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The passing of Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer in the minds of many Americans. Although the kids might still be in school for another week or two, summer day camp is rapidly approaching for many families. If yours is among them, did you know that sending your child to...

If you’re considering donating a property to charity, here are three potential tax traps you need to be aware of: 1. If you donate real estate to a public charity, you generally can deduct the property’s fair market value. But if you donate it to a private foundation, your...

Health care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow employees to redirect pretax income to an employer-sponsored plan that pays, or reimburses them for, qualified medical expenses not covered by insurance. A maximum employee contribution limit of $2,500 went into effect in 2013....

Are you thinking about turning a business trip into a family vacation this summer? This can be a great way to fund a portion of your vacation costs. But if you’re not careful, you could lose the tax benefits of business travel. Generally, if the primary purpose of your trip is...

This year, trusts are subject to the 39.6% ordinary-income rate and the 20% capital gains rate to the extent their taxable income exceeds $12,150. And the 3.8% net investment income tax applies to undistributed net investment income to the extent that a trust’s adjusted gross...

The short answer is: none. You need to hold on to all of your 2013 tax records for now. But this is a great time to take a look at your records for previous tax years and determine what you can purge. At minimum, keep tax records for as long as the IRS has the ability to audit...

If during 2013 income tax return filing you found that your business had a net operating loss (NOL) for the year, the news isn’t all bad. While no one enjoys being unprofitable, an NOL does have an upside: tax benefits. In a nutshell, an NOL occurs when a company’s deductible...

If you still file a paper return, it’s important to know the IRS’s “timely mailed = timely filed” rule: If your tax return is due April 15, it’s considered timely filed if it’s postmarked by midnight on April 15. But just because you drop your return in a mailbox on the 15th...

For you to deduct up to $3,900 on your 2013 tax return under the adult-dependent exemption, in most cases the parent must have less gross income for the tax year than the exemption amount. Generally Social Security is excluded, but payments from dividends, interest and retirement...

Tax-advantaged retirement plans allow your money to grow tax-deferred — or, in the case of Roth accounts, tax-free. But annual contributions are limited by tax law, and any unused limit can’t be carried forward to make larger contributions in future years. So it’s a good idea to...