What to Know About Taxes on Found Property

It’s happened to many of us at some point—you may be walking along a street and look down. Lo and behold, there’s a $20 bill in your path. Or maybe it’s a silver bracelet. Either way, it’s found property. The tax ramifications of finding a $20 bill are negligible. The bracelet is a different story if it has any value. Now the Internal Revenue Service gets involved. See the full TurboTax article to get the breakdown on how the IRS treats found property at tax time.

Side-Giggers: Tax Tips for Side Jobs

Having a side gig can help you make ends meet or build your rainy day fund. Income from freelance work, running your own small business or working at a second job brings in extra income without requiring you to quit your day job. But, like your main source of income, a second job or side gig must be reported on Form 1040 at tax time. To learn more, see the full TurboTax article.

Do You Have to Claim Pell Grant Money on Your Taxes?

The IRS treats a Pell grant as a scholarship, which means it’s possible that you’ll have to report the grant money on your tax return and maybe even pay income tax on the money. For details, see the complete TurboTax article.

Top 4 Red Flags That Trigger an IRS Audit

Certain red flags in a tax return are sure to draw scrutiny by the IRS. Some are easy to sidestep. Others, can’t be helped. These include:

1. Not reporting all of your income 
   
2. Breaking the rules on foreign accounts
   
3. Blurring the lines on business expenses
   
4. Earning more than $200,000
   

To find out more, read the full TurboTax article.

How to Report Stock Options on Your Tax Return

Stock options give you the right to buy shares of a particular stock at a specific price. The tricky part about reporting stock options on your taxes is that there are many different types of options, with varying tax implications. To learn more, see the full TurboTax article.

IRS Announces They Are Working on a New 1040 Tax Form: Intuit TurboTax Has Got You Covered

This week the IRS announced they are working on changes to the 1040 tax forms. The IRS said that “this new approach will simplify the 1040 so that all 150 million taxpayers can use the same form. The new form consolidates the three versions of the 1040 into one simple form.” The announcement is the first major change to 1040 tax forms in decades. But don’t worry, TurboTax has you covered. To find out more, see the TurboTax Blog.

Filing Taxes While Overseas

American citizens could owe taxes in two countries. If you’ve never lived abroad for an extended period of time, you probably don’t know the United States requires its citizens to continue to pay taxes back home. To learn about the tax issues that develop if you live abroad, see the full TurboTax article.

10 Tax Tips for Airbnb, HomeAway & VRBO Vacation Rentals

With the rising popularity of Airbnb and other vacation rental companies, more and more people are renting their homes and learning about a new set of tax issues that come with it. When you offer your home, or a room in your home, as a short-term rental through services such as Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO, FlipKey and many others, you can keep your income taxes to a minimum—and sometimes eliminate them entirely—if you follow some of the useful tax tips in the full TurboTax article.

Medical Expenses Checklist

If you have been paying a lot for health care recently, you may be glad to learn that many of those expenses could qualify as deductible from your taxable income on Form 1040, Schedule A. See the TurboTax article for a helpful checklist to determine which medical expenses you can take as a deduction on your income tax return.

Maximizing Tax Deductions for the Business Use of Your Car

The business use of your car usually is the largest tax deduction you can take to reduce your business income. This is a big, big deal. Why two “bigs”? Because your business income is used to calculate two taxes: your personal income tax and your self-employment tax (the amount you pay into Social Security and Medicare as the “owner” of your rideshare business). Maximizing your deduction for the business use of your car will help you minimize these taxes. To find out more, see the full TurboTax article.

10 Tax Tips for Filing an Amended Return

Say you happily filed your tax return by the end of February and were the envy of all your friends, but now you realize you forgot to include income from last summer’s freelance job. Don’t worry, all you need to do is file an amended return using Form 1040X. To find out more, see the TurboTax article.

Tax Day Update: TurboTax is Accepting E-Filed Tax Returns

As of 2:00 PM PST, the IRS announced that they are once again accepting e-filed tax returns. If you still need to file your tax return, you should continue to prepare and file your taxes as normal with TurboTax. If you prepared and filed your taxes with TurboTax earlier today, TurboTax is now submitting those returns to the IRS and is currently processing newly filed returns as normal. To find out more, visit the TurboTax Blog.

What is the Educator Expense Tax Deduction?

The Educator Expense Tax Deduction allows teachers and certain academic administrators to deduct a portion of the costs of technology, supplies, and certain training. To learn more about taking the Educator Expense Deduction on your tax return, see the full TurboTax article.

Is Your Car Registration Deductible?

Annual car registration fees may be partially deductible on your federal income taxes, but only under certain circumstances. If part of your registration is indeed deductible, you must itemize your deductions to claim it, rather than using the standard deduction. To find out more, visit the TurboTax article.

I Started a 401K This Year. What Do I Need to Know When I File?

Congratulations on starting a 401(k)! Not only will your future-self thank you for investing now, but there are also some fantastic benefits you can enjoy now. With a traditional 401(k), your contributions go in tax-free. Since your contributions come in pre-tax, that means your taxable income is lower. Double win! To learn more about  401(k) tax rules, visit the TurboTax Blog.