuips Forum with this interesting question. “Many non-profit organizations run raffles with great prizes. Sometimes the raffle tickets can get pricey (>$100) and the entrants want to deduct these amounts as c

Today TaxMama® hears from CotoPop in the TaxQuips Forum with a good question. “A client purchases a high end car in January, 2010 ($52,000). It is only used for personal purposes in 2010 and 2011. In January 2012 client starts a new business and uses t

Today TaxMama® hears from Eliezer in the Tax Quips Forum with this question. “A client owes the IRS about $200 from 2011 taxes. He filed on extension and they sent him a notice for his balance due including penalty and interest, which is due Dec 10. I

Today TaxMama® hears from Sue in the Tax Quips Forum with this issue. “My parents are both unemployed and lived with me all year. My dad did receive unemployment, but it was about $3,300 for the entire year – my mom did not receive any unemployment.

Today TaxMama® wants to talk about business-related gift-giving for the holidays . Dear Family, We just got the most fabulous gift box from a friend. Wow! How exciting. And no doubt, you’re gearing up to give holiday gifts to your friends and clie

Today TaxMama® hears from Excel in the TaxQuips Forum with an interesting question. He asks how to write off his travel. You can read my answer to him in the TaxQuips Forum. But what I’d like to do today is to provide more general tips about how be a l

Today TaxMama® hears from Tax455 in the TaxQuips Forum with this question. “If I earned $50k through eBay buying and selling phones, and $12k was profit, should I get a business license or incorporate for tax purposes? I did not hit the 200 transaction