<![CDATA[Kevin Hagen - Yahoo! Voices]]> en-us Copyright 2012 voices.yahoo.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:06:49 EDT http://l.yimg.com/ck/siteimg/PP-voices.jpg http://voices.yahoo.com/ Voices <![CDATA[Can You Claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit on Your Tax Return If You Don’t Claim the Child as a Dependent?]]> Under certain circumstances you may be able to claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses even if you cannot claim the child as a dependent. This could be the case if you are divorced or separated.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 27, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-claim-child-dependent-care-credit-10884515.html <![CDATA[Can You File Your Tax Return as Head of Household If You Maintain a Home Outside the U.S.?]]> If you are a U.S. citizen or resident, you could qualify to file as head of household for a home outside the U.S. You may also qualify if you are a resident of Canada or Mexico. The head of household filing status is not available for nonresident aliens.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 20, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-file-tax-return-as-head-household-10857997.html <![CDATA[Can You Claim an Exemption on Your Income Tax Return for a Dependent Who Lives Outside the U.S.?]]> If a dependent outside the U.S. is a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico and you meet all the tests, you can claim an exemption. You generally could not claim dependents if you are a nonresident alien, but there are exceptions.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 20, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-claim-exemption-income-tax-return-10856965.html <![CDATA[Can You Claim a Tax Deduction for Uncollected Rent on a Rental Property?]]> You cannot claim a tax deduction for uncollected rent if you are on the cash basis because you haven’t reported the rental income. If you are on the accrual basis you may be able to claim a bad debt deduction for the uncollectible rent.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 20, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-claim-tax-deduction-uncollected-rent-10851807.html <![CDATA[When Do You Claim Tax Deductible Expenses that You Pay by Credit Card or with a Loan?]]> If you pay a tax deductible expense by credit card it is deductible in the year the charge is made, and not when the credit card bill is paid. If you qualify for a tax benefit for education you can claim expenses paid with the proceeds of a loan.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 17, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/when-claim-tax-deductible-expenses-you-10836321.html <![CDATA[New Reporting Requirements for Schedule C of Form 1040 for 2011 and Beyond]]> Schedule C for 2011 includes a new line for receipts from merchant card and third party payments. This new reporting requirement is intended to increase compliance by businesses in reporting all their revenue.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 17, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/new-reporting-requirements-schedule-c-form-10834839.html <![CDATA[When Do You Have to File Separate Schedules C with Your Tax Return?]]> If you operate more than one business as a sole proprietor, you have to file separate Schedules C if the businesses have different activity codes. You can allocate expenses including depreciation and expenses for business use of your home, if applicable.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 13, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/when-file-separate-schedules-c-with-10828465.html <![CDATA[Can You Claim a Home Mortgage Interest Deduction If You Rent Out Your Home?]]> If you rent out your home, your home mortgage interest is divided between an itemized deduction for personal use and a rent expense deduction for the rental use of the home. There are special rules for renting out a second home.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 13, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-claim-home-mortgage-interest-deduction-if-10822283.html <![CDATA[Why File a Tax Return If You Started Up a Business and Had a Loss?]]> When you start a business and have a loss, you should file a tax return to establish a net operating loss that you can apply against income in other years. There are also special tax deductions that you could take advantage of in your first year.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 11, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/why-file-tax-return-if-started-business-10816029.html <![CDATA[Can You Deduct Expenses from One Year Against Income in the Following Year?]]> If you are a cash basis taxpayer, expenses are only deductible in the year they are paid. But if you start a business, you can amortize start-up costs and recover costs of capital assets through depreciation, with special allowances the first year.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 11, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-deduct-expenses-one-year-against-income-10796547.html <![CDATA[Why File a Tax Return If Your Income is Below the Filing Requirements?]]> Even if your income is below the filing requirements, you should file a return in order to obtain a refund of tax withheld, if you are self-employed, if you qualify for a refundable credit, or if you have sales of stock or other investments.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 11, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/why-file-tax-return-if-income-below-the-10805899.html <![CDATA[Can You File Your Income Tax Return Based on Your Last Paycheck Stub for the Year?]]> You need Form W-2 to file your federal, state and local income tax returns. Your final paycheck stub may not have all the information you need. The IRS will verify your tax return against the information on the W-2 your employer sends to the IRS.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 07, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-file-income-tax-return-based-your-10787873.html <![CDATA[How Does a Single Member LLC File a Federal Income Tax Return?]]> For federal income tax purposes, a single member LLC can elect to be treated as a corporation. Otherwise it will be treated as a disregarded entity, meaning that it would file federal income taxes as a sole proprietorship.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 06, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/how-does-single-member-llc-file-federal-income-10782775.html <![CDATA[Exclusion from Tax of Gain on the Sale of a Home Used Partly for Business]]> You can exclude the gain on the sale of your main home from tax if you owned and lived in the property as your main home at least 2 of the last 5 years. But if you rented out the home, or used a portion for business, you must recapture depreciation.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/exclusion-tax-gain-sale-home-used-10767255.html <![CDATA[Is There a Minimum Age for Filing a Federal Income Tax Return?]]> There is no minimum age for filing a federal income tax return. The filing requirements are based on your income and filing status. If you can be claimed as a dependent by your parents or someone else, the filing requirements are different.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/is-there-minimum-age-filing-federal-income-10775843.html <![CDATA[Taxes when You Sell Equipment After Claiming a Section 179 Deduction]]> When you purchase equipment for use in your business, you can write off the cost by electing the section 179 deduction. If you later sell or exchange the equipment you have to recapture the section 179 deduction by reducing your basis in the equipment.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/taxes-sell-equipment-after-claiming-section-10765555.html <![CDATA[New IRS Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets, for 2011]]> The IRS introduced a new Form 8949 in 2011 for reporting capital gains and losses. Schedule D is revised to serve as a summary form. This coincides with the requirement for brokers to report the cost basis of stocks on Form 1099-B.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/new-irs-form-8949-sales-other-dispositions-of-10767549.html <![CDATA[Using Prior Year Capital Losses to Reduce Your Taxable Income This Year]]> Capital losses can be carried forward and used to offset capital gains and other taxable income up to $3,000 in future years until the loss is used up. The loss must be carried forward year by year whether or not it is claimed.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/using-prior-year-capital-losses-reduce-taxable-10758675.html <![CDATA[Can You Claim Someone Else’s Children as Dependents on Your Tax Return If You Provide More Than Half Their Support?]]> There are two ways to claim an exemption for a dependent: as a qualifying child or a qualifying relative. There are various tests that must be met, but you may qualify to claim a dependent exemption for someone other than your own child.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/can-claim-someone-elses-children-as-dependents-10761841.html <![CDATA[Tax Aspects of Keeping a Child Under Age 27 on Your Health Insurance]]> The cost of health coverage for a child under age 27 is excluded from the parent’s taxable income. This includes the employer and employee-paid portions. If you are self-employed you can include the cost in your self-employed insurance deduction.

Contributor: Kevin Hagen
Published: Jan 03, 2012

]]> http://voices.yahoo.com/tax-aspects-keeping-child-under-age-27-your-10754935.html