Today TaxMama hears from Nony in California who wants to know. “My parents recently moved to a retirement community and were preparing their house for sale. Mom just died – the house was not yet on the market. Does Dad still get the $500K capital gain

Today TaxMama hears from Catherine in the United Kingdom. “I am a US citizen, employed by a UK employer and living and working in the UK where I pay taxes. I own an apartment in NY which I rent out. I report the rental income on my US tax return. Must I

Today TaxMama hears from Sean in North Carolina. “As I understand it you must be an owner and be liable to claim the home mortgage interest and property tax as deductions on schedule A. Now I hear you can be an equitable owner whose name is not on the

Today TaxMama hears from Orla in Colorado. “I have a friend who has provided full support for his girl friend who is unemployed, and her daughter who is 18 and in high school. They both have lived with him for the full year. He should be able to file he

Today TaxMama hears from Rick in New Jersey with this stroke of genius. “I am a salaried employee for ABC company and will be doing a separate consulting engagement for another company in my spare time. I’d like to take the entire $55,000 I will earn

Today TaxMama hears from Jessie in California, who’s broke. “ I am 22 years old and unemployed. I recently hit a financial snag and am really considering cashing out my 401(k) plans. In total it would amount to $4,995.85. Because of state and federal

Today TaxMama hears from Nancy in Florida with this problem. “I am a first time home buyer. My husband co-signed for someone 4 years ago. That house was never his primary residence. We can prove it with lease papers from our apartment. My house mortgage

Today TaxMama hears from Ray in Kansas who tells us. “My wife and I were first time home buyers on 08/20/09. We have been informed that if we amend our 2008 taxes, the first time home buyers credit will be treated as an interest-free loan that will hav

Today TaxMama hears from Sam in New Jersey with this question. “My company did an IPO this year and I will quadruple my income based on my sale of stocks. These were options I exercised years ago, before the IPO. The exercise price was 1/20th of the sal

Today TaxMama hears from A.H. in California who is frustrated. “How does one classify video rental inventory in accounting software? This is inventory that depreciates very quickly – the cost of a DVD from a distributor is $17 on average, to have it