The Sun's Financial Diary

The deadline to file your tax, April 15th, is less two weeks away. It’s time to get the work done.
I got my TurboTax software and all the files/documents I needed and started our taxes in early February, but haven’t touched them in more than a month after I found out that, like the past couple [...]

IRS today announced a special tax break for new car purchases (the tax break was actually approved by the congress as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). If you are planning to buy a new car, then you may get a break on state and local sales taxes and deduct taxes [...]

If you are saving for your retirement using vehicles such as IRA and/or 401(k), there are limitations on when investments can be withdrawn from these accounts. Since these are tax deferred accounts, either contributions (401(k) and Traditional IRA) or growth (Roth IRA), or both (401(k) and Traditional IRA) will be taxed at the time when [...]

Early last year, the government sent taxpayers an economic stimulus tax rebate check, which is now called Recovery Rebate Credit, up to $1,200 (of course, you had to file 2007 tax return to be eligible for the rebate) as part of the efforts to revive the economy. And by now we already know that the [...]

While the Congress is still battling to get the final version of the massive 2009 economic stimulus package (could cost tax payers as much as $800 billion when the deal is finalized) done before the weekend, I think it’s time to get an idea on what we can expect from the stimulus plan and how [...]

Staples is having a tax software sale. Purchase any of the following TurboTax software from Intuit

TurboTax Basic 2008 + E-File $29.99
TurboTax Deluxe 2008 + E-File $49.99
TurboTax Deluxe w/State & E-File 2008 $59.99
TurboTax Premier w/State 2008 $89.99
TurboTax Premier Home & Business w/State 2008 + E-File $99.99
TurboTax Business 2008 + E-File $109.99

or any of the following [...]

If you didn’t win a free TurboTax or TaxCut from the giveaway I had last week, you can buy an alternative for less. TaxAct is offering a 30% off for its TaxAct Online Ultimate Bundle which include Federal & State plus free e-filing. The best part of this product is you can try it for [...]

Thanks everybody for participating in the TurboTax and TaxCut 2008 Giveaway. The contest is officially over and I have randomly selected 10 winners who will receive either a copy of TurboTax Deluxe or TaxCut Premium.
The on site giveaway received 51 entries and the 6 winners are:

8: Robert SF
13: Tim
24: Justin Lee
28: Laurie
32: Lindas
42: Marcus
For the [...]

The 2008 tax season is just around the corner, did you get your tax preparation software yet? If not, do you know which software you want to use if it’s the first time you use a tax preparation software to file your income taxes? When I posted the tax software giveaway last week, I also [...]

If you are preparing your own 2008 taxes, there are some changes in the tax law in 2008 that you should be aware of, because the changes will affect your taxes. The IRS recently published 2008 tax law changes, among them the following are more common to taxpayers:

Economic stimulus payment: The economic stimulus payment is [...]