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Discovering that you owe the IRS money is never a good feeling. If you’re staring down a tax bill you can’t afford to pay from 2020, you’re no doubt in good company. Countless people have turned to gig work to survive, which can result in surprise tax bills. Expanded jobless benefits have been a lifeline to millions, but even unemployment benefits are taxable . With confusion about PPP loans, the CARES Act retirement rules and the payroll tax “holiday” , it’s a safe bet that this year’s tax season will be even more migraine-inducing than ever. 4 Smart Strategies for Dealing With a Tax Bill You Can’t Afford The most important thing to know if you owe: You do have options. But it’s essential that you take action. Here are four mistakes to avoid — and what to do instead. Mistake #1: You don’t file a tax return because you can’t pay your bill. The smart strategy: File a return, even if you can’t afford to pay.  The penalties for not filing a tax return are much tougher than t...

Some of the links in this post are from our sponsors. We provide you with accurate, reliable information. Learn more about how we make money and select our advertising partners . Have you ever heard of investing in Treasury bills? We bet most of you haven’t — but that’s because Treasury bills are not usually an investment strategy for everyday people (and no, they’re not the bonds your grandma used to give you). But here’s why we think they should be: U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills) are a historically safe investment backed by the U.S. government. If you compare them to other investment products, they don’t offer the highest yield, but they are regarded as historically safe and stable investments 1 . In fact, they’re such a safe and liquid investment, it’s common for banks to buy Treasury bills with the money you deposit — and they keep any earnings. So instead of letting the big banks reap all the rewards, Jiko has developed a platform designed to make T-bills accessible for everyda...

Filing taxes in the United States could be free and simple for everyone — if only tax prep companies weren’t lobbying to keep it so complicated. Reporter Jessica Huseman pointed out this frustrating truth in a 2017 story for ProPublica , which resurfaces and regains steam each year around tax time — this year with a bump from a replay of her appearance on WNYC’s “On the Media” . “Think about all the things that the IRS already knows about you,” she told OTM. From your bank and employer, the Internal Revenue Service already gets a lot of the information you painstakingly report on your tax return. We could, in theory, have a return-free system, where the IRS sends you that information and how much it believes you owe, and you don’t have to file anything unless you disagree with it. But we like a challenge, don’t we? Instead of this straightforward public service, we have the next best thing: A private system that helps the majority of Americans file a federal tax return for free. ...

You may have seen ads saying you can invest in Google or Amazon for as little as $1. You may have wondered: Is this legit? It’s understandable if your spidey senses are triggered here. A single share of Google parent company Alphabet costs over $2,100 as of Feb. 18, 2021. A share of Amazon would set you back more than $3,300. But the claims that you can invest in big-name companies with as little as $1 or $5 are actually legit. The concept is known as fractional shares, and it’s a game-changer for beginning investors . What Are Fractional Shares? With fractional shares you name your price when you invest in stocks . You decide the dollar amount you want to invest and you get a proportional fraction of a share. For example, let’s say you want to invest in Netflix, but you only want to spend $25. It doesn’t matter if a share of Netflix costs $400 or $500 or even $1,000. If $25 is what you want to spend, that’s what you’ll pay. If Netflix was trading for $500, you’d get 5% of a share...

If you’re the proud new parent of a 2020 baby, here’s some good news to get you through those sleepless nights: Your 2020 bundle of joy qualifies you for a sweet bundle of stimulus cash — $1,100 to be exact. Why Do New Parents Get an Extra $1,100? The first stimulus check gave parents an extra $500 for each child age 16 and younger on top of the $1,200 for most adults. The second stimulus check provided families with $600 for each adult and dependent child 16 or younger. So between the two checks, parents generally got $1,100 per kid. Both checks were an advance on a 2020 tax credit that were processed using 2018 or 2019 returns. But the IRS won’t know about any of the babies welcomed into the world in 2020 until you file a tax return. When you file your 2020 taxes, you can receive the $1,100 as a Rebate Recovery Credit. That just means you’ll get the extra money as a tax refund . That’s on top of the $2,000 child tax credit parents who are single filers with incomes under $200,...

It’s many people’s least favorite time of year: tax season. Between frantically searching for your tax forms, organizing your receipts, figuring out how much it’ll cost you to file and trying to remember the most recent updates to the tax code, tax season can be stressful … to say the least. Thankfully, some smart software companies have made the process way easier — and, in some cases, even free. Even the tax pros themselves are getting on board. “I actually informally started my own tax practice using TurboTax to prepare people’s returns from my kitchen table,” said Ben Rugg, CPA. So you can rest assured your taxes are in good hands with online tax filing services — and save yourself a boatload of money and stress. Best Tax Software 2021: At a Glance The three best online tax programs with paid plans are undoubtedly TurboTax, H&R Block and TaxAct. Here’s a quick look at how they stack up. Note: The prices below are accurate as of Jan. 27, 2021 but may fluctuate throughou...

It all started with an alert. In February 2019, I was on vacation in a foreign country when I received an email confirming I had just used all of my airline points to buy gift cards. Then came another telling me I had done the same with all of my hotel points. The problem is, I had done neither of these things. I panicked. I frantically tried to contact both companies to report the fraud. Both tried to send me password change requests, which I wasn’t receiving. They locked down my accounts. Then I started getting other notices and alerts. Someone had my logins for several sites, and nefarious things were occurring very quickly. Fast forward to December of 2020 when I got another alert. Someone had tried to apply for several credit cards, loans and unemployment assistance in my name and using my information. I panicked… again. Then the snail mail letters started arriving saying different financial institutions and government agencies needed more information in order to approve m...